In Madrid they have outside public urinals, they are 4 around a large cylinder like structure, the urinals are cut into this, not mounted external to it. It has a feeling of a port-a-john but it is outside in the open.
In Paris they have these free automatic self cleaning toilets ‘stands’ on the street. You go in and shut the door, following the audio instructions (yes you are instructed step by step in french how to use the bathroom). If for some reason you stay inside after your are suppose to leave, the toilet gets swallowed up in the wall while being sprayed with some cleaner (I know this because I didn’t understand the french instructions of how to use this bathroom and entered before the cleaning cycle began from the last user. I was being yelled at in French, but just assumed it was typical french snobbiness and went to pee, just then the toilet started receding into the wall).
Germany, most are annoyingly pay to pee, though on the autobahn you get store credit for your coin. I love the autobahn.
Thru hiking the Appalachian Trail, pee whenever you want, in that respect it’s the longest urinal in the US, it is common, but far from universal, whenever one has the slightest urge to relieve it. AT Thru hikers sometimes have problems readjusting to off trail bathroom habits having somewhat un-toilet training themselves. Thus when the urge strikes it can strike very hard to the point that for some when it hits they might have to go RIGHT NOW. It affects differently hikers to different degrees. It was not that extreme with me, however I knew some hikers who have experienced this.
Well obviously men don’t often have to pee in public places, but the fact we can do it easily means some will do it occasionally. Of course, although it is less convenient for women to pee, some will still drop trou’ in public if they have to.
Funny you seem to have forgotten why you wrote “Women don’t have prostate glands.” You were replying to this:
To which you said, “Women don’t have prostate glands.” implying that men have to pee more often than women do. Then I explained that yes, older women do have to pee often just like older men do.
I think one of the most amazing things I saw in Amsterdam were the giant public urinals. We were there on a carnival day, and it took me some time to figure out why all those guys were gathered around the big cylindrical thing… I spent a lot of time after that trying to figure out how to invent a similar convenience for women, but failed.
Women can squat&go. I feel like the female equivalent of the “green urinal” would have short, pee-resistant vegetation between bricks that are placed conveniently for squatting. Or maybe vegetation around the edges and just a carbon dump (like shredded leaves) in the center so the pee doesn’t stink.
Another reason we stay away from urban settings. Kayaking, my gf always just paddles to the shore and goes in the bushes.
When I bought our first pontoon boat, we were out on the Allegheny River when I mentioned that I needed to pee. My gf told me to go over the side. WHAT?! There were people fishing from shore, but I figured we were pretty far from shore, so I unzipped and peed over the side.
She freaked. By “go over the side”, she’d meant for me to jump in and pee, then climb back aboard.
The way female anatomy is constructed, squatting will allow you to pee all over your feet and ankles, and will also put you in a position to fall backwards, into Gawd-knows-what.
If the woman is wearing pants, you can add peeing all over her clothes.
In Europe, men pee anywhere and everywhere. It’s almost a marking behavior like dogs.
Women are forced to TRY and find a restroom. Maybe it is a pay stall, which is usually jammed and won’t open. Maybe it is an attendant restroom, where a matron sits at the doorway and will not let you pass without paying. NON-pay restrooms are the stuff of horror movies.
And then there is the toilet paper situation: while the grocery stores sell the soft, fluffy white TP we are used to in the States, public restroom toilet paper is from sawmills. Grey, non-absorbent, rough texture, with chunks of wood that could give you splinters.
I find it interesting that Denmark has free or subsidized health care, college, and probably child care, but not free restrooms. (Please don’t make this too political, I just find it interesting)
I’m sure we’re all very happy for you. And when I was 20 I could do that too. But we aren’t all able to do it, OK? In fact, I’d say the vast majority of American women would be extremely uncomfortable if not totally unable to do this without removing all but one leg of their trousers and panties. It’s not a solution for the population at large.
Depends where you want to pee. I have been driving a taxi in Copenhagen for ten years with half a colon and an enlarged prostate. I have never paid to use a toilet.
Gas stations, hospitals, restaurants and hotels all have toilets free to use when you ask nicely.
The uniform probably help, though, especially at the hotels.
Many, but not all, train stations have free toilets too.
Live in Denmark, have never worn a uniform except a stint as a postal worker, still can’t remember I ever paid to relieve myself. I will add that churchyards will almost always have a free toilet. Libraries too, but church towers (and thus churchyards) are easier to spot from a distance.
“In Germany, I found that most hotel lobbies - and McDonald’s - had free toilets.”
True, but not in the case of smaller hotels. Yes, fast food joints usually have free toilets. Some towns now have these walk-in pay toilets, complete with self-cleaning. Never actually used one.
The UK is slightly better for free toilets, parks usually have one, and you might find one or two around town, but you have to know are. Otherwise it is like Gemany…
Yeah I have no idea what some of the people in this topic are talking about, as someone who routinely gone out on late night bar crawls with women, girlfriends and regular friends included, women will take a squat and drunkeningly pee in an alley just as much as men once they get a beer in them.
