Like the OP, I’d be disinclined to use it, but my concern would be that a woman would want to use it while I was there and get weirded out “by the perv”, and then it becomes a thing. But if the place was empty and my daughter was willing to stand by the door, I’d go in. Or I’d wait like the OP.
Ideally, the restaurant would just make them unisex, as others have suggested, which removes any potential “creepiness” factor.
Nerve damage.
Difficulty in controlling bodily functions below the point of injury is a very, very common feature of spinal injuries, as just one example. Such a person may have little to no control over their functions. Even people not in wheelchairs can have such problems - I know of two occasions where my late spouse wound up going on himself because no one would let him jump ahead in line, they insisted on him waiting his turn. I had to run to the car and get his emergency spare underwear and jeans. We just tossed the ruined clothes. The fact that he always had such a spare set of clothes in his car, from the first time I met him, tells me those weren’t the only two times. He just didn’t have the physical ability to hold things as long as an able-bodied person. Sure, there are adult diapers, but they aren’t perfect or foolproof and once full need to be swapped out. Standing in line with your underwear literally full of piss and shit is a really, really uncomfortable thing and I don’t want to be part of subjecting another human being to that.
Elderly people can also have such problems due to various ailments and the fact that when you get old nothing works like it used to. If you need a cane or walker to get around it’s going to take longer just to get to the toilet, and if on top of that you are now have issues with holding your piss or shit… well, about once a month at the store where I work some elderly person has a bathroom accident. Which is why we have “biohazard” cleaning supplies in several locations in the store.
So… yes, I avoid using the handicapped stall even if it’s the only stall because I want it to be available for the gal in the wheelchair or the little old lady using a walker or some woman who has a bodily waste issue that is completely invisible and unknown to me who walks/wheels in the door thirty seconds after I do. Because, as I said, for me it’s almost never an emergency and I can wait another minute or three.
At the big sports stadiums around here it is common for women to use the mens restrooms since there’s often no line for a stall in those while the womens ones often have long lines.
Just keep in mind that’s only okay for people who were assigned the female gender at birth. If they were assigned male at birth and transitioned to female, then that’s Not Right if I am interpreting these things right. 
Personally, I’m completely relaxed about using a toilet. You can put it out on the street, or in a corner of the classroom for all I care. I’ve been a bear in the woods, used a 3-seat deep drop in company, been hospitalized, lived with family.
In my life I’ve been in trouble with the law. And known more people who have interacted with the law. I’m not going into a women’s toilet.
I once led a takeover of the men’s bathroom at Mitchie Stadium. Having been built as a Men-only school the Women’s facilities were woefully inadequate, and during the graduation parade the line was purely ridiculous. I gathered up a few stout-hearted ladies and took the high ground.
Most of the men who came through looked un-phased and even used the urinals right in front of us. A couple chose to stand in the line and use the stalls. Nobody dared to complain at all.
There’s no reason why single-occupancy restrooms shouldn’t be unisex (and labeled as such), but as long as they’re not so labeled, there’s a risk of others looking askew (possibly so far as to call the police) if someone uses the “wrong” one. I don’t want to weird people out (at least, not in that way), and I definitely don’t want to be arrested.
And anecdote time: I used to work as a camp councilor at a museum. Most of the public restrooms were the usual sort, gender-segregated and with multiple fixtures each. But there were a couple, tucked back into a corner that was publicly-accessible but which most folks wouldn’t notice, that were single-toilet. And there was more than one time that we had kids skewing to one gender or the other, waiting for a turn, and I had to reassure them that, yes, even though one door had an icon of a person in a dress and the other had a person in pants, they ALSO had signs that said “unisex family restroom”, and that that meant that either gender was allowed to use either.
That said, if both were available (which they usually both were, due to being in a back corner), I’d still use the one with the pants icon, because, again, why make a fuss?
There’s no reason why single-occupancy restrooms shouldn’t be unisex (and labeled as such), but as long as they’re not so labeled, there’s a risk of others looking askew (possibly so far as to call the police) if someone uses the “wrong” one. I don’t want to weird people out (at least, not in that way), and I definitely don’t want to be arrested.
And anecdote time: I used to work as a camp councilor at a museum. Most of the public restrooms were the usual sort, gender-segregated and with multiple fixtures each. But there were a couple, tucked back into a corner that was publicly-accessible but which most folks wouldn’t notice, that were single-toilet. And there was more than one time that we had kids skewing to one gender or the other, waiting for a turn, and I had to reassure them that, yes, even though one door had an icon of a person in a dress and the other had a person in pants, they ALSO had signs that said “unisex family restroom”, and that that meant that either gender was allowed to use either.
That said, if both were available (which they usually both were, due to being in a back corner), I’d still use the one with the pants icon, because, again, why make a fuss?
Basically seconded; especially if the doors have locks. (One or two of the places I’ve been over the past year haven’t even though they were basically single-seaters) It doesn’t happen to me a lot but maybe at least 6 or so times a year since a lot of places we go are smaller.
And, just to cover all bases, there is this old column from Cecil regarding urinals in women’s restrooms.
When will designers realize this? Stalls need more room than urinals. Womens restrooms need more space. Or, is it against the law, cuz they ain’t equal?
But, with unisex, the problem could be solved.
You’re all ignoring the elephant in the women’s room. COOTIES!
I haven’t been in a women’s pisser in 20 years. I used the family room a couple years ago when the men’s was being cleaned.
If I have to pee, it’s any port in a storm. I will use a women’s restroom if that is all that is available. It’s the same with “family” restrooms. But if have to drop a deuce, I will generally wait unless it’s the go now or crap my pants urgency. This applies to single toilet facilities, not those with multiple crappers.
My friend’s bar, where I am a regular, used to have a separate “Mens” and “Women’s” single occupancy bathrooms. They have since become unisex.
One time in desperation, I ended up using the Women’s restroom. When I came out, a women waiting to use it gave me the stink-eye.
As this was during the height of the “transgendered bathroom” debate, I simply looked at her and said “Can’t get mad…hate crime” and walked away.
Yeah this is my reaction, too: fear of potential legal problems.
If the restroom is a one-toilet private room, then it shouldn’t make any difference.
But in the current climate of American politics, I’d be afraid to use the private room marked “women”.(I am male).
Because I might offend offend somebody.
And that could result in me being paraded on the national news in handcuffs. and put on the sex offender registry for the rest of my life.(I’m speaking with only slight exaggeration, unfortunately).
In the world of ultra sensitivity to Me-too, child-porn, politically correct Social Justice Warriors, etc, it only takes one crazy person to make an accusation and your life could be ruined.
On the other hand, I have no guilty feelings about using the handicapped stall, if there’s nobody else in line for it.
[related issue: peeing in cornfields.]
40 years ago when I was a teenager, I would take long bike rides in rural areas. And sometimes I’d stop on a very quiet road with corn fields on both sides, and find a hidden spot, not visible from the road, to pee. Today, I wouldn’t take the chance.
A couple of years ago, I was at a women’s march and had to pee. I went to the nearest public restrooms, and there was a long line. But there was nobody using the men’s restroom. I thought screw this, I’m going there. A couple of women followed me. The rest continued passively waiting in line.
I agree. But some states/cities have laws requiring separate ‘sexed’ facilities. (Lawsw are often slow to keep up with social norms.) And give the use of this as a partisan political issue, it’s more controversial than ever.
But we all grow up in houses with unisex bathroom(s), and planes, trains, & buses do fine with unisex restrooms.
Not to worry. What do you think the carn farmer does? (While tractors are much more comfortable than the iron-seat Minneapolis-Moline of my youth, I don’t think they include restrooms yet.)
You’d be much more at risk in a small town or suburban area.
Single person bathrooms are fair game for all.
[quote=“chappachula, post:35, topic:845675”]
[…]
And that could result in me being paraded on the national news in handcuffs. and put on the sex offender registry for the rest of my life.(I’m speaking with only slight exaggeration, unfortunately).
[…]
This, more or less. According to the social training I’ve had, the practical situation isn’t at all symmetrical between our two genders, because segregation of public rest rooms is really about protecting women from sexual assault by men, and men who intrude on this space can be presumed to be attempting an assault. Scandal! Prison! The theoretical possibility that a woman might invade the men’s room to rape men is so laughable that nobody’s going to even consider it, whereas the dark specter of big scary men creeping into the women’s room while your poor innocent daughter is trapped in there is frequently conjured as a political cudgel, with transgender people (who have never hurt a fly) the most immediate collateral victims.
I wish we could get past all this and forget all about genders and biological sexes, with rare exceptions (such as the beginning phase of serious romance, government statistics evaluating civil rights violations, and sex-specific medical treatments).
Funny, my experience at baseball games is exactly the opposite- it’s the only place where I see longer lines for the men’s room than the women’s room. ( although it is only for baseball games, not for concerts and other events held at the same stadium)