# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BadBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@BadBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBaby)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/61 "2003-12-01T04:27:14Z")
Bingo **mnemosyne**! At least where I teach, the boys’ stall doors weren’t taken down, so much as they were torn down and/or broken by the students. No money to replace or repair them, even if the administration had been so inclined. Now that they’re gone, our proctors say it makes security sweeps faster and safer for all involved. Back in my own high school days the girls’ gym had shower and locker rooms identical to the boys’. In all four years no one ever used the communal showers and no wonder. When the main door was open, which was always, the showers were in direct line of sight of the gym floor. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/62 "2003-12-01T06:31:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PlanMan \* > **Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena has 44 restrooms, with 16 for men and 18 for women, located throughout the concourses. All restrooms include diaper-changing tables and are ADA accessible. Additionally, 10 Family Restrooms are available for use.** What the hell is a family restroom? The whole family goes in at once? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![call\_me\_pip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e7dd6/32.png) [@call\_me\_pip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/call_me_pip)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/63 "2003-12-01T07:18:44Z")
At my highschool we have one big urinal not seperate ones the embarrassing part about it is when I went to Oregon to see my friend they had sinks that looked like the urinals at my school so I just assumed… ---
**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:** [December 1, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/64 "2003-12-01T13:50:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rhum Runner \* > \*\*What the hell is a family restroom? The whole family goes in at once? 😕 \*\* A family restroom is where fathers can escort and help their young daughters in the restroom, and where mothers can help their young sons. I believe that the stalls are large enough for an adult and child to easily use. When my daughter was potty-trained, but still needed bathroom assistance, she and her father (my husband) would often go out by themselves when I was working. Potty time was always challenging. Usually, my husband asked a woman to scout out the ladies’ room and see if there were any women in there, and when the coast was clear, he’d help our daughter do her thing. This was, of course, more than 20 years ago, and now it’s even more common for fathers to take kids out in public. And when kids go out in public, they WILL need to go potty, sooner or later. Usually sooner. I believe that all small children view going potty in new and different places to be a fine adventure. Personally, I view family restrooms as a GOOD trend. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/65 "2003-12-01T14:58:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lynn Bodoni \* > **A family restroom is where fathers can escort and help their young daughters in the restroom, and where mothers can help their young sons…** Ah, I understand now. I had this vision of two big stalls and 2.4 little stalls all in a circle or something. Glad my vision was wrong. I don’t see why you can’t take the wee ones into the other bathroom, if the kid is old enough to notice what is going on, it probably ought to be able to handle the bathroom on its own, right? I don’t see any problem with a mother/father bringing a two or three year old kid of the opposite sex into their bathroom at potty time. But, I suppose, anything to help the little darlings along. Afterall, its all about the “family” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/66 "2003-12-02T08:44:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mnemosyne \* > \*\*No doors on bathroom stalls??I have never heard anything like this, and neither has my SO. We both grew up and went to school in Québec, but have also travelled quite a bit (though mostly in the rest of Canada and Europe). I can’t believe that this is the case anywhere- how humiliating! TELL me about it.:rolleyes: > [@](#): > > I know the shower areas in schools tend to be different. In my high school, the girls had stalls and curtains, but the boys had no curtains. I believe the reasoning given was that they got torn down WAY too often, and so the school stopped putting them back up. I seem to recall a difference in their lockers too, because they consistently became damaged. Boys tend to be rowdier, in my experience, and schools just figure its easier to take something away than to try and absorb the cost of constant replacement. And that’s part of the problem, IMHO. At my school, the boys weren’t _all_ rowdy; just a few troublemakers. And the troublemakers never really seemed to get punished. I’ll bet most of the guys here can remember having a school bully who terrorized the rest of the boys but somehow never seemed to really get seriously disciplined. There seemed to be a pervasive attitude of school administrators of throwing up their hands and saying “boys will be boys”. ---
**Author:** ![Astra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@Astra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astra)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790/67 "2003-12-02T09:07:19Z")
FYI, family restrooms are also usually designed to accomodate wheelchairs and adults who may need a caregiver to assist them. As for the need for a family restroom, imagine one adult with a couple of kids of different ages and gender trying to get them all taken care of. I think the family restroom is a great idea. Eliminates the need for the group to become separated or the children to be left alone at any moment, and it also benefits the disabled. As for the rest of the topic, my high school bathrooms were disgusting for both sexes. From what I was told by male friends, the boys’ had only a trough that had been there for 30 years and one toilet, no stall. The girls’ had stalls, but they had no locks or closing mechanisms, so unless you could hold the door shut it would sometimes swing open. The stalls were also very short, probably around 4 feet tall. I’m 5’3’’ and when I closed the door I could see over it and anyone walking by could see in. I avoiding using the bathroom at school as much as possible, it was a very uncomfortable experience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-privacy-given-to-girls-than-boys/214790.md?page=3)