Nightmare in France mixed toilets

[Whattosay81]

Ive been in France for two weeks now and appalled at toilet rules here.

i have two young DD who I cannot let go to the toilets on their own anymore.

Bistro number 1, urinals, a male toilet and a female toilet. Past the urinals!!! So having to take my 8 year of and 11 year old past pissing men to access the toilet.

Restaurant number 2 - mixed sink area, 4 toilets one in male/female and baby changing, one male and one female and one blank. Took them both to the loo - had to put one in blank and one in female as baby changing was full. Then had to stop men in my rudimentary French from trying to use the blank one as my DD was in there, then having to listen to men pee etc and get my daughters out of there ASAP.

just shocked at how toilets are now mixed in France and feel I should warn you all.

YANBU. I don't visit France anymore, but I remember French toilets in public places for all the wrong reasons. They are disgusting (maybe there's a link there...)

It's common in France sadly, but I do see less of the squattie droppies now. I won't use them. Stick to toll motorways to avoid them. If you avoid the tolls you end up with the squattie droppies.

Made me 😂😂 at thought of weeing behind a curtain.

As a 12 year old in 1983 I remember blushing at having to walk past the ‘in use’ tribals to access the ladies in Bayeux 😳

Urinals not tribals

And thus it has been for ever. The French are not uptight about natural bodily functions. Old women and young women alike just walk past young and old men pissing. If the ladies loo is closed for cleaning at the service stations, then the women will automatically use the mens. The French dont have the prissy nature of some Brits. Maybe do some research before going on holiday.

Those getting bent out of shape about her daring to let her child use the baby changing for 1 min!! Literally a hole in the floor for all in the 80’s. How on earth did we all survive those holidays to France?!🤣

I don't think this is a new gender neutral development. French toilets have always been grim. I love France but their toilets leave a lot to be desired!

I agree it's not something I feel comfortable with as well but I suppose in the UK our toilets are pretty good, maybe it's because we are quite prudish. Look at our beaches here, we don't really get people sunbathing topless.

I suppose it didn't shock me that much as I did quite a lot of festivals and travelled around Asia before I actually went to France.

Same.

TBH it didn't bother me then

I lived in student accommodation in France for a year. The toilets were mixed (no ensuite). I used to piss into a large cup at night and pour it down the sink to avoid meeting weird men (of which there were many) half dressed at the urinal.

Like some other pps, I experienced this over 40 years ago, I thought it was the norm in France, though maybe not everywhere.

So did I, I'd forgotten about the mixed sex toilets, I'm trying to remember but I've a feeling showers were just loads of cubicles as well. I remember there being more catcalling and general flirting by random men but I also remember feeling it was much less threatening than the equivalent in the UK. It was oddly more genuinely friendly than intended to be humiliating or dominating.

I think mixed sex toilets are gross but I don’t mind a squatting loo. I think the French are much more different than people realise. Remember all those news stories about them refusing to let women wear modest swimsuits/hijab on the beach? I think if you walked up to an English woman on the beach and demanded she remove any clothing all hell would break out. Different ideas about autonomy.

I do prefer public squatting loos to a “regular” loo that’s been peed all over.

the squatting loo at least doesn’t require actual skin on loo contact… or akward hovering (which comes with a host of other issues, obviously)

Taught in Provence in the 70s. The staff room in my new built school had a communal toilet. Sinks on one wall with open urinals and two cubicles opposite. No one turned a hair - except me!

Still common in old bars and cafes but if you are used to motorway service areas, airports, superstores, etc you will not be accustomed.

Sitting enjoying the early morning sunshine in the cockpit of our yacht in Cherbourg Marina, a French man appeared, yawning and stretching on the next boat, acknowledged me with cheery, "Bonjour, madame", turned his back to me and peed over the side of his boat - the most natural thing in the world...to him.

I notice it's just men pissing wherever they want, women having to put up with it.
Genuine question - if a woman squatted for a wee in public, same sort of place men are weeing, would that be considered socially acceptable?

How are their toilets facilities for disabled people, I wonder? Or would we just be uptight for expecting to be accommodated with a clean functional safe space.

Never seen this in France not even in the shopping malls

There are disabled toilets, and baby changing facilities. The toilets are quite clean, why would you doubt it? We lived in France for years. Different nationalities have different priorities, no point getting cross about it.

Men pissing at the pissoir is the same as men pissing in latrines in the uk. The men are pissing at a urinal they are supposed to piss in! The cubicle for women in the same toilet. That isn’t their fault. If you wish to squat down and piss with the men, they will probably let you. France has always had low priorities for toilets and high priority for food. They care about where you eat not where you toilet. If people don’t like it, don’t go…simple.

After a quick google: According to a survey conducted by Hygiene Matters in 2016, 41% of French people no longer use public toilets. Among those surveyed, 53% of women are wary of public toilets.
From Yougov 10 years ago: Although French women are the nationality least likely to express discomfort at unisex toilets, the older generation tends to be more open to the idea. Among French people aged 55 and over, 57% said they were comfortable to use a unisex toilet, but only 46% of French people aged 18-34 said the same.
I can't be bothered to search for more up to date figures. Maybe if I did I'd find that French women have suddenly become delighted with the public toilets on offer to them? But these figures show around half aren't happy.

I'm surprised at those on the thread that have not encountered the like. When I lived in France it was really quite normal. As for dissatisfaction with public loos, I don't think the UK is particularly wonderful either. Local authority cuts have also meant there are a lot fewer.

Reading through this thread reminds me of when I lived in France before the days of mobiles. Quite often in French bars and restaurants you would often see the sign "toilettes et téléphone", you would almost think the 2 are linked.

In those pre-mobile days, before we all had them in our handbags, I remember a restaurant in Aix en Provence; beautiful city by the way. The loos were spotlessly clean and mixed. As you walked in there were 3 or 4 urinals behind you were a few cubicles offering a choice of pedestal toilets or squaties, whatever takes your fancy. Immediately next to the first urinal was a public telephone with just a thin low screen between them. I was on the phone to a friend I was due to meet and had been delayed. A man walked in, stood next to me and did a wee. He even mouthed (I was on the phone remember) "bonjour" to me upon his entrance 😂. How polite!

Normal for France. No need to get het up about it