Used an 'all genders' bathroom today

[Dominoodles]

Sent to the theatre today and ended up in an 'all genders' bathroom. Walked in and came face to face with a man and we both instinctively apologised to each other. There was this instant understanding that we should not be sharing that space.

The toilet itself was awful. There was urine splattered all over the seat, a pool of urine on the floor around the base of the toilet, and no sanitary bin that I could see.

I can't say I felt unsafe, exactly - the only man in there was perfectly polite. But it didn't feel 'all genders'. It felt like I was in the men's and everything was covered in pee and nothing catering to women at all. I felt like an intruder, and that it was not a place for women.

I never gave any thought to the concept before but now I feel really uncomfortable about it and I don't really know how to put it into words. What are your thoughts on 'all gender' public bathrooms? I'd love to pick the brains of some ladies here.

In days of old
When knights were bold
And toilets weren't invented.
They'd dig a hole
In the middle of the road
And sit there
Quite contented.

Women's urine was collected separately as being more suitable for fulling. Gusset pots were used and the pee kept separately. Besides, men tended to pee in the garden instead. There's a rather charming painting by, I think, Fragonard, about to use a gusset pot.

And its still used to cure Tweed 🤓

Even if there was a coprophile around, that fetishist is more likely to be a man.

Stale urine was used for fulling woollen cloth. It got rid of the grease and the process (stamping or dancing on it) felted the fairly open weave together. If you've never seen it, Tony Robinson's Worst Jobs in History has an hilarious segment where he's doing this. (Starts at 40:00). It's on YouTube, I won't include the link because the image that comes up is revolting! 🤢

Yuck - I hate that. At least the man was as apologetic as you, which is the natural thing. But many/most aren't. I find the younger ones (my age - I'm 20) think it's a joke at best, a chance to be a perv at worst) while the older ones just go about their business and look embarrassed.
Either way I don't want them there!

I can assure the poster that asserts otherwise that the term ‘bathroom’ is completely commonplace in Scotland - which is (still) part of the UK. ‘Toilet’ was not regarded as ‘polite speech’ when I was growing up. It was ‘bathroom ‘, loo or lavatory. Lavatory was always the word used in school.

Toilet had never been considered polite but bathroom was never used in my experience. It was lavatory or loo.