York theatre royal toilets

[pigsknickers]

I visited today and was irritated to find that one of the two women's toilets is now unisex (and yes the men still have two to themselves). Here's the text of the email I've written them; I'm planning to c&p it to any venues I come across who've pulled this stunt from now on. Awaiting waffle bollocks response.

"I visited the theatre today with my mum and two small children, and I want to tell you how appalled we were to find you've designated one of the two female toilet facilities as unisex, while the men still have two single sex facilities. There are so many reasons why we found this to be a misjudged move on your part:

1. Women need more, not fewer public toilets than men. We are often looking after small children or elderly female relatives in the toilets. We need more time and space to deal with menstruation (which we really don't want to do in a shared space with men). Many venues suffer from long queues to use the ladies' as it is. When I visited today, the toilets in question were full of women trying to toilet their children, with men adding to the overcrowding (while there was a men-only facility just next door). Yes, I could have used the women-only toilets upstairs, but with two small children in tow I had neither the time nor the energy to drag them up two flights of stairs.
2. Men's toilets are dirty. Men tell us this all the time; many men take steps to ensure they won't have to use a cubicle while they're out, because men urinate on the seats and floor. This gets worse in venues where alcohol is served.
3. Women need privacy away from men when performing intimate functions. I sometimes have very heavy periods, and do not want to wash blood off my hands while standing next to a man. I don't want a man to overhear me explain to my three year old what a sanitary towel is.
4. Women in states of vulnerability are not safe in shared sex spaces. Your cubicles are not even floor-to-ceiling; you are making it easier for predatory males to intimidate, harass and attack women and girls.
5. Women have fought long and hard for single-sex provision so that they have equal access to public life. Both the WHO and UNICEF emphasise the importance of single-sex toilets in protecting girls in developing countries from rape, and allowing them to participate in public life. Without adequate toilet provision, women and girls in this country too would have their safety and dignity compromised whenever they leave the house. I would be very interested to know what Equality Impact and Risk Assessments were carried out before this change was implemented.
6. It is just not acceptable that men now have access to 2.5 of 4 toilet facilities, while women - who I presume make up at least 50% of your clientele (I would guess more based on today's audience) - only have access to 1.5 of them. I anticipate an explanation that this change was made to make better provision for transgender people, and while this may be a laudable aim, I invite you to consider why it was deemed appropriate to remove a significant proportion of your female customers' toilet provision. This sends a very clear message that you value your female customers less than any other demographic, and for this reason I will not be visiting the Theatre Royal in the foreseeable future."

Fanfuckingtastic, well done pigsknickers.

At last, a victory for common sense and for women's rights.

I just hope they have the courage to stick to that decision, and that other organisations take note...

This is great because we can totally nick that letter to use in other cases and point them towards this decision

Wow. That is so - sane and responsive. I must be hallucinating

I wonder if the Old Vic would like to take a look at your letter and the response.

I still do not get why this is happening. It is a population of o.5%. Surely that can not be enough to alter the rest of society?
Just use the disabled or the ones you are biologically designed for. Not hard surely....

Very good news Pigsknickers I hope Center Parcs, et al, take notice.

I hope Center Parcs et al read the Center Parcs thread.

TW states intent to use female facilities.
TW is assured of respectful provision of third space to meet their needs while also meeting needs of female people and children.
TW makes clear this is unacceptable and they don't give a toss about needs of female people and children who can just get out of the way and shut up.
TW goes to Center Parcs and does in female spaces what TW was determined to do
TW comes on MN and openly gloats at female people that TW won, got exactly what they wanted and female people and their needs lost.

That this is about power, control, gleeful domination of females and enjoyment of above with absolute lack of anything approaching empathy or feeling for females, and not in the slightest about a dignified and safe place to meet needs, couldn't have been made more obvious.

It's not - in my opinion - the behaviour of women, generally. How can you even demand your right to womanhood if you seem to hate/think yourself better than women and girls?

Interesting that 'female people and their needs lost' - no sense of 'we' or 'us'. Interesting.

Great news, thanks for your efforts

That this is about power, control, gleeful domination of females and enjoyment of above with absolute lack of anything approaching empathy or feeling for females, and not in the slightest about a dignified and safe place to meet needs, couldn't have been made more obvious

Interesting that 'female people and their needs lost' - no sense of 'we' or 'us'. Interesting.

Everything above.

These are controlling and often perverted misogynistic men who just want women and girls to "know their place".

[quote AutumnRose1]Paris pissoir

edition.cnn.com/2018/08/14/europe/paris-urinal-intl/index.html[/quote]
where do they wash their hands??

Another bump for this inspiring thread showing that all is not yet lost.

Belated congratulations to pigsknickers and all the other campaigners. I hope the Northampton poster who noticed changes at their park toilets takes heart from this.

If I go back to the Royal Court in Sloane Square and see that their toilets are still marked Toilets with Cubicles and Toilets with Urinals I will follow pigsknickers example and make waves.

That’s me 🙋🏼‍♀️ viques thanks for bumping. It is heartening to hear good news and can feel a bit despondent at times. This forum is fab though and like someone else said strength in numbers 💪

where do they wash their hands??

Most of them don't anyway:

www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-handwashing/hands-down-men-worse-at-bathroom-hygiene-that-prevents-coronavirus-idUSKBN20S2N7

Which is disgusting when you think that they actually have to hold their penis to wee, whereas when I go to the toilet, the only skin I touch with my hands is the sides of my hips as I pull my trousers up and down - all other contact is whilst holding loo roll (unless changing tampon obviously) - and still we wash our hands significantly more than men.

“You should wash your hands, you dirty pig!”

I completely forgot to acknowledge the OP on the outstanding work, sorry about that! I was directed here from the other toilet thread and just got caught up in reading it.
My eyes are now peeled for wrong toilets as well as protected characteristic policies

I would like to know whether it is a criminal offence simply to to replace signs suggesting the the women's lavatories are now unisex ones with signs saying they are for women, by sticking signs which say the lavatory in question is for women over new the unisex ones.

If it is not illegal, it seems a fairly reasonable thing to do if one could get adhesive signs of the right size made at a reasonable price.

Well done op!

An interesting thread.

The idea that unisex toilets are standard in other countries seems to come from USA, as do much of this does.

I've seen loads of stuff with Americans saying 'in Europe' it's normal. Without much to back it up.

I've not come across them myself in plenty of European countries.

Even the old school hole in the ground ones I used in France a couple years back had a male and a female one.

Finland and sauna, Germany etc it's different cultures. The are protocols around it that are adhered to. Social convention.

I think last year or something a ?Swedish naked swim thing said let's be woke and go mixed sex and the women had a terrible time.

I find it really depressing that we have to fight this one by one. And of course it only applies to certain venues and facilities, private ones can do as they please. And yet even in ones where the law does apply, it's being ignored until complaints. We can't do this one at a time!

Final point. No men don't wash their hands much! I went to a club just before lockdown and they sent an email saying extra hand washing would be available because of Corona.

I was genuinely a bit surprised that in practice this meant putting hand washing stations and reminders outside the gents. Ladies was normal, nothing extra...

Belated thanks and congratulations to pigsknickers and everyone else who wrote.

I had the displeasure of encountering the Theatre Royal toilets last summer when I took 10yo DD. She went in by herself. When I went to find her I realised she was there alone with a middle aged man. So I stayed inside the room until she finished. It was obvious to him that I stayed because he was there. We were both clearly uncomfortable that the situation had arisen. DD was thankfully oblivious at the time. She wouldn't have been now though.

But I never did write to complain. I will next time!