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?

Yeah phlegm hacking should not be allowed either, in fact I'd rate that as being more disgusting than washing blood away.

I've used a mooncup but never had the guts to wash it out in public toilets, I have in the longer suffering disabled loo. If you dont wash it it gets stained btw.

The contents dont actually touch the sink you pour it right down the plug hole and everyone knows plugholes are grimy.

Have seen other women wash them out in public and no one died.

But again my periods are a horror show so I'm bit eh what ever about blood....and clots...and even more blood

And yes I’m one of those who elbows open doors and taps If I really have to use a public loo I carry tissues in my bag so I use those. I also carry hand sanitiser, I can't bare touching anything in public loos.

My own loo here (I live alone) is full of bleach, disinfectant and cleaners. I don't have OCD at all just a phobia of loo germs.

I don't touch anything in public toilets, I wash the tap and handles as I clean my hands and then use hand gel after...not that I'm ocd about it or anything. Also don't use the hand dryers germ blowers they should be called.

So the 1992 regs could undo this sort of thing completely? That is useful info.

The contents dont actually touch the sink

Just from a (somewhat pedantic) lab perspective the sink would still be classed as contaminated. It’s not possible to pour something down a plug hole without tiny non visible splashes in the surrounding area (unless your menstrual flow is a superfluid 👩🏻‍🔬)

Having worked with human tissue in the lab the precautions you need to take are strict. If material is known to be infective it gets very strict.

I’m actually not sure what the answer is for mooncups. Human blood though is not something I fancy having in sinks where I’m washing my hands. Which is why I elbow the tap open and never fill a sink - but I know some people do fill sinks to wash hands.

Bowl I assure you my flow is a super fluid that resembles lumpy soup sometimes...TMI! Lol.

If you dispose of the contents down the loo it doesn't always flush away (there's a trick with toilet paper but it's not great) and thats more unsightly for every one.

I would never in a million years sink wash my hands. Public health memo needs to go out that public loos are dirty.

If anyone bothered to ask women 'what do you want from a public toilet' would anyone put 'men' top of the list?

No. I'd put "toilet" but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm against men being able to use the same toilet as me.

MY SUPERPOWER IS MENSTRUATING A BOSE EINSTEIN CONDENSATE I love it .. :)

Yeah I tend to assume that all public loos have been thoroughly contaminated with body fluids.

I've just read the thread back...perhaps share this thread with men and ask if they want to share toilets with women like me and my bose Einstein condensate murder scenes and women who need to cry in loos and how could I forget the puke inducing pregnancy hormones? Oh and I've seen menopausal women with hot flushes stripping off to cool down in the ladies with friends surrounding her to fan her with magazines.

Your welcome for my service of being a walking advert for single sex toilets.

because it's a fact that men struggle to aim directly into the toilet bowl every time and some men won't bother to clean up after themselves.

Seriously? I mean they've only had their entire lives to learn how to use it.

I am 35 and I have NEVER seen a woman washing blood stained mooncup or knickers (as other threads have mentioned) in a sink. Why would you do that? I just don't think it is something you should do in public - couldn't it wait until you got home? I appreciate that women may have menstrual needs but is the public bathroom the place to meet them? Aside from anything else, what would you do with your wet knickers, put them on again?

Also what about women adjusting hijab, women getting changed? And men getting changed too - plenty of men bike in and change quickly in the loos. They also need a bit of privacy. I’m quite sure that most men don’t want to share loos with women either tbh.

I’m pretty sure a few encounters with ladies cleaning mooncups would be enough to sway most men

This really doesn't bother me (we have this at work too). I never wash my moon cup out if someone else is in there, male or female - it's weird!

If a enough men and women think menstrual blood is icky or germy does that mean us heavey bleeders can stay home and nominate the rest of you to run our errands, go to work and earn our money? I don't mind being ostracized from society if I have Netflix, snacks and an income.

Not being put in a hut at the bottom of the garden though.

Men don't piss on the floor because they are dirty or unclean - it's because they have a penis and if they don't have a urinal it's difficult to aim for the bowl. I think it depends on how well regularly the toilets are cleaned. Perhaps as my experience of unisex toilets has been in clubs and bars so this accounts for the piss all over the floor. Either way I think some recognition of the hygiene issues is important because it's a fact that men struggle to aim directly into the toilet bowl every time and some men won't bother to clean up after themselves.

Seriously, how can they miss a toilet bowl? its massive. If they cant manage it then they need to be sitting on the toilet and putting their penis between their legs and weeing like that.

Onlyinanemergency according to the post by Frankexchangeofviews your employers are in breach of H&S regs.

workplace (health safety and welfare) regs 1992...require the employer to provide separate toilet and washing/changing facilties to men and women unless they are self contained ( i.e. no shared space) Employers have to provide sufficient sex segregated facilities for the number of employees in any given workplace, They can of course provided additional unisex faculties if they so wish
The Regs are still good law and still in force. Breach of the regs is a criminal offence by the employer with a max penalty of 2 years in prison or unlimited fine.
You can report them, or threaten to.....at least bring it up with your H&S/HR people.

Tsk. Apologies for bold fail.

I think the religious aspect is an important one. If muons offairh who requires sec segregated fully private facilities what are their rights?

Bose-Einstein condensate menstrual flow... only on MN .

Seriously, though, how does washing a mooncup differ (other than in volume, obviously) from washing bloody hands after removing a tampon that's leaked/inserting a tampon without applicator? Menstruation is messy. I use hot water and copious amounts of soap, but there's no getting round the fact that it's a messy business.

I had a couple of interesting convos with male workmates about unisex loos (we have single sex ones, but within each there are floor to ceiling dividers with sinks in each cubicle, so it wouldn't be an enormous re-jig of the building to make them unisex). One said "trust me, you wouldn't want them - men are filthy and their piss stinks." The other one said "we have a toilet weirdo. He doesn't lock the door. First time I thought it was just an accident and he'd forgotten, second time I thought maybe he was just absent minded, third time I thought he's leaving the door unlocked on purpose, he's got to be getting off on this..." - implication being "it's disturbing enough for me as a man to have to put up with this guy's weird behaviour, but imagine if he could do it to female employees too."

I volunteer in a large building which recently went all unisex, fully enclosed but it has come at a cost. There are now less toilets and because of the mirror and sink being inside the queues are getting long whilst previously it not being a problem. Which then leads to people sneaking into the disabled and the offices have quite a few disabled employees. Luckily most of the employees and volunteers are pretty clean but the sink in the toilet leaves the floor and seat wet so it can be difficult to know which is pee or water.

If muons offairh who requires sec segregated fully private facilities what are their rights?

Is this a very new religion? the answer is, I assume, if they are female they don't have rights with regards to this - after all women are 51% or thereabouts of the population and trans are allegedly 1% (is that right?) So it stands to reason that the very small number of people take precedence over over half the population.

I'd be mortified washing my mooncup out in front of anybody, male or female!

God I am such a sad geek - I read "muons" and my first thought was "But muons are fermions, not bosons..." Then I realised it was a typo.