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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

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Original poster

“Gender neutral” toilets

24 replies

ElanoraHeights · 07/12/2018 20:16

I’m seeing more and more toilets designated as ‘gender neutral’. My office has individual fully enclosed cubicles (with sinks and hand dryers) that are for men/women and separate women’s/men’s toilets with stalls.

I was in an office the other day used by charities and it had gender neutral toilets which I assume had been previously segregated (with separate stalls but communal sinks/hand dryers) but which are now gender neutral. I feel really uncomfortable using gender neutral toilets. Is it just me? I like sharing that space with only women. It just feels too intimate to share that space with men. And would they want women in their toilets too? Doing something like checking my hair in the mirror would feel embarrassing if men were there, let alone changing a sanitary product.

This seems to be something that is cropping up more and more in spaces that the younger generations use - student unions, young/trendy offices, creative hub spaces.

Is it just me?

OP posts:

HestiaParthenos · 07/12/2018 20:26

Not at all. Is the last toilet thread really on page two already?

Taking sex segregated toilets and declaring them unisex (which is what this is, they were gender neutral before) is just misogynist.

I am also not a huge fan of those newfangled "sink inside toilet cubicle, door goes from ceiling to floor, opens to public space" toilets. While they are much safer for a healthy, able-bodied woman than those where the sink spaces is shared with males, they make me feel claustrophobic. What if someone passes out in one of those?

And as someone recently mentioned in a toilet thread ... forgetting to lock the door or accidentally opening a door someone else has forgotten to lock is embarrassing when everyone involved is female. With a man involved, it is MUCH worse.

Invisible1234 · 07/12/2018 21:06

It is awful...mixed sex is what they are, gender neutral sounds too harmless. We're meant to be talking about a tiny percentage and yet we all have this change enforced on us. There are various reasons why I am against the sealed unit cubicles. Those are good points Hestia. We need to be making a stand against this wherever we come across it.

Flightywoman · 07/12/2018 21:59

At the University of East Anglia they have so called gender neutral AND a separate room with cubicles.

So the women have lost their exclusive use but the men have access to both.

Which is shit.

Nannyrama · 07/12/2018 22:34

also unisex toilets genuinely smell feral compared to women's ones. It's hormones innit.

Original poster

ElanoraHeights · 07/12/2018 22:49

Thanks all. Glad it’s not just me. And sorry for not seeing the other threads on this. I’ve not been on for a few weeks.

I’ve only just come across this new fad and it’s really bothering me. I would have complained about it but I know that the person I was meeting at the charity is very pro the GRA and is of the woke generation so will be supportive of having gender neutral toilets.

At my office they have a mixed sex changing room which I hate. If I going to do sports after work I will change in the toilets rather than in the mixed sex changing room. They have single sex showers but you’re not supposed to get changed in there. Madness!

I wonder how many of the woke generation are really ok with mixed sex toilets or if they are suppressing any uncomfortableness to look progressive.

OP posts:

moofolk · 07/12/2018 22:51

Bleurgh. I work in two buildings (mainly).

In one there are unisex staff toilets. Shared mirror and hand drier bit, two fully enclosed cubicles with toilet and sink. Key code to get in. Gross inside.
Student toilets in this building also unisex, a row of cubicles floor to ceiling windows, everything enclosed in cubicle. Staff and student loos all minging.

Other building: male and female toilets, one disabled / accessible / all gender toilet.
I am much happier going to the ladies and sharing with female students than in the staff-only ones men can go into. There aren't many staff and I rarely see a man in there but - boak- I know they've been in.

AlecTrevelyan006 · 07/12/2018 22:52

I hate gender neutral toilets

cleanhousewastedlife · 07/12/2018 22:56

We have just had unisex loos put in in one building at work. No one is happy, but no one has (yet) complained. It's cubicles with a shared sink area. Does anyone have tips on what to take to the management? Do we put a poll up for people to mark up in the privacy of cubicles? We really don't want them to be rolled out throughout the rest of our buildings.

Sunkisses · 08/12/2018 09:43

There is really useful campaigning info about loos and the law here on the Woman's Place UK website: womansplaceuk.org/gender-neutral-toilets-dont-work-for-women-2/

And at schools here: womansplaceuk.org/mixed-sex-toilets-ins-chools/

I think women in the workplace need to speak up, complain and ask whether there was any consultation or impact assessment

catkind · 08/12/2018 10:13

I was thinking of this yesterday as I got wet on my walk in and I was standing in my bra drying my top on the hand drier. Which I felt I could do as anyone who walked in would be female. No I would not be happy if they decided to make the loos gender neutral.

R0wantrees · 08/12/2018 13:18

Do watch this speech at WPUK Bath, its excellent:

'Professor Clara Greed is Professor of Inclusive Urban Planning at the University of the West of England, Bristol, and a specialist in toilet provision with particular emphasis upon women's needs.'

MrGHardy · 08/12/2018 15:36

It's because the lobby has too much power. What they say is seen as the holy grail and every company wants to look woke. If someone complains, it's quickly shut down as just an individual, who is a bigot.

Original poster

ElanoraHeights · 08/12/2018 16:13

Thanks all! And yes, get the point completely about not being comfortable standing in one’s underwear in the loo with men potentially able to walk in.

Thanks @R0wantrees - I followed the live tweeting of the talk that a friend did (I live in Bristol) from the meeting but it would be good to revisit it now it’s been brought closer to home.

I asked my partner how he would feel having to share toilets with female colleagues at work and he did not like the idea at all!

OP posts:

MamaDane · 08/12/2018 16:17

Not really bothered tbh. Had them at school and been using them for ages.
As long as there are no urinals, except in the stalls, then I don't care.
Changing rooms are a different matter though

ChristmasWrappingTheWaitresses · 08/12/2018 16:23

I don't use them.

Any restaurant I've been to with mixed sex toilets, I've not returned.

I think if people don't want this to become the norm we need to speak out every time. Or maybe leave trip advisor reviews stating this.

HestiaParthenos · 08/12/2018 16:26

Or maybe leave trip advisor reviews stating this.

Good idea. We should also leave trip advisor reviews about single sex toilets. And mention whether male cleaners just walk in, or wait until no women are using them.

Voting with our feet and our money is most likely the easiest way to achieve change.

Original poster

ElanoraHeights · 08/12/2018 16:30

Yes, I agree on voting with our feet but not so easy when it’s an office you’re visiting (like I was last week) or a work environment. I am annoyed with myself for not commenting on the unisex changing room that we have at work during the last staff survey. Next year!

OP posts:

Original poster

ElanoraHeights · 08/12/2018 16:31

PS My partner said he would feel very self-conscious about using unisex stalls particularly at work. So it does work both ways.

OP posts:

ginghamstarfish · 08/12/2018 16:43

Good article, OP, have bookmarked it! Agree that if possible it would be good to have separate 'gender neutral' toilets, (hate that term, it means mixed sex') but as we know the GRAs don't want this, they want to access the WOMENS toilets. I will email this article to our local high school - don't have kids there but have heard from others that girls in particular are refusing to use the non-segregated toilets.

SaraGillie · 08/12/2018 16:49

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Lottapianos · 08/12/2018 16:55

'At my office they have a mixed sex changing room which I hate'

I'm sorry.... WHAT????!!!!! What bloody idiot thought that was ok? I can't imagine anyone apart from perverts being ok with that set up. I find it mildly uncomfortable getting naked or near naked in the women's changing room at my gym, but that's my problem and I don't feel remotely under threat. The thought of removing clothes next to a stranger with male body parts.... just NO. No way.

HestiaParthenos · 08/12/2018 17:03

I'm sorry.... WHAT????!!!!!

Yeah, why do they even have a changing room, if it is mixed sex?

You could just as well change in public in that case.

Invisible1234 · 08/12/2018 17:17

I'm remembering now the office pervert in my first job, the lewd comments he would make and the looks...how he would have loved to share the toilets with the female staff.

Also remembering the men who have bullied me in the workplace, the women's toilets was my only space away from them. How they could have continued to intimidate me in various ways if they shared the same toilets.

Ingenoeruddannet · 08/12/2018 17:47

Agree with OP, and the issue isn't just contained to the UK. At my university in Denmark, they have a set of 2 "gender neutral" toilets, that just look like they did the bare minimum to conform to some political agenda at some point or something... they are barely used, I've only ever seen somewhat drunk freshers going in or coming out, probably because they're too far gone to care. me and my colleagues just don't use them...

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