Do you feel nervous or uneasy using unisex loos?

[Motuihe]

It is a bit offputting when several men are washing hands and whistling away and you are only woman there. Or if you leave a loo at same time and clock eyes with a bloke.

No. I wipe the seat when necessary but my buttocks are not absorbent and my immune system is normal so why would I? I did try putting bog paper on the seat once out of curiosity but it wouldn't stay in place so I couldn't see the point.

(That's probably more detail than anyone needed at 8 in the monring. Sorry!)

I've been lucky in that I've never had to feel uneasy or nervous in one yet, but they gross me out. They always stink - not sure if it's that manpiss is stronger smelling, or there's just more urine that gets left, or both.

It's really not fair for women who have trauma to expect them to share though.

I hate them. I had to leave pub to find other loos once, as every single cubicle I tried had pee on the seat and floor (and worse). Also hate meeting blokes there. Just bring back normal loos!

😮😮

C'mon then, explain! What's your problem? Did your mother teach you bog paper origami and tell you the bog fairies would get you if you didn't use it?

I suspect seat papering is the reason communal loos always seem to have so much loo paper on the floor.

I hate unisex toilets and feel really uncomfortable sharing that space with men

No never. What a faff and a waste of paper! I just sit down unless I would obviously be sitting on something wet and unpleasant. If it's slightly wet I might wipe it. If it's a complete mess (very very rare) I find another loo!

Yup, at least 1 inch thick of paper all over seat! I know I’m a nut case.

Skin is absolutely absorbent! How daft to think otherwise.

💯 I don’t know anyone - men or women - who is happy with them.

I don’t feel remotely uneasy. It’s a sensible use of space and if it means the women who apparently take ten minutes to pee get a move on I’m all for it.

Good for you. My twelve year old niece would not agree with you.

Interesting. We have them at work. We informed staff prior to the change and invited comments (I was project manager at the time). We didn’t get one.

Yes actually i do.
Unisex loos are usually the type that open up directly onto the corridor so I don’t feel unsafe in them it would prefer female only, and i feel quite claustrophobic with floor to ceiling doors too (fear of getting locked in since being a kid). Also they are usually dirtier than women only loos.
I have been in unisex loos that have cubicles and shared handwashing facilities a couple of times though and i did feel uncomfortable, especially when they were empty I had to have a check that nobody was lurking!
I also wouldn’t have been happy for my DDs to go in alone whereas they would usually use the ladies without me going in with them.

if your 12 year old niece is uncomfortable using loo with complete strangers around, I assume she's always with an adult anyway and that's a non-issue?

Most female loos have male cleaners for a start.

It works fine in my workplace, you get used to it and now it's nbd.

The men in our offices are all civilised, in fact i think they actually up their game a bit bc they are sharing with women. None would want to be frowned upon by one of the women for leaving the loo in a unreasonable state - quite rightly!

We also have free sanitary products in our loos. Plus we keep communal perfume, after shave and deoderant (presents and testers people didn't want and donated) in one corner for people to help themselves. I think having communal facilities actually helps build mutual respect between men and women. If you need complete privacy there are some disabled loos available.

Having said all that, unisex can be slightly trickier in public loos. They have to be ones with properly secure cubicals, and and open space for washing hands where people can't hide or loiter.

I’m wondering how you presented this at your work, particularly why you were doing it. I have a gut feeling that no comments received didnt necessarily reflect true opinion but that’s just my hunch.

And yet plenty still do this. Galleries and national trust in my immediate experience.

Last weekend I was in a unisex toilet. Not floor to ceiling. 3 or 4 cubicles. I was in the middle. A man either side. My body felt unsafe. Found it difficult to pee. Never, ever felt like that in a single sex toilet. Man had to brush past me to get out because not enough room either.

Absolutely horrible...and yes, dirtier than women's only.

Eh? Unisex loos are a very inefficent use of space because they're all supposed to have a basin etc inside each individual cubicle/room. Cubicles with the mirrors, basins and (for men) urinals in an open single-sex space are much quicker and more efficient.

Why is there never a queue in single space loos then?

Ysp has single sex in the main building but mixed sex in the Weston. My son hates it as much as I do. He is autistic and he feels embarrassed and 'wrong' in there.

I very rarely come across them. In cafes there's usually a single accessible loo but that's different as they are only used by one person/family at a time.

There are new public toilets in Teignmouth in Devon which are a long corridor with self-contained loos along one side and are unisex but they're about the only one I can think of. And I went to a pottery centre (also in South Devon) where there was a corridor off to the side of the cafe with about three cubicles off it but i can't remember now if they had the sinks outside.

The unisex setup you descrinbe is definitely breaking the law if they expect the staff to use those facilities, they break Health & Safety at work legislation.

There's probably a strong case that it's discriminatory for visitors too, but that might need testing and might depend on the specific setup and whether it's feasible to provide something better.

Well that is exactly the issue isn't it? We can apply all sorts of laws but unless someone can use, it's pointless.