Old Vic Loos

[HDDD]

Yay to double the loos - cos queueing for the ladies in the interval is a right faff
But, what, no actual ladies loos? - NO ACTUAL WOMEN ONLY LOOS
twitter.com/oldvictheatre/status/1179336786537005057 - thread
"The Old Vic @oldvictheatre
Our loos now offer ‘self-selection’ rather than being labelled male or female. This takes a descriptive, rather than prescriptive, approach following advice from surveys conducted with focus groups."

WTF?

So rooms with urinals and other rooms with cubicles or just rooms with both? Pictograms don't make it all that clear either.

And Toilet Twinning - FFS!

They seem to be getting a pasting on Twitter. Plus Caroline Criado Perez is on their case.

We need some brave soul in London to head out to The Old Vic and investigate for us.

Take a pen and clipboard and report back. Perhaps adopt a non-binary disguise.

Nostalgic sigh - the Man Friday peeps would have totally been up for this.

How many loos can be accessed by men?

How many loos can be accessed by women?

Those areas that contain both urinal provision and cubicles, would women have to pass the men standing there pissing? Because that would effectively make those loos male-only.

Are their cubicles floor to ceiling as is required by law? And how does a communal urinal area fit into this requirement that mixed sex toilet facilities are fully enclosed?

tbf only when when all cubicles can be used by men and women and men have to end up in a queue will they suddenly see an issue with Unisex toilets and then there will probably be a change because as we all know, mens inconvenience as far more important that women's safety

Why the hell is this happening in the UK? Just why?
I have said before, that three weeks ago, my lovely wife and I drove through France, Belgium, Germany and then ended up in Vienna and then back again.
Guess what?
We saw no evidence of this kind of madness in any of those countries, and I can heartily reecommend the loos in the Schonbrunn Palace, extremely clean and clearly marked - Damen and Herren.

Historic Scotland have just done the same

Old vic from Caroline on twitter

So @oldvictheatre has refurbished their toilets, and ended up giving men 18 facilities practically speaking just for them, plus 24 they share with women. So that’s 42 men have access to. Meanwhile women have access to 24, that they share with men. This is an improvement how?

CCP on Twitter is not holding back.

twitter.com/CCriadoPerez/status/1179354721863249926

"So @oldvictheatre has refurbished their toilets, and ended up giving men 18 facilities practically speaking just for them, plus 24 they share with women. So that’s 42 men have access to. Meanwhile women have access to 24, that they share with men. This is an improvement how?"

"The Arts Council's demographic breakdown is 1/3 male and 2/3 female for theatre audiences so it's completely obvious that there should be way more places for men to pee, eh?!?"

CCP said the Old Vic told her that everyone was happy with the new loos and there are no longer any queues.

Women are saying this is bullshit and are posting pics of the queues in the "women's" toilets from the last few days.

@andyoldlabour I disagree - most of where we we are in France has a single toilet and a curtain over a urinal, you just wait your turn as to what bit is more appropriate.

I do feel a bit sorry for the Old Vic team. Must be getting soft in my old age.

They did the whole "Yaaaay, it's so exciting, look at our brilliant new bogs" thing over a series of tweets. Signalling their great pride, their inclusiveness, their commitment to sustainability and the environment, their charity partner scheme.

Rest of Twitter: "Fuck off, you misogynist bastards".

The social media team must be crestfallen.

"most of where we we are in France has a single toilet and a curtain over a urinal, you just wait your turn as to what bit is more appropriate."

Ages since I have been in one of those, you will have to find a better class of establishment
Last time I saw one was when we were in Dunkirk for the 2001 TdF, a little cafe where I may have drunk a bit too much Leffe.

Hope the seats are absorbent.
I'm embarrassed for you, Old Vic, your dumbass policy is yet another scarecrow in the cornfield of women's rights.

Not long since men would be in the Old Vic Ladies to avoid Kevin Spacey.

@littlbrowndog, can you link to what Historic Scotland's have done re toilets?

Yes I think I can

But they did impact assessment

See below from twitter. Will look for other details

Your impact assessment notes that women (especially pregnant and religious women) may not be able to use your loos. Why haven't you taken any measures to mitigate this? This actively discriminates against pregnant and religious women, as per your own impact assessment!

We’re committed to the health (including matters of hygiene) and safety of staff and visitors, as well as ensuring that Scotland’s ancient monuments are protected when making changes. You can download our Equality Impact Assessment for the project at ow.ly/558e30pEkpE (2/2)

This from historic Scotland twitter feed

We’re refurbishing facilities @welovehistory sites to improve access & reduce waiting time by providing more toilets for everyone where possible. We doubled facilities at Blackness to 4 toilets as visitor numbers there rose 36% between 2017-18 (1/2)

www.historicenvironment.scot/media/5912/eqia-site-visitor-toilets-refurbishment.pdf?hootPostID=31b1e9a97971699c13dd956a1c8aa7ca

I was at the Young Vic, down the road from the Old Vic, which has had gender neutral toilets for a while. Last week, there were some tourists so confused by the signage, one finally said, 'I don't know where we're meant to go - I suppose there?' And went for the disabled toilet. At some point disabled people are going to complain.

I feel a bit sorry for the Old Vic - problems with them not having enough loos has been a long ongoing problem (and a bit baffling as they have had several renovations fairly recently but they never seem to get it right) and I think they spent a lot on this work. Anything they did was going to infuriate someone, but given that the shortage of women's toilets was always the biggest problem (during intervals there would be long queues of women snaking up the staircase waiting just to get near the loo, while men could quickly dash in and out) - their solution is a bit surprising.

littlebrowndog

Oh FFS - I'm a member of historic Scotland so will have to right to them