Uncomfortable about unisex toilets at work

[Onlyinanemergency]

My workplace is moving to new premises and all the toilets are to be unisex. Apparently the bathrooms consist of several floor-to-ceiling cubicals opening out onto shared sinks. There is then a large window onto a public corridor so that the sink area can be seen from outside the bathroom. There are 3 of these bathrooms, one on each floor of the building, as well as 3 single disabled toilets. The architects have obviously put a lot of thought into creating toilets which are unisex but also fairly safe and private, yet I still feel really uncomfortable about the idea. Particularly about not being given a choice. Am I wrong?

There's a reason why not all toilets are designed in the same way as disabled toilets - single room with a sink - and its because you cant provide enough toilets that way.

Surely in the case of new build offices that "can't" is simply a case of "don't want to", due to the reduction of commercial space?

Why is there a push for unisex toilets? Is it just a trans thing?

Why the need? Who actively wants to piss, shit, deal with period stuff etc etc etc next to people of the opposite sex?

There's a reason why not all toilets are designed in the same way as disabled toilets - single room with a sink - and its because you cant provide enough toilets that way

Depends on the building and the willingness to spend but it is won't , not can't. Off the top of my head I can only think of 4 buildings with gender neutral toilets and they all have this arrangement. 2 dispense with any sinks or mirrors outside the individual rooms, 2 retained them. It will be cheaper not to have individual sinks but adding a small basin and a mirror makes little difference to the size.

One of these arrangements is a row of 4 or 5 lockable rooms in a restaurant. The single occupancy rooms open direct on to a semi open plan area at the entrance and are smaller than a rather nasty set of female only cubicles in my office.

Well that's one of the toilets women have to use if they're out and about. Are you commenting on how appalling that is?

I am commenting that even Seattle's most ardent proponent of unisex toilets should not be supporting that arrangement as it does not seem to meet the acceptable design criteria for them. They look appalling for any user.

Same sex toilets are illegal. That's what they wanted, that's what they got. There's nothing anyone can do about it.

No, I do not like all-in mixed sex toilets off a corridor. They are unsafe for women.

@lasswiadelicateair All the issues that the "washroom essentials" article listed a
nd then completely failed to address, including shy bladder syndrome, sexual assault risk, religious considerations, and all the ones I and others have mentioned re washing blood from clothes, would still apply in that brewery's loos.

then completely failed to address,

Yes I noticed that too! "Yes these are all problems, but they'll have to get over themselves because wrong side of history"

Surely in the case of new build offices that "can't" is simply a case of "don't want to", due to the reduction of commercial space?

Yes, but probably cost more than space. If a builder goes for cubicles direct on to a corridor or foyer there is a saving on floor space but an extra cost in individual sinks, mirrors and driers.

Although given this will be multi- million pound spend perhaps the way to go is lobbying for the mini bathroom but no outer lobby arrangement as the most secure and private for everyone.

Why the need? Who actively wants to piss, shit, deal with period stuff etc etc etc next to people of the opposite sex?

Well here's the thing, do you like doing any of that stuff in a cubicle with 1cm thick plywood walls and a foot high gap at the bottom, and three foot at the top? Noone seriously likes taking a shit in tiny, flimsy boxes like that; not women, not men, noone.

So I'm guessing someone had the bright idea to make bigger, sturdier rooms with everything you might need in (yes, I think there's needs to be a sink), but of course that takes up more room than flimsy cubicles... But not to worry, because you can claw some of that space back because now you only need one room that leads onto those little toilet rooms, because noone does anything private in it any more.

Voila! Unisex toilets.

Oh yeah, and trans. No longer a problem, they're probably thinking.

I haven't read through the 23 pages….but has anyone suggested doing a group mooncup wash? Fill up mooncups with real menstrual blood or fake and then publicly wash them in the hand basins. Men are socialised to find women's 'blood' highly disgusting. It's the very last thing men like to think about let alone witness. If they are faced with this in a very real way, they'll be clamouring for segregated toilets.

Ive had unisex loos at work. Two cubicles in a rather confined area. Eventually they allocated one for women and one for men. The women’s one was always kept much nicer. I absolutely hated being in the confined space and bumping into men when I left the cubicle though.
Not to mention that a certain sticky substance had been found in the men’s toilets on the odd occasion as well

Rat: it's not broke. Why fix it?

And the solution for those women, with which surely noone would lose, is individual cubicles (rooms) with floor to ceiling lockable doors and sinks inside.

Yes I'm sure you are right.
However given how long it's taken for businesses to comply with disability access legislation I am not sure it's achievable. It will cost £££ and a lot of small businesses don't have that.

The current situation works. You are suggesting a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, except for entitled men who want to push women's boundaries.

Transsexual women have used ladies facilities for years. It's only become a problem because certain trans activists have kicked up a stink. What could their motivations be? I can only think of ones that are detrimental to women.

Rat is raising a problem no woman has ever raised. Rat is claiming women have a problem with the current set up of partitioned cubicles in a larger room. It's necessary for Rat to pretend we have a problem with this in order to pretend that a solution is needed, with the solution being the end of sex specific toilets.

No, no and no again.

It's useful to keep calling out this sleight of hand.

Yes because you spotted it partly due to being accustomed, most people would not spot it, and would start to doubt themselves.

.Rat is raising a problem no woman has ever raised.

You're telling me no woman has ever flushed the loo before weeing to mask the sound? You're telling me no woman has ever used loo roll to disguise the noise of wee and poo hitting the pan? You're telling me Japanese ladies toilets don't have a button for "pretend toilet flush" sounds so that other women can't hear the sound of them weeing?

Nope, doesn't happen does it.

Oh, here's a recent thread on AIBU about using loo roll to mask the sound of farts etc.

Neeeever happens.

Rat is raising a problem no woman has ever raised

I think Rat is still spending brain energy on fantasising about that circle jerk they mentioned a few pages back something else a woman would not immediately mention in a pretend flounce

YetAnotherSpartacus I have never experienced so much gender stereotyping in my life as I have from the "gender critical" brigade on here.

I suggest you advanced search my username if you have any doubt as to my biological sex.

trawling women's toilet threads to find non-existent female campaigns to end sex specific toilets? Mkay

Is it challenging gender stereotyping to tell women to have a circle jerk? Oh, ok.

Yes - started a miscarriage in a work toilet. Transactivists are cruel to remove privacy from women.

Me too. And the support of a woman near stranger got me through it. And it was she who went and signed me off for the day.
Coincidentally, if it had been a totally enclosed cubicle she may not have heard or been able to intervene. So although I thought I didn't really have a view on partitioned as opposed to enclosed, I actually think partitioned is better as it affords sufficient privacy for normal use but more safety, within a female environment, for some situations.

trawling women's toilet threads

I didn't "trawl" them, I simply remembered one. I responded on that thread.

Unless Rat is all or any of the following - architect, town planner, builder or property developer Rat is not creating a non-existent problem to fix. Someone else has already made the fix.

She is pointing out that if done properly self contained rooms can be much nicer and just as safe as partitioned cubicles. She is right about the putting loo roll in /flushing before you use the loo. She did not say anything about a campaign by women to fix this. It's not a problem worth a campaign but flimsy partioned cubicles are horrible. I would be happy to see them gone if replaced with the right sort of single rooms.