Public toilets! Wait for the ladies

[Burntt]

Taken my dd to a London show. Timing is terrible as I’m on my heavy period day and bleeding through super plus tampons every hour or so. I am amazed at how long the lines are at all the toilets! Is this normal now for big cities? 15-20 mins wait at the station twice and something like 10 mins in a McDonald’s. Theatre I was expecting to be bad but everywhere? I don’t get out much these last few years as I’m carer for my disabled child and when we go anywhere we can use disability toilets. Stood here with my radar key looking at the unused disabled toilet trying to distract myself. Of course if the men are waiting is a couple minutes only those lines don’t extend out the door and down the corridors. How are women putting up with this?!

Changing tampon, flooding cleaning myself up can all take some time many women will be on their periods and for some they will be dealing with a heavy bleed when it’s not heavy it’s much easier

now I am often bursting to go, start to pee and it just stops but I still feel I need to and have to stand up for about a minute before I can go again

A lot of the wait is hanging around waiting for the flush to refill I find .

Lippy, hair, all of that. And that's women of all ages. It's selfish I think.

Don’t people do that at the wash basin area ? Not in the cubicle

Winter is worse due to long coats, layers that need untucking and tucking back in and if Xmas shopping times, there will be more difficulty maneuvering with bags. I always notice that queues are worse this time of year.

But also, please, stop blaming the women doing what they need to do (knowing there is a long queue) and start blaming the poor facilities and those that decide on how many there should be. We rarely have enough provision for them. Especially considering that many women are dealing with situations that go beyond just peeing. It is something that does really make me cross when I see men popping in and out really quickly. If they can be so quick, then they clearly have too much provisioned for them.

I was once somewhere where the men had to queue (5 men in the queue compared to about 20 in the women's) and what a lot of moaning they were doing!! Such a privileged life they lead! I think some part of it was being cleaned which was the only reason for the queue. The women's was just the volume of women needing to use the facilities and we are so used to it that we forget to moan and complain. However, I think we should all complain a lot more. Every theatre trip with poor facilities, post about it on social media, shopping malls, give reviews about the amount of facilities (there are probably much better ideas). We should never worry about blocking the way to men's. If they have to squeeze past the queue of women it might actually push the inequality into their heads to a point they might think about what they can do about it (probably wishful thinking on this one, but I do get fed up seeing women flatten themselves against a corridor in an apologetic way to let men swan in and out).

Anyway, let's go for solidarity with other women and the crap we have to put up with, rather than blaming us for the bodily functions we have to deal with.

I found that in parts of Italy, especially in rural areas.

Sometimes in a busy theatre or something, you can't get into the area where the toilets are until it is clear enough so the new person doesnt enter until someone leaves the wash area. If you spend time redoing your make up, then yes, you're keeping the next person waiting while you do it. They cant even get in the room.

Other times, there are indovidual cubicles with sinks and mirrors inside so you are kept waiting if someone decided to restyle their hair.

I’m with you here.

Your radar key wants to be used. Needs testing periodically to make sure it works. Just do it.

No one waiting at the accessible access one...you are nuts not to have used it.

hovering is not good for your bladder. Hovering over a toilet seat (crouching) is generally discouraged by health experts because it tenses pelvic floor muscles, hindering full bladder/bowel emptying, which can increase risks for urinary issues like UTIs and prolapse, but infrequent hovering is usually fine, with sitting down (using seat covers if needed) and relaxing being the ideal for hygiene and proper function. While some studies find little difference, the consensus is that consistent hovering disrupts natural muscle function.

I’ve never had any problems and been doing this for years in public!

The sitting toilet is a a fairly modern invention. Humans would’ve been squatting throughout most of human history and still do in other parts of the world.

Yes very selfish of them

i dont understand people having a conversation in a toilet cubicle, just eugh

Just no

i want to go to the toilet in private

Sitting on the loo on their phone when there is a queue outside is selfish.

We should have a system like supermarket bagging areas, with separate queues.
Three quarters of the loos available for quick in and outs, loos flush automatically every 60 seconds.
Quarter saved for leisurely visits- no time limits.
😁

This is the best and most accurate reason IMV. Especially if no.2 involved. Some people flush tampons down aswell, I know I know, but often the bins are overflowing ugh.

And trans identified men (transwomen) want to get in with us? I reckon it's all those blokes in dresses who are totally confused in there. Stand up, pull the frock up, pull the knickers down, go, wipe, pants up. Oh dear, there's a lot more to it than opening flies, having a pee in the Laydeez, gotta pass mate.

In the cubicle? Why not at the mirrors next to the sinks?

Still blocks the room and stops people entering.

I don’t know what people do in there for so long. You go in after them and it doesn’t smell so it’s not an explosive episode. Can anyone fess up and shed light on what they do for so long in a cubicle?

Everyone and their granny's dog has a Radar key since you can buy the things on Amazon.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should..

@ProfessorDrPrunesqualerthanks for all you are doing ✨

I don't usually find London that bad, but I think it's just the fact that the place is rammed pre-Christmas right now. I waited ages in John Lewis Oxford Street the other day. Remember Selfridges being as bad last year. And theatre loos are always bad because of the unevenness of demand. But I've never missed my show.

Squatting is a totally different position to hovering.

to answer the question. I’ll often be in there a while. IBD has a lot to answer for.

I use accessible bathroom these days and it’s much less stressful

"How are women putting up with this?!"

It boils my piss, but what can we do? It's the same everywhere you go - if there is a queue, it is only for the ladies, or the ladies queue is longer than the mens. For all the people saying women take too long, well I don't imagine that women are on their phones any more than men are. Maybe they are putting loo roll on the seat, I don't know. But I've seen this in 3 foreign countries in the last couple of years - DH is in and out while I'm still in the queue. I thought the new shopping centre near me had lots of toilets, but come Christmas shopping, oh look the women are queueing. It's universal.

The only thing that would help is to have more women's toilets. If I were an architect it would be high on my list of priorities.

Yes, squatting in any position/height that feels comfortable for you is very different from having to do so in a very exact place - juuuust near enough to the toilet that you don't get wee everywhere, yet juuuust high enough to avoid touching the seat.

It's the toilet equivalent of those games where you have to pass the narrow ring along the long metal wire without ever touching it! If you didn't have to worry at all about whether or not you touch the wire and set a buzzer off, it would be magnitudes easier!