The Privilege to Pee (in real life)- Page 3

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 12/22/15 at 7:57am

Logistically urinals make more sense. You can fit three to five urinals in the space you might need for one regular toilet (due to the space needed for the stall), and they use less water (there are now even some places with waterless urinals). It's part of why the lines are shorter for the mens' rooms, they are just able to handle a higher number of users at once.

[Mike66]

Posted: 12/22/15 at 9:37am

Several reasons why this has become an issue.  Mostly it's the amount of space which was allocated to restrooms.  And until recent times, the answer was "as little as possible."

Wasn't very long ago (to us old guys), that the men's room was basically a long trough where everyone sidled up like a bunch of little piggies.  (The individual urinal with the privacy divider is a much more recent development).  Yes, there were a handful of stalls, but (especially at sporting venues), most of the business was the re-deposit of beer loans -- so a trough worked just fine.

The architects were men, who (for some reason) had assumed that 10 men and 10 women needed the same amount of space.  Or they just didn't care.  Space is valuable.  (And sometimes, the "extra" space was already being used for large "powdering rooms" for the ladies -- go see Radio City Music Hall.) 

And, without being coarse, men can "prepare" for the event a lot faster (and earlier) than a woman can.  And those seconds add up.  And since all the women need to use the stalls, the occasional fellow who also needs the stall for a bowel movement is really at a disadvantage to everyone else. (Let's be honest -- anyone who is having a bowel movement at the theatre is having some kind of "unusual" timing (maybe related to dinner?) and it's very bad to be competing against a line of women who need to urinate. 

The women at least have a choice of where to go -- they can wait at the woman's room, or they can crash the men's room.  What choice does a man with an urgent need for the bowl have?

In Europe, most of the facilities are uni-sex, because there are no urinals -- you enter the bathroom, and there are communal sinks -- but every lav has its own enclosure.  Nice idea -- but they take up lots of space, and stalls are harder to clean (and keep clean) than urinals, so there's that too.

For me, it's OK if a woman wants to use the men's room, as long as she accepts that she is going to see a lot of penises.   (At the Paris Opera Bastille, the men's room closest to the hall usually has more women than men.)  Of course the problem comes when there are so many women (who again take more time) that I cant get to a facility.  And, of course, children are not welcome.

And since I am now a man of a certain age, I'm not in total control of what my endocrine system wants to do.  Kudos to all the young men who can just point and shoot.  (Wait -- your time will come!!)  The appearance of unexpected events will always cause a significant delay in liftoff.  It just is -- it had to be an old man who thought to post those ads over the urinals.  Lots of time to read them..... 

And sometimes I don't have the "flexibility" to wait.  And peeing down my leg makes me very irritable.

[Petralicious]

Posted: 12/22/15 at 11:46am

KathyNYC2 said: "Anyone who has been to a public ladies room can attest that men are not the only ones who pee on the seat and don't clean up afterwards. It's pretty disgusting... I mean seriously, what is the big deal of grabbing a piece of toilet tissue to wipe off the seat when you are done.

 

 

 

" This is truth!  I prefer to frog it rather than hover, easier to hit the target and not get cooties!

 

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/22/15 at 3:45pm

But someone there mentioned the Radio City bathrooms where the urinals are so positioned that everyone using one is particularly exposed

 

Like 99% of the public restrooms in Europe.  I will never understand why the US is so freaked out about acknowledging the fact that a man might actually have a penis.

[binau]

Posted: 12/22/15 at 4:45pm

Indeed, it is surprising how many urinals in the US have dividers (very few in Australia do). My perception is that much of the US is very conservative RE: nudity. 

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/22/15 at 4:51pm

You want hellish urinals? The a Brooks Atkinson Thaeatre. I am NOT a broad man - my shirt size is generally a small. When I use the facilities there, the dividers at the urinal are exactly the width of my shoulders... Perhaps a half inch or inch less, as I feel compressed . I don't know how a tall or broad man does it.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 12/23/15 at 12:51am

"So now every man is now a potential sexual predator. So much for innocent until proven guilty. By simply being male you are a criminal."

Where did this come from?  Exactly how many women do you think are going to be attacked by men who have to pee in a busy public restroom?  Many, many establishments have established both-sex restrooms to no ill effects.  It's just childish to equate going potty with something sexual.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/23/15 at 5:01pm

Where did this come from?

 

The response from legislation regarding restroom access for the trans community, I'd imagine.  The news and internet was flooded with conservative lunacy.

[theatreguy12]

Posted: 12/24/15 at 11:59am

As a man, I've been using men's restrooms my whole life.

It is possible to walk into a man's restroom and stand at a urinal, a trough, whatever and not see his privates.  If you're looking to find one, they're easy to spot.  But that's not my goal or objective when I go to the bathroom.  Head up, eyes forward, get the job done and leave.

If a man or woman is offended by, or doesn't want to see, a man's privates, then don't go looking for it.  They're pretty easy to avoid with a little class and respect.

 

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/24/15 at 12:25pm

And if a person, male or female, sees your penis...what happens?  I'm just speaking to all the penis-owners out there.  If you are terribly concerned that another person might see your penis and confirm you are indeed male, why do you use a urinal?

[Kad]

Posted: 12/24/15 at 12:33pm

If someone sees your penis without the proper authorization, it disappears. Forever.

[Mike66]

Posted: 12/24/15 at 6:43pm

I don't think the real issue here is either penises or urinals.

it's stalls.  there aren't enough of them.

women need them for all events, but men need them sometimes just as much.

history and architects being what they have been, there has been an allotment of stalls in each theatre.  maybe not fairly.  (not much legroom sometimes too).  theatres need to try to retrofit to find some extra room for more stalls, and some have, sometimes in peculiar places.

at the end of the day, a man who needs a stall shouldn't be shut out by a line of people for whom other accommodations exist,  (no more than I should take your leg room because i'm more comfortable with it than without it.)

that's all.

[WaltG2]

Posted: 12/26/15 at 10:24am

Mr Roxy said: "If I am on line and a woman wants to wait in line behind me, I have no problem.How about letting women in for the stalls and men for the urinals?"

 

I don't know how you weren't able to figure this out for yourself, but stalls in men's rooms aren't just there for women who need it. They actually serve a purpose for the target demographic.

 

Are you going to volunteer to clean the literal crap out of the urinals that will become a problem if someone implements your "Men can only use the urinals in the men's room" policy?

 

Mr Roxy said: "I refuse to clean up someone else's mess."

 

Yeah, didn't think so.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/26/15 at 1:17pm

In ten years we won't even need to worry about this. All we'll have to do is press a button and out pants will suck all the sewage and evaporate it into thin air.