Public toilets and changing rooms should be redesigned to keep everyone safe

[Quinoawoman]

I propose that by changing the design of public toilets and changing rooms, we can keep everyone safe.
Pic 1 - how most public toilets are now. Small, dark doorway into dark space that can't be seen from the outside. I've often worried that there could be someone hiding in there waiting to do me harm. Would not let my daughter in there alone. Would not let my son go in the gents alone.
Pic 2 - unisex cubicles (floor to ceiling) all with an individual door onto the street. Pull open the door and see the whole space - limited room for someone to hide. Door obviously lockable from inside. No more worrying about where to send your child whose sex is different from yours.

Changing rooms could be similar - individual cubicles straight off the shop floor. No more David Lloyd-style open changing spaces where you fear dropping your towel and flashing everyone.

YABU - changing rooms and toilets are fine as they are
YANBU - changing the design would be better for everyone.

Given the number of times the locks have been bust on public toilets, I'd really rather not have the door swing open into a totally public area, cheers.

Plenty of toilets are how you propose already. I have no issue with them but other hate the idea for some reason. I like changing villages at pools too, but plenty here are aghast

I really don’t have your level of anxiety about toilets

I've used both these toilets on numerous occasions. The ones 'off the street' never seem to have broken locks whereas the ones inside the building do. I wonder if that's because it's easier to vandalise them when no one can see you doing it?

As long as the cubicles are still either for men or women. I absolutely do not want to share the same toilet that men have been using. Make toilets are filthy and stink.

In changing villages in leisure centres there need to be floor to ceiling dividers but there aren’t. There’s absolutely nothing stopped a man from looking over or under. It also means the showers become unisex and I really don’t like showering next to a man. It’s one thing just rinsing before getting in the pool but lathering my body and hair next tk a strange man is not ok.

Can't say I share your toilet anxiety. The money would be much better spent on health or education.

I have less anxiety than most, if recent threads are to be believed.

I like the DLL open changing area as I prefer to have more space to move than be in a cramped cubicle. However DLL has stuck to single sex changing.

New toilets probably need to be designed with single sex ladies and gents, plus a disabled, plus a couple of mixed sex/gender neutral fully comprehensive cubicles.

Voyeur porn is a big thing. I always check unisex facilities for hidden cameras.

Lots of reports of men just leaving doors open when they piss.

In a "traditional" single sex design women can look out for each other. Nothing stopping a man taking a woman he's drugged through drink spiking into one of those private cubicles and assaulting her. We know through research that bystanders don't intervene in that situation.

There was nothing wrong with the old set up before people started bleating on about special identities. I'd rather spend my energy on campaigning for better facilities for disabled people than upend everything to accommodate a man in a frock.

If bystanders, male and female, on the street don't help, what makes you think women who happen to be in a public toilet (and there might not be any at all) would help?

Because there are massive issues with voyeurism. www.thetimes.co.uk/article/unisex-changing-rooms-put-women-in-danger-8lwbp8kgk 90% of sexual assaults happen in them.

OP. I don't want to share public toilets with men thanks. They piss everywhere and leave toilets filthy. I used to clean toilets so I know.

My point is that a man is extremely unlikely to walk into a female toilets and try to assault a woman in front of a group of women in the first place. So the design reduces assaults. It's a very common concept in environment design that you can reduce the risk of crime through the design of spaces. Look it up.

Not a single thought for accessibility.

As per usual.

Crack on.

Well it does happen:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1512308/Girl-11-raped-in-toilet-at-Sainsbury.html

I would argue that my proposal reduces assaults as the door of each cubicle is in full public view. The attack I have linked would have been less likely to take place if the setup was like the second picture, as everyone in the supermarket would have seen him dragging her into the cubicle. In a deserted single sex toilet, no one saw and she was left to defend herself.

Why does this preclude having disabled toilets? They could easily be made wider with everything needed to make them accessible.

FWIW, I have ulcerative colitis and often need to reach a toilet urgently. It annoys me so much when there is a massuve queue for the ladies and none for the gents. This evens things out a bit and also means that I'm less likely to have to use the disabled loo (which I am entitled to do due to my condition but try not to in case others need it) in a complete emergency.

You're wrong though @Quinoawoman, research shows most assaults happen in mixed sex facilities.

You won't mind linking your stats then?

Ha ha, have you never been on the loo whilst your toddler plays with the lock op?
Who pays for all of these significant changes?

@Quinoawoman @Clymene linked an article below but it's easily searched. Women and girls' safety, privacy and dignity should be the absolute number one priority in changing room and toilet design (as well as bloody well having enough of them), don't you think?

Bannatynes also single sex.

The best toilet set up I’ve seen was at a Zizzi restaurant. Several individual self contained (I.e including sinks etc) rooms along a corridor each marked male female or accessible.

Why does this preclude having disabled toilets?

Because 13 posts in, no one gave them a moments thought. You certainly didn't. Don't worry - you're perfectly at home here in the UK. As I said, crack on.

Mine was the 9th post. I mentioned disabled.

Floor to ceiling doors make it MUCH harder to check for someone who has collapsed inside, harder to clean, and more likely that they are used for drug taking. Single sex with a small gap at the bottom is safer.

I also made the case for prioritising the design and provision of toilets for disabled people ☺️

Or you could try campaigning for potty parity for women, as American women have been doing for decades, with legislation for equal wait times a thing in dozens of states. Hint: 1:1 isn't it, more like 2:1 oe 3:1. Rather telling this isn't even remotely on your agenda.