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.

For goodness sake, don't go to France then and don't go anywhere else in the world because you might find some, shock horror, cultural difference.

As someone else said, men pee, it happens, they are not standing at urinals waving their willies around for amusement, they are peeing, it's natural.

IMHO the French, along with other European nations, have a much healthier attitude towards bodies and natural events like peeing. They also have a much healthier and openly loving attitude towards children who grow up as mature and accepting individuals able to have a straightforward and respectful conversations with adults.

I think the OP is well over the top and this is yet another sign of a retreat from connection with the rest of Europe relating to you-know-what, sigh.

Another one adding to the pile of "it's not unusual" in France. I remember encountering them on a school trip to France when I was 11 and we just giggled about it, although I suspect the teachers made sure the coast was clear! We were more upset about the squat toilets!

I think the OP was thinking this was a new trend in France along lines so disliked by MN but as so many people have already said,toilets in old fashioned cafes/restaurants/public toilets have always been like that. When I need the loo on holiday,I'm just so glad to find one that I really don't care who else is there.

I’ve seen this a few years ago, I think we were in Portugal or Spain. Definitely not new toilets, rather far too old toilets 😁

I'm so old that when I first went to France, there were lots of holes in the ground (not even proper squatting toilets) outside the main areas. Can still revisit the smell. Things have improved!

I lived in France as a child for a few years, have visited at least a couple of times a year since then and now have a holiday home there. Toilets in France are a real mixed bag and the loos you’ve described are fairly common. It’s fairly standard to have to walk past urinals to get to female toilets, especially in motorway/ large road petrol stations or at the ‘Aire’ stops. I’ve even seen Street urinals that rise out the ground in a few towns and they are fairly public too. A lot of French men will pee outside too, so if you are having a BBQ with guests etc they will just find a quiet corner of the garden to go in. As a child I just learnt from a young age to just walk past urinals etc quickly and look straight ahead and up (never look sideways or down 😂). Whilst I found it slightly strange it never freaked me out as a child and I never saw anything as I always just averted my eyes.

Yes of course @IthinkIamAnAlien - UK parents never have healthy and
openly loving relationships with their children. They also never grow up into mature adults. This is definitely related to the design of our public toilets. 🤔

Me too - I first saw it in some public loos in 1973 on my first visit to France.

Exactly. I know it's not what we're used to but there's no actual harm here. Men using a urinal as intended are going for a wee, not wilfully exposing themselves to small children. It's only a big deal if you make it a big deal.

I was quite surprised by this when I used some public loos in France earlier this year. Having to walk literally past guys pissing in a urinal isn't exactly pleasant.

But then I tended to try and avoid the public loos in France altogether as it seems to be their aim to keep them as revolting as possible. They were all hideous.

They have been at least 25 years, in some places at least. I remember being somewhat shocked age 16 or 17.

I live in Belgium. Public toilets in shopping centres and toilets in official buildings or chic places will be split men and women. Toilets in cheap little cafes will be mixed, often one or two urinals and one cubicle. Even if there is a cubicle for women and a cubicle for men you often have to walk past the urinals to get to the women's cubicles. This has always been the case and is not something new to do with gender identity, just cheapness from certain establishments.
Some foreigners who come here don't like it, but for Belgians it's considered acceptable because decency is maintained. You don't see the men's equipment as the urinals have sides to them.

I couldn't care less & i cannot believe anyone else would either.

I ve not bought up my children to think that men and women are weird species to be avoided.

Were you in the habit of going to cheap little cafes when you lived in Toulouse? Maybe you didn't get out much or Toulouse really is different...

Definitely not unusual. Been going to France since the 1978 and have seen all sorts, from unisex holes in the ground upwards to cubicles.

Better take some pearls to clutch for when you come across a pissoir, OP.

Encountering horrible loos in French restaurants is certainly nothing new.

Currently in Sweden. Same stupid creepy shit here in a lot of modern buildings. Also Denmark where we were last week.
I was in one that had a sink in the cubicle which was a bit better.

French loos have always been basic and in smaller places, unisex. What’s so bad about people peeing in the space designated for that?

"I ve not bought up my children to think that men and women are weird species to be avoided"

In public loos, it's very sensible to teach your kids to stay away from men with their cocks out. But you do you.

I remember letting my daughters know that would probably be the set up when I first took them to France 15 years ago, just like my mum warned me 45 years before.

The toilets have massively improved more recently though. We’ve just come back from a trip and only came across one Aire with holes in the ground. Even the middle-aged French women in the queue were appalled! One went and used the disabled loo when she saw what was on offer in the ladies.

Well I've brought my DDs up to be aware of boundaries and their own personal safety, particularly around men @Bananasandcorn. I make no apologies for that.

I'd rather walk past urinals than have to use a hole in the ground.

I was in a shopping centre in Germany once & there was quite a queue at the ladies loos so they allowed us to use the men's loos!

I mean I think it makes sense that if men mostly use the urinals that it's a waste of any cubicle that are rarely used.

Perhaps loos should be separated as urinals & cubicles not male/female?

The boundary that is needed when walking past men using a urinal as intended is to not stare and afford them as much privacy as is possible in that scenario.

What a load of bunkum. Haha. I've got French friends that I've known since I was 14. They are just as healthy and/or screwed up as British people. Some can talk about intimate things, some wouldn't dream of it. Just like the British. And if weeing and pooing is all so natural, why put doors on the cubicles? Why not have pisspots round the restaurant walls and we can just stagger to them to have a wee while the waiter takes our order?

I'm not that coy about toileting but I'd much prefer to be in a women only bathroom. And I know enough French people who agree.

I lived in France for a couple of years in the early 00s and this was common then. It was a shock to start with!