# More privacy given to girls than boys **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 23, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790 "2003-11-23T03:13:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![agiantdwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@agiantdwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agiantdwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/1 "2003-11-23T03:13:40Z")
In my high school, guys’ bathrooms do not have a door in the entrance, most likely so that teachers and administrators would be able to know if people were abusing drugs inside. I noticed walking down the halls that girls’ bathrooms _do_ have doors at the entrance. My guess is the administration felt that more people would peep in there or something. Now, this may sound petty, but isn’t that a bit unfair? Can a school give one gender more privacy just because in our culture we perceive girls as more gentle? This has nothing to do with biology, if you want to bring up the fact that women have to cover their chests. It’s all about culture. ---
**Author:** ![patchbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dc4da7/32.png) [@patchbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/patchbunny)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/2 "2003-11-23T03:21:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by agiantdwarf \* > \*\*In my high school, guys’ bathrooms do not have a door in the entrance, most likely so that teachers and administrators would be able to know if people were abusing drugs inside. > > I noticed walking down the halls that girls’ bathrooms _do_ have doors at the entrance. > > My guess is the administration felt that more people would peep in there or something. > > Now, this may sound petty, but isn’t that a bit unfair? Can a school give one gender more privacy just because in our culture we perceive girls as more gentle? > > This has nothing to do with biology, if you want to bring up the fact that women have to cover their chests. It’s all about culture. \*\* Sounds more like the boys have gone and stolen the doors. 🙂 –Patch ---
**Author:** ![agiantdwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@agiantdwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agiantdwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/3 "2003-11-23T03:29:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by patchbunny \* > \*\*Sounds more like the boys have gone and stolen the doors. 🙂 > > –Patch \*\* No, I don’t think so. The entrance to the bathrooms don’t have frames or anything that would lead me to believe there were ever doors there. ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/4 "2003-11-23T04:36:01Z")
I actually did a newspaper article for the school paper when I was in High School, but it was never published. I got about 3 different answers from the various principles I talked to. One said it was because of vandalism to doors, another said it was to stop smoking (but of course nobody thought it was worth violating girl’s privacy to stop them from smoking), and another just said boys don’t need doors and thats the way its always been, afterall she said boys urinated with no door (stupid woman didn’t have a clue, I’d like to make her crap in public). No boy I talked to had ever used the bathroom because no one likes to shit in public. Why not just get rid of bathrooms b/c it wouldnt change a damn thing. I interviewed a counciler who had no idea boys didn’t have doors, and she was shocked a disgusted. My journalism teacher was also quite suprised. I talked to a nurse who said that many boys were going to the nurses office to use the restroom b/c it had a door. I ended the article with the best quote from one I my friends “I think not having doors is great because it is preparing many of us for prison.” needless to say It was never allowed to print. Fascists. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/5 "2003-11-23T04:37:56Z")
**agiantdwarf** is right - the doorless set up is common with men’s room, women’s rooms almost always have doors. I think the explanation is simple: women tend to feel more vulnerable on a physical level. Is that culture or biology? Probably a little of both. Also, one nasty little fact of life - women do bleed for several days once a month. We take care of the sanitation and clean up invovled with that biological process in the bathroom. Frankly, I’d just as soon not see blood any more often than necesary, thank you very much. So the privacy thing may not be just for the person on the toilet but for those sharing the room. ---
**Author:** ![agiantdwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8c91f0/32.png) [@agiantdwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agiantdwarf)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/6 "2003-11-23T04:41:02Z")
**Broomstick** , I’m not suggesting that we remove the doors from the bathrooms. I’m saying boys should have doors. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/7 "2003-11-23T04:47:37Z")
It’s not just in school restrooms. The locker rooms are usually different, too. I know that the boys’ locker room in my high school had open showers (no stalls, no door/curtain at the entrance), while the girls’ locker room had actual shower stalls (I worked maintenance one summer to pay part of my private school tuition). ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/8 "2003-11-23T04:54:21Z")
Well, yeah, **Broomstick** , but it’s not like having no door to the entire restroom would make the blood any more obvious. It’s not as though you can tell someone’s menstruating when you’re in the bathroom and someone else is in the stall. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/9 "2003-11-23T08:21:34Z")
I personally really appreciate it when public restrooms do not have entrance doors - it’s one less thing I have to touch after washing my hands. This usually only happens when you have a lot of space, like in an airport, because you need an extra wall to block any line of sight between the outside and the inside. Are you saing that the restrooms in your school are doorless but there _is_ a line of sight from the outside to the inside? How much can you see from the hallway? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/10 "2003-11-23T12:52:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by agiantdwarf \* > **Broomstick** , I’m not suggesting that we remove the doors from the bathrooms. I’m saying boys should have doors. I didn’t think you were saying no doors for anyone. Not being a boy, it’s not something I ever thought much about. You’re right, it certainly seems unfair, but if it is that’s an issue for the boys and men to take up. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/11 "2003-11-23T14:14:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoggie \* > \*\*Well, yeah, **Broomstick** , but it’s not like having no door to the entire restroom would make the blood any more obvious. It’s not as though you can tell someone’s menstruating when you’re in the bathroom and someone else is in the stall. \*\* When one has one’s undergarments around one’s knees or ankles, a mini or maxi pad is quite obvious, whether it is used or pristine. Additionally, the contortions required to insert and remove a tampon are best performed without an audience. However, it DOES seem a tad unfair that males should have to go doorless, just because they don’t menstruate. I firmly believe that all males should have the opportunity to menstruate, and be allowed to do so behind closed doors. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/12 "2003-11-23T14:19:01Z")
By the way, at home I generally don’t shut the door when I’m using the bathroom. I have no problems eliminating in the presence of my close family. Besides, the cats are used to accompanying me and making comments and suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/13 "2003-11-23T14:49:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lynn Bodoni \* > \*\*Besides, the cats are used to accompanying me and making comments and suggestions. \*\* Cat #1: “She didn’t bury it!” Cat #2: “Oh, my Me! That’s disgusting!” ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/14 "2003-11-23T15:14:29Z")
My elementary school had an entrance door to the bathroom, but no stall doors in the girl’s room. We had a reason for going to the bathroom in pairs: one girl used the facilities, while the other girl stood in the stall opening, and made a “door” with her body to protect her friend’s privacy. I never knew why the stall doors had been removed. It was a small, rural school, and the elementary kids had no drug problems. Nor was smoking an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/15 "2003-11-23T20:52:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TitoBenito \* > \*\*I interviewed a counciler who had no idea boys didn’t have doors, and she was shocked a disgusted. My journalism teacher was also quite suprised. I talked to a nurse who said that many boys were going to the nurses office to use the restroom b/c it had a door. I ended the article with the best quote from one I my friends “I think not having doors is great because it is preparing many of us for prison.” needless to say It was never allowed to print. Fascists. \*\* I wrote a letter to the editor for my high school newspaper about that once, and it was published. Not sure if anybody did anything about it, but at least I got to publicly complain. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/16 "2003-11-24T02:24:37Z")
I seem to recall that no bathrooms at my high school had entrance doors, and you went around a corner to get to the toilets. There were doors to the stalls. Most people tended to try not to have to go to the bathroom during school hours if they could help it, it was so smelly. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/17 "2003-11-24T02:37:19Z")
My high school had no doors on the bathroom stalls for the men’s rooms. We also didn’t have a mirror, but we did have a nominally reflective piece of metal bolted to the wall. Girls bathrooms had doors on the stalls, and mirrors. Plural. Never got around to asking anyone why. Just another example of the double standard in our society. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/18 "2003-11-24T03:41:49Z")
Another example: In our school, the girls had individual shower stalls. The guys had a community shower room. What up with that? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/19 "2003-11-24T03:45:46Z")
Another double standard: the women’s bathroom on my floor comes with a couch in a little lounge area. The guy’s bathroom doesn’t. Someone told me that there’s some kind of rule (local, state, federal…I don’t know) that a building must have at least one women’s bathroom that has a couch just in case a menstrual cramp seizes you. I don’t know if it’s true, but it does seem to be the case in a lot of places. The not-having-stall-doors thing has always troubled me. Once I had the urgent need to use the facilities and I rushed into the boys’ room because it was nearby. When I discovered that there were no doors on the stalls, I freaked. And then a guy came in and I freaked even more. I ran out of there before I could pull down my pants. It would have been a very awkward situation if I had stayed. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/20 "2003-11-24T04:10:18Z")
Another odd thing. A woman thinks very little of using a men’s room but I have not found the opposite to be true. Maybe it’s a subconscious aversion to doors. In regards to the door thing… can any of our Euro-Dopers chime in and give some input? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790.md?page=2)