Lowering the toilet seat for women - why?

In My Humble Opinion
141

Personally, I leave the seat up as part of my ongoing battle against entropy.

You see, most of the time when I use my toilet, I need the seat to be in the upright position. When I lift the seat, I am converting kinetic energy to potential energy, which is then stored in the upright seat. When I’m done, I’m faced with two options: 1.) I could lower the seat, releasing that potential energy, and contributing to the entropy of the Universe or 2.) I could leave the seat in the upright position, saving that potential energy. If I were to always choose option 2, I would constantly be releasing that potential energy, only to have to store more potential energy in the seat the next time I use it.

Something to think about, ladies, when the Universe comes to a grinding halt.

:slight_smile:

142

I never sit on the toilet lid to shave my legs. I usually stand next to it and put one foot up on the lid to reach better.

It’s not a factor in my house. I live alone, so I decide what goes where. Toilet lids are always down (which requires the seat to be down as well). Lids up mean I wake up in the middle of the night to hear “lap, lap, slurp, lap, gulp, slurp” as one of the darn dogs decides to drink toilet water.

Is it really such a big deal to put the seat down if it makes your SO happy? My boyfriend is, for some odd reason, creeped out by the sight of tampon boxes. I have no idea why a blue box causes him such distress, but it does. We’ve reached the stage where he has a toothbrush and some toiletries in my medecine cabinet above the sink. I used to keep my tampon box there (easier to reach), but it was bothering him. So I moved it under the sink. It’s really not a big deal to do something simple to make someone else happy.

143

Is it really such a big deal to leave the seat up to make your SO happy?

144

No, of course not, but we’ve listed half a dozen reasons why seat/lid down is preferable, and only one why it should be up - which is the same reason it should be down:

Items in favor of leaving it up:
a person doesn’t have the extra work of putting it back down after peeing

Items in favor of leaving it down:
a person doesn’t have the extra work of putting it back up after peeing
aesthetics
pet care
prevent the loss of items to toilet water
prevent the clogging of the toilet
so it’s down when the MEN need it down, too!
preventing cold wet ass on silly, drunk or stupid people (men or women) who don’t look where they’re sitting
provides a butt or foot rest for other bathroom activities

If you want a serious-as-snakes argument no one’s offered yet, there’s preventing small children from drowning. Toilet locks don’t work if the seat and lid’re up, and toddlers can easily drown in a toilet, the silly top-heavy creatures.

There’s also the fact that after two children and one c-sention, I’m a little incontinent, and sometimes stopping to put the seat down is the difference between soaked clothes and “just made it!” Disgusting reason, I grant you, but one recognized as important by my husband.

So any further argument really seems petty and childish. The OP asked for a reason, we’ve given at least eight. What you choose to do in your own home is your own business, but to claim that it’s purely sexism which leads to this argument is just being thick-headed.

(Oh, and I do think the car seat adjustment argument is a compelling one for the work issue. But even if we strike that from both sides of the argument, there’s still more than half a dozen other reasons.)

145

I guess it’s because the title is about lowering the toilet seat for women, but I’m surprised at how few responses are about just keeping the lid on to keep the pets out of the toilet. Toilets are always closed in our house when not in use so that the cats don’t drink, fall in, or knock stuff into the toilet. The men and women of the household adjust as needed for use then replace lid when done. No big deal.

146

My current toilet seat and lid are quite sturdy, I’ve stood on the lid and the whole kit and kaboodle came through just fine, so it’s a seat. The lid and seat that were on there before were nasty-cheap plastic that wouldn’t have held up to more than a smurf sitting on the lid, so it was not a seat.

Some women always sit on the lid to shave their legs, some never do, it’s an individual preference and/or situational thing. Currently I shave my legs in the shower because there’s a convenient ledge, other showers sans ledge forced me to wait till after bathing.

I have never understood fuzzy lid covers, but then I’m somewhat baffled by decorative guest hand towels, shaped soaps you never use, and why so many bathrooms are decorated in a sea shore motif. All women do not do these things.

Was it Binarydrone who asked whether we’ve never plopped down on the closed lid at night? I plead guilty to that one, in fact, I’ve done it more often than sitting on the porcelain. Speaking strictly for myself, both seating errors occurred because I’m just used to the seat down, lid up situation. I usually don’t even have my eyes open when I’m walking through the house at night and then add in being half-asleep and accidents happen.

It’s never happened often enough for me to see it as a problem requiring discussion, or to get upset. When a mix up occurs I blame myself for not checking and try to remember to check thereafter. There is a learning curve though, thirty years of not having to even think about checking is not the easiest change to make. If I were to know it’s always going to be one way or another, I could deal. Toilet seat roulette is not a fun-sounding game.

Why do guys rarely forget to check the lid position? I’m going to guess it’s because they’re dealing with seats and lids all the time and have the same habit of checking, that I do of not checking. Guys do forget though, I’ve heard of men peeing on lids by mistake.

Men and women both make little allowances for each other, some gender-based, some not, and it all evens out in the end fairly well. At least it seems to even out in relationships based upon mutual respect and caring and all that other healthy, mature crud.

147

One problem with your post, WhyNot, is that some of the arguments are for the position “lid down” and some of them are for the position “lid up, but seat down”. They are not the same position; in fact, they are contradictory. I’m in favour of the first one, but most assuredly not the second.

Well, actually I’m in favour of the position “every household should find a policy that works for them”; “lid down” is the policy I would prefer.

148

Exactly. I’m not arguing that it should be up; I’m trying to understand the mindset that says that the lid should be up and the seat down. (I’ve encountered it, and never understood it.)

Often the discussion will result in a women simply stating “it’s not a big deal, so just do it my way.” This is the mindset I don’t get.

149

We use our eyes when we pee. (Technically, we employ hand-eye coordination.)

150

Yes! That’s exactly what I’m saying. People have listed some compelling reasons to lower the lid. I’m not really compelled myself because I don’t have kids or pets, don’t remember ever accidentally dropping anything in the toilet, and am not really bothered by a toilet seabreeze. But if people do find these to be good reasons, that’s fine. I can understand that. However, it’s not what I asked. In our society, many women expect the seat and only the seat to be lowered to fit their preference. How is this fair? The only reason I recall listed so far is women can fall into the toilet at night. I don’t see how anyone can sit on a toilet in the dark without feeling it first, but whatever. Getting a nightlight is the easiest solution to the problem.

So again, I’m not asking for reasons for putting the lid down. A brief comment about it would have been cool, but there’s no need in arguing the reasons since they have nothing to do with gender. That is all.

151

Ah. A light has been turned on for me. (a nightlight, perhaps? :smiley: )

The lid, I want it put down. As does my husband. If I can cover that hole, I want it coevered.

Just the seat put down? That I don’t get. It may as well be up as soon as down.

If we had a lidless toilet, I wouldn’t care if it was up or down. Wherever you left it last is good enough for me.

152

Courtesy. Putting the lid down keeps the rest of the family happy. A happy family means that my life is much easier. Also, my personal thought is: I don’t have to deal with odd, kinda gross bodily functions every month, I don’t have to bear the pain of childbirth, I don’t have to shave, wax, or depilate almost every conceivable area of my body, and I don’t face the same daily scrutiny and fixation on outer beauty that women face. Something like lowering the seat is small potatoes.

In fact, this train of thought leads me to the seemingly obvious conclusion that men who don’t want to lower the seat are inconsiderate, insecure, or oblivious. And to be honest, I haven’t seen anything in this thread to make me believe differently.

153

Well hey, when you put it like that, women sure do have it tough. Then again, they don’t have to live with a woman.

But far be it for me to piss on your sensitive guy “aren’t men assholes” schtick.

154

Look, gentlemen, here’s one point I think you’re missing. Because of the way your anatomy’s designed, I gather you pretty much have to have your eyes open and some degree of hand-eye coordination because you have to aim. Also, if you live alone or in an all-male household, the configuration of the toilet seat varies, and, I assume, most of the time it’s up.

Because of the way my anatomy’s designed, not only don’t I have to aim, I’m not sure I can. I certainly can’t write my name in the snow. As a result, I don’t have to be nearly as awake as you are when I stumble to the bathroom in the dead of night, and plonk myself down. Also, if a woman lives alone or in an all-female household, the configuration of the toilet seat doesn’t vary, as a rule, therefore, there’s no need to check to see if it’s changed since last time.

I freely admit this is an advantage. On the other hand, you gentlemen have complimentary advantages I don’t, as I realized once during a late winter hike. Nature called, I was a couple of miles from the nearest facilities, and at that time of year, the bushes weren’t big enough to conceal me! Yes, you can hike half a mile with crossed legs!

CJ

155

Or hey, how about if you pee sitting down and we pee sitting down and the seat never goes up except at cleaning time? Why must men over complicate things by insisting on standing?

(J/K, in case that wasn’t obvious.)

While I’m not vision-impaired I do have a tendency to get up to go to the toilet while half-asleep and believe me, you don’t notice if the seat is up or down when you’re on auto-pilot. And there is nothing grosser than landing in there.

If you don’t believe me, go sit on that toilet rim. No, not all dainty-like - go plonk yourself down full-force like someone half-asleep. Feel that damp, cold porcelain.

Then ask again why the toilet seat is a demon that must be tamed.

On the other hand, I don’t put the lid down for much the same reason. It’s really weird when you find yourself sitting on a toilet lid and knowing there’s something really wrong there but having to think what. Luckily the surprise has always woken me sufficiently that it’s never been an issue, but I’d rather not push my luck, y’know. :wink:

156

No offense, but that seems like a piss-poor (no pun intended) excuse for not looking after your own welfare.

You montioned earlier that the very thought of touching the seat is really gross. How does it compare, gross-wise, to sitting on cold porcelain?

157

That wasn’t me. I’m the person who puts the toilet seat up when visiting a gentleman, who’s mucked out toilets at McDonalds (for speakers of British English, I do mean “mucked” in its most literal sense) and voluntarily taken on cleaning the toilet as part of my share of the chores when rooming with someone.

I’ve tried to treat this subject with the lightness of tone such foolishness deserves. I think you have me confused with someone else.

CJ

158

Wouldn’t be the first time. :slight_smile:

159

Thank you.

Look, gentlemen, you asked for information about one of the mysteries of female behaviour. I’ve provided that information. I grew up with brothers and finding a toilet seat up is no big deal to me. It’s simply one aspect of living with, visiting, or being visited by men. I thought one of the better aspects of this board is you can find out things about the opposite sex you wouldn’t dare ask in real life!:wink: (By the way, I ran this question by an old friend of mine who’s gay and who’s been living with his partner for over a decade. In their home, both the seat and the lid are left down. Among other things, if the lid isn’t down, one of their cats tends to fall in, too. I have now made a mental note that, if I ever visit them, instead of lifting the seat, I will put the lid down, aka do as they do there.)

Careful, gentlemen. So far, the discussion’s been relatively straightforward. While I can’t speak for the rest of the ladies here, if I read any more accusations of hypersensitivity, I might pull out the big guns and mention about how menstruation affects female toilet habits! You have been warned! Bwu-ha-ha-ha-ha!

CJ
(Like Lynn Bodoni, I can be appeased with chocolate.):wink:

160

By the way, I’ve always been rather amused by a tale about a sweet, young flapper during the 1920’s. It seems that, on the underside of the seat she wrote, “It’s so nice to have a man aroung the house.” :wink: Since my gentleman’s leaving town for a week or so, I’m inclined to agree with both the sentiment and it’s location!

CJ