Women's urinals?!

[Puffpaw]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40899902
I don't think I could pee standing up. Is this for women or men? I also would not feel safe with my trousers round my knees and my bum out in a public place.

Lass I get that dream too!

Guy in article says women waste more water because they can flush up to three times when they use the loo. That's probably to flush away blood or because women would be more embarrassed leaving anything behind in the loo, which I see as a good thing.

Did they talk to any actual women while designing these things?

There are definitely improvements that could be made regarding women's public toilets, but this hover toilet is unlikely to be one of them.

Once I had to use a squat toilet in China whilst wearing a longish evening dress, tights, high shoes. I still have nightmares about the logistics of trying to hold my bag, maintain my balance whilst keeping the dress off the floor, all the time attempting to minimize my time in the toilet because I was aware my suede stilettos were absorbing floor fluids - aaaaaaaagh!

vestal of course it denies women's biology - we don't have penises we can point and piss? It is much harder to aim with normal female anatomy especially at the beginning and end. Plus women can be prone to leakages in a way men just aren't, especially after childbirth. This whole idea is ridiculous and it seems to me have not been designed for biological women but as part of this creeping erosion of women's space with gender neutral loos.

Thanks for everyone's responses, glad it is not just me that thinks the concept is totally bonkers!

So it's just a toilet that's tilted? Angled to make squatting work better?

I suppose they may have listened to the many women who squat instead of sit. And then tried to design something around that concept.

But squatting is the solution to the problem of not wanting to sit on the loo seat. It's certainly not the way most women like to go to the toilet. And doesn't solve the problem.

Having to squat is the problem. Not the solution!

It's the privacy issue that makes it a no for me. Also women's toilet needs are more complex than men's so we shouldn't be palmed off with male- like faciliities. I don't think this idea will ever take off though.

I agree it won't take off. Can you imagine elderly women wanting to do that ffs.

The most irritating part is they simply have not listened to women and what they need from a lavatory.

More of them, and more space in them.

Although I don't know what the solution would be to not wanting to park your bum on the seat.

Didn't they invent a loo a while ago that had automated loos seats? When you'd used the loo, the seat would slot into the wall, for cleaning, and the second one would come out for the next person.

Am I getting this right - you will have to have your trousers at your ankles in public while hovering backwards over a urinal, with your fanjo in full view? This is helpful to whom exactly?

And what about changing a tampon/towel?

What kind of fucking idiot invented this. And can we guess if it was a man or a woman? (To be fair, if it was a woman, she needs her head examined)

Can't imagine pre-op Transwomen would be too keen showing off their lady dicks either. Or.....?

Can you imagine elderly women wanting to do that ffs.

Not necessarily an elderly crowd but this thread keeps suggesting to me a mental picture of the ladies loos at The Royal Opera House being replaced with these. Highly implausible !

OP " it seems to me have not been designed for biological women"

Exactly. In reality we are probably not even meant to discuss this, but what with the word "woman" having lost meaning.....

Assigned you made me laugh out loud. I had the same reaction reading this earlier today....what was the fuck was the inventor smokin'

Didn't they invent a loo a while ago that had automated loos seats? When you'd used the loo, the seat would slot into the wall, for cleaning, and the second one would come out for the next person.

A version where the seat is rotated and (I assume) disinfected if you activate a mechanism by waving your hand in front of it, has been commonplace for years in Germany.

Mostly at very expensive motorway restrooms, but they do exist.

I admit I still don't sit on them. Hovering is ingrained in me when it comes to public toilets.

And I think the desire for toilets you can sit on might be a cultural thing. Perhaps people who grew up with squat toilets prefer those?

vestal of course it denies women's biology - we don't have penises we can point and piss?

It seems they are designed for squatting over, though? That is totally combinable with female biology. You may not find it comfortable, but it doesn't deny biology.

Vestal, have you ever used a squat loo? Or had your period arrive unexpectedly?

When ever I've tried squatting to pee I've pissed all over myself. We do not have a way to aim like men do so of course it is denying our biology.

Actually, hovering (which is what these "urinals" force you to do), as opposed to squatting fully, sitting, or standing legs apart, is a denial of female biology. Because you have to clench your muscles to maintain the position it becomes nigh on impossible to empty your bladder completely and thus leaves you at risk of bladder infections. (Same reason a decent physio will tell you that having used the "stop the flow" trick once to work out which muscles you're aiming to work, you should then make a point of not doing pelvic floor exercises while taking a piss).

Also I don't know about anyone else and TMI but since childbirth I sometimes unexpectedly poo when I think I just need to pee. How would that work with one of those horrid things?!

Afuna you're not the only one! I have a bowel disease which doesn't cause me any huge problems, but would be extremely embarrassing if I had to use the toilet in public.
I guess I'll just have to join every other woman in the queue for the 2 or 3 cubicles that are left!

I notice from that article that Stonewall are fine with gender neutral provided but expect gender specific loos with people free to self identify which one they want to be in. The whole point of this is the right of men to get in women's loos with women if they damn well want to.

Would not use those things. Increasingly this will just mean many women give up being allowed to pee anywhere but at home.

Maybe we need a campaign of women using shewees outside, that might get the town councils thinking again.

that design doesn't look like it was intended for squatting.

(another sentence I never expected to type).

Well exactly. Squatting, to me has to create an angle, similar to one you use on a loo.

If you're doing it, in the wild, so to speak, you have to hunker right down in order to recreate that without the benefit of a seat.

But a facility has to recreate that angle, otherwise it goes everywhere.

I think. I'm trying to imagine it. You'd have to have to have your feet very wide apart in order to minimise, er, trickle.

This is the beginning of 'operation toilet' isn't it? The start to merging men and women toilets, due to the transsexual revolution and the encroachment on women only spaces.

I actually do carry a whiz-freedom device similar to the she-wee but in my opinion much better due to a few technological differences. So standing up to wee is not a problem, however I do not want to share public toilets with men unless each public toilet is a stand alone cubical. Mens toilets are generally pretty grotty at best.

Datun
the toilet bowl needs to stick out much farther from the wall

and then hey, we're back at the design we have already....hmmm!

Datun But a facility has to recreate that angle, otherwise it goes everywhere.

Yes, exactly. I'd not be too bothered if they introduced squat toilets. Where the toilet is filthy, I prefer it as don't need to touch seat or attempt to hover. But the half-way hovering thing is the hardest position to pee in!

The really stupid thing is, we already have a design of toilet (two if you include squat toilet) that is suitable for men and women. But urinals/pissing without a seat is the male thing, in other words the "default" (), so of course they need to try to design a loo suitable for us women to piss properly.

[I know someone who was involved in designing toilets/bathroom stuff, and years ago they mentioned the idea of female urinals/some designs... to an overhwhelming chorus of "wtf?" type responses from all the women present, followed by us having to explain all the reasons it was ridiculous. They shelved the idea at the time...]

If they want to invent squat toilets. It should be in a closed cubicle. The bowl needs to be wide, but not too wide so you can't straddle it. And you should have a bar in front of you to hold onto, in order to distribute your weight correctly so that you can squat sufficiently, without the lactic acid coursing through your thighs.

The cubicles need to be big enough to admit several children. There should be a hook on the door to hang bags. And the sanitary bin needs be at least a foot away from the bowl.