Old Vic toilets change

[savehannah]

I went to the Old Vic theatre last night and was pleased to see they have changed the signage on their toilets to mens, womens and then two separate unisex/accessible individual rooms with washing facilities and proper doors.

Last time I went there were very unclear signs with pictures, and words saying stuff like 4 stalls, 5 urinals. And in the women's toilets, some confused and embarrassed men who hadn't realised they were the women's toilets.

Hope the same is happening elsewhere and other venues are realising their attempts at right-on 'inclusivity' are a mistake and nearly everyone wants/needs/legally requires single sex toilets.

Well that's good news about the Old and Young Vic as I've been refusing to go there for several years due to this. I complain every time I go to either Southwark Playhouse (which is a LOT) as they always ask for feedback afterwards. It's definitely worse at Borough, more men in the ladies. And as for the Elephant 😱🤬

It is not too painful to provide appropriate facilities, is it? Makes you wonder why they didn't do this in the first place.

Great news, thanks for sharing.

@MirandainSouthwark I didn't hate it but it wasn't my favourite, I didn't really get the story or the characters (didn't really like any of them). The music was fine in a Les Mis style but not memorable.

I was at the National Gallery last week and refused to use the mixed toilets - which were clearly converted from separate men’s and women’s toilets as described above, with 2 completely separate rooms with fully enclosed cubicles, floor to ceiling doors etc. I wasn’t happy to be waiting in a queue with just men behind a closed door, with those cubicles. And I wasn’t the only woman walking away from them. There are then toilets that are labelled as single sex. The womens are separate cubicles behind a closed door off the corridor, The cubicles are completely enclosed, floor to ceiling doors, with wash basins etc in each cubicle. There was general moaning in the queue that it took a lot longer - and one woman came in wanting only to wash her hands and was very confused. It was also noticeable that the individual cubicles smelt while the central corridor which the cubicles are off didn’t - presumably as it was being ventilated as people opened the main door to enter.

I may have ranted at them a bit in the survey they sent me - since it was about the Renoir exhibition I doubt it will even get to relevant people but I thought it worth saying that they had clearly spent a lot of money on refurbishment and it was a shame they’d ended up with facilities that were less safe and less hygienic.

This will be the practical issue in trying to make single sex the 'other', small additional provision. The sheer number of women needing to use them. And interesting even under the pressure applied to use the mixed sex, women were preferring to queue and use less pleasant facilities.

I suspect too a lot of passionate be kinding women in the moment will quietly head into the single sex, and rely on it there as a fall back should their initial attempt to be kind mean entering a space with a man they're afraid of.

See how easy it is.

Complaining is key. My husband asked a woman in the toilets (Southwark) how she felt and she frowned but said resignedly, "There's nothing we can do." I told him, next time tell her to email them and complain in person too! They don't know if you're upset about it but say nothing.

It's fascinating. Decades ago, the talk was ALL about how women needed MORE tickets, because our queues were insane and men strolled in an out fast (and were then able to spend money at the bar – it's in the venue's interest NOT to have women trapped in queues for the entire interval (as happened to me recently at Into the Woods)).
But NOW, venues are happy to spend LOADS of money changing facilities to allow mixed-sex, while either keeping the same numbers or deliberately reducing capacity (as in the Southwark Playhouse (Borough) decision to REMOVE all the urinals, which could easily serve 20-30 men during the interval. Insane decisions – why? Because they don't want to tell men they CAN'T go in the female toilets.

Not sure about Elephant but there's definitely a sign in the toilets at Southwark Playhouse Borough saying if you have a problem with it, you're the problem.

Building Control can also be a problem for Southwark Playhouse Borough.

I would very much like to hear that defended in a courtroom for sheer entertainment value, as that's a flat statement that your diversity and protected characteristics are 'a problem' and justification to discriminate against you.

Arse flambe.