[quote Winniefred]@Kelcat9494 "I don't really understand this because to be honest when I'm sat in the cubicle doing my business, I don't think about the persons genitals next to me, it's all very private as you know. The only thing we'd share is the sinks and I don't see a problem with that really"
1978 Ladies Toilets Glasgow Queen St 10pmish : A voice could be heard in the next cubical, a lady in distress, I responded - I was 15yrs old and didn't know what a prolapse was but it sounded scary as hell. I collard another Woman 50ish and she told me to go phone an ambulance ASAP. I did, I told the station manager and he came down, the now 3 Women blocked him ..."this is Woman's business go wait for the ambulance." He did, he knew when he wasn't needed nor wanted.
1996 Halifax Municiple Toilets: Ladies distressed voice crying "No, no, no "... I responded along with another lady, we convinced her to open the door she was miscarrying badly ... I had never seen so much blood, great big massive clots that would take two hands to hold & I was used to stitching up animals and putting prolapse back in sheep and burying dead lambs by this time. It rocked me emotionally. Yet the way the other Woman responded was something to behold, female solidarity of experience ... that day I learned how common this was and the necessity of maintaining female sex based dignity in a crisis on the open floor of a LADIES LOO. This was female business no room for men, even her husband was asked by her to remain outside and watch for the ambulance.
2002 Southampton West Quay. Pregnant with 2nd child ... mild pain in my abdomen, felt like a desperate need to pee went to the loo, blood, quite heavy, then pressure, I thought I had pooped, it was a clot a big one, then another ... called for help, a lady had a mobile, she phoned for an ambulance and they talked her through how to position me on the open floor ... this couldn't be happening to me ... not a like for like experience to that poor Woman years ago. It was hell! But 3 Women took charge, female dignity, care, compassion, understanding. Again I learned this happened way more frequently than most realise ..it's Woman's business but it's long past time we talked openly about it.
2016 Paris Gender Neutral Toilet: Had been warned by french friends not to enter alone if I had to use at all, always ensure you enter with another female better still go to a cafe and use theirs buy a coffee or cake. I waited, saw a lady approach look at me and nod, we entered together got chatting ... she told me "another Woman was raped in these loos that week."
Just because the norm is to pee, it doesn't mean that only peeing happens in loos ... life, biology, sex has other issues going on that we don't see, know, experience individually but collectively we as Women manage, silently. There is never any reason for any male to be in female toilets not even to clean ... that is Woman's business and should be a safe space from the male gaze for older Women at risk of prolapse, Women at risk of miscarriage, for Women to take 5 from their abuser, stalker & rapists. I cannot count the number of Women that phoned from female toilets for help after being raped or sexually assaulted. To centre males is a blind spot of cognitive dissonance around female reality and a dismissal of female reality. Don't buy into Male "feeling" he has no place in the horror of female biology in a patriarchal world. X
[/quote]
Yes!
Women's toilets are there to cater to women's biology, including miscarriages, morning sickness, mopping up leaked lactation, flooding periods, etc.
It's unsurprising that males in general perceive a toilet as a place to point and pee.
It's telling that, despite being told, they still don't care.