Are you really that bothered about shared toilets?

[Beaverdam]

We were discussing this in work the other day. I really dont care about sharing toilets with males but some of the other women are really annoyed about the idea.

Are you annoyed about this? If so, what isit that you dont like about it? Do you think that the men will perve?

It makes no bloody difference that some women are fine with mixed sex toilets whilst there are women who want, and are entitled to single sex services and toilets.

Is is proven that mixed sex means increased danger to women and girls, so why are you so happy to appease the men over the safety, privacy and dignity of the majority of women?

However, the change is coming and we just have to get used to it We really don't.

Umm everyone's wee stinks

I've cleaned staff and customer toilets in a supermarket, as part of my job, and surprisingly men and women are equally filthy in different ways. But, only the men's toilets stank of piss, no matter how much they were scrubbed. Urinals don't help as men shake the drips off on to the floor, before they zip back up, so there is always piss on the floor. There is no loo roll by the urinals, so it's not expected that men will wipe. Male piss also smells stronger.

Men's piss is better for putting on the compost bin than women's, apparently.

I don't know why I know that.

I do not like mixed sex toilets. I don’t have to justify my reasons to anybody. Nobody asked us before giving away our single sex spaces.

Completely enclosed cubicles with washbasins opening onto a corridor or similar are fine.

For you.

A third space would solve all the problems because then all those not bothered can use the unisex toilets and women who are bothered can continue to use the single sex ones.

I'm afraid that's not a solution as long as anybody (men) can IDENTIFY as a woman whenever they like. And many of us know with absolute certainty that there will be men who do that simply to get off on the discomfort of women there who can't say anything for fear of being transphobic, even if these people are simply men pretending to be trans.

So third options are only workable if it's clear that sex and gender are different, not interchangeable and sex itself is unchangeable.

However, the change is coming and we just have to get ued to it

Says who? I challenged it and won in my previous work place.

I went to a trendy new bar recently where they had mixed sex facilities. Felt really uncomfortable as I was on my period, so had to remove my Mooncup in a row of cubicles with men potentially next door. Then go out with bloody hands to wash them in a kind of horse trough where all the water went in a little river. Told the people we were with let's move on and won't be going back. We need a guide book of these places so we can avoid them. Might start one up.

More ammonia

I don’t think mixed sex toilets are safe for men. They are at risk of being accused of inappropriate behaviour with zero chance of being able to defend themselves as there can’t be cameras (obviously).

As a woman I agree that toilets should be single sex obviously but I do worry that some women are overly anti men and might make false accusations to make a point.

Yes. I loathe sharing public toilets with men and am very pissed off that it’s becoming the norm.

I don't even like sharing with other women! Thanks to surgery I suffer from terrible flatulence at times and the loo is the only place where I can let rip. Also, surely everyone has noticed the vile pong which eminates from the gents? Do we really want that in the Ladies?

A third space would solve all the problems

Why a 3rd? Why can't mens spaces become unisex so open to men, women and transwomen. Women's spaces can be preserved by the protected characreristic of sex.

Not bothered in the slightest.

Very bothered here. I hate the idea.

Given that sex is a protected category, I think men's spaces should also be protected tbh.

Yes, men are at less danger from women than women are from men, but most decent men wouldn't be delighted to have a woman walking past as they were using an urinal.

I am bothered about shared spaces. Men sexualise women particularly in places where they are vulnerable eg when they are removing some of their clothes. I would like to use the ladies without being subjected to the male gaze.

www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/History-of-Womens-Public-Toilets-in-Britain/

I'm someone who didn't think I would be bothered until I found myself in a workplace that had them.

Floor to ceiling toilet cubicles with shared hand washing facilities.

Many of the reasons pp's have already discussed.

• cleanliness of the toilets was poor. Urine on the seat/floor, copious skid marks etc

• smell, yes I found I could always tell if a man had used the toilet before me

• the counter space was always a mess with loads of water and liquid soap. Nowhere to put your handbag down other than the floor

• a general sense of discomfort. By which I mean feeling very conscious of taking too long on the toilet if I was on my period and people then knowing something private. Additionally (and perhaps irrationally) feeling self conscious about touching up my make up/hair in the communal space.

Personally I didn't have any safety fears, but I'm also conscious that this is largely due to it being a workplace setting. I might have felt differently in a public environment.

All the other women at that workplace felt the same. Some even more so because of prior trauma, to the point of simply waiting until they could use toilets elsewhere during their lunch break for example.

In summary whilst I've always supported the need for single sex spaces I didn't realise just how much I valued them until I didn't have access to them any more and the problem is once they are gone, turning the clock back is very difficult.

I sometimes use the men's toilets if the queue for the ladies is ridiculous (theatres spring to mind!)
they are always vile. and more than once I've been told off by a man. ha

I hate the idea and won’t use mixed toilets

Well get used to unisex in theatres - Equity is pushing the rainbow on these now apparently. Actors telling us where we can pee...

Nope. Not. In. The. Slightest.

And all the unisex toilets I have used have been discreet units with no under or over space and their own individual basin.

Just not an issue. I share the bog with my dh, son, father, fil, etc.

Of greater concern are communal nhs wards.

I am. I don’t feel it’s a safe space anymore where they are shared. I feel that even more strongly for younger women and girls.

thehorseandhisboy I do actually agree with you (but wondered if opinion might shift if it was mens spaces threatened .. )