# Poll: Filthier public restroom, Mens or Ladies room? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315 "2011-08-19T14:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/1 "2011-08-19T14:40:44Z")
When this topic comes up on _Regis and Kelly_, Kelly Ripa will invariably claim the Ladies room is dirtier and (with a knowing nod) girls are dirty, dirty folk behind closed doors. But Adam Carolla regales his podcast listeners with tales of men urinating all over public toilets, including peeing onto the roll of tissue. One would think the whole “sitting down” aspect makes the Ladie’s room cleaner. However, I admit this is an area where selection bias can dominate, because each gender typically frequents a _mutually exclusive_ set of public restrooms. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/2 "2011-08-19T14:43:56Z")
Women often wee all over the toilet seats too. I’d like to see a study, really. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/3 "2011-08-19T14:58:54Z")
I’ve had jobs in four places where I had the joy of being allowed to clean the restrooms. In all of them the ladies’ room was far dirtier. Everyone I’ve ever met who has cleaned public restrooms has reported the same thing. During my band days, I saw some men’s rooms in bars that could rival the dirtiest ladies rooms I’d ever had to clean, but I never had the opportunity to see what the ladies’ rooms were like in those places. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/4 "2011-08-19T14:59:23Z")
I don’t know how to vote because I don’t go into men’s rooms for comparison. I have been in some horrifying Ladies’ rooms, though. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/5 "2011-08-19T16:20:09Z")
> [@The\_Controvert](#): > > But Adam Carolla regales his podcast listeners with tales of men urinating all over public toilets, including peeing onto the roll of tissue. Yes, well, on average one week of the month a woman can piss AND bleed simultaneously on the roll of tissue. As just one example of how a woman’s toilet can be worse than a man’s. > [@](#): > > One would think the whole “sitting down” aspect makes the Ladie’s room cleaner. It might, except for the large number of cunts who _refuse to sit down_, leaving piss, shit, and blood all over the damn seat. And the floor. In some case, they seem to have powerwashed the stall with bodily waste. And refuse to clean it up. I mean, if you dribble (whether sitting or hovering) and clean it up I really don’t care, but it’s _appalling_ the number of women who leave bodily waste not IN the toilet but ON it. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/6 "2011-08-19T16:26:49Z")
I’ve heard that women’s washrooms are dirtier, but as stated in the OP this is one question on which the average person will not really have a basis of comparison - janitors and peeping toms excepted. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/7 "2011-08-19T16:27:27Z")
I’m a man. I use the men’s room. HTF would I know what the ladies room is like? ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/8 "2011-08-19T16:30:49Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’m a man. I use the men’s room. HTF would I know what the ladies room is like? Yeah, same here, have no idea whose brassiere is filled with tomatoes or what is going on in there. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/9 "2011-08-19T16:47:26Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I’ve had jobs in four places where I had the joy of being allowed to clean the restrooms. In all of them the ladies’ room was far dirtier. Everyone I’ve ever met who has cleaned public restrooms has reported the same thing. Agreed. I _might_ accept that the ladies room is cleaner in a tightly controlled setting such as a very small office. I haven’t been in a position to clean the bathrooms there so I don’t know. In a public retail setting, women are simply terrible in the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/10 "2011-08-19T16:56:43Z")
I’ve also cleaned bathrooms in grocery stores. The ladies room was always dirtier. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/11 "2011-08-19T17:04:49Z")
I can’t believe there’s no “How the fuck should I know?” option. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/12 "2011-08-19T17:24:56Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > I can’t believe there’s no “How the fuck should I know?” option. It’s shocking to you that the OP doesn’t want to hear from people who have nothing to contribute to the discussion? ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/13 "2011-08-19T17:26:07Z")
My experience speaks for itself, I’m a General Contractor in Houston, Texas and I’ve been contracting work (almost exclusively) from the Houston Independent School District since 1978. 😃 Truthfully, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve worked in restrooms. My company has done everything from complete remodels, upgrading to modern fixtures, repairs and reconfigurations to meet ADA and handicap building codes. Both men’s, women’s, girl’s and boy’s, (there are separate facilities for adults and children) and the women’s / girl’s are almost always, (80-90% of the time) the dirtiest. Also, the difference in cleanliness between the two, is usually _ **not** _ a small margin. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/14 "2011-08-19T17:28:32Z")
> [@the lone cashew](#): > > Yeah, same here, have no idea whose brassiere is filled with tomatoes or what is going on in there. Or small chilly geckos. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/15 "2011-08-19T17:35:52Z")
This thread is really surprising to me. I had no idea women were so nasty. Shit and blood on the toilet seat? And you ladies bitch at us for throwing our clothes on the floor? I’ve been in some fucking digusting men’s bathrooms and I’ve never seen either. Well, maybe a little shit on the rim, but you know what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/16 "2011-08-19T18:00:15Z")
I think women tend to be more inclined to purposfully deface the bathroom as well. A restaruant I worked at had an incident with a babies shit diaper smeared all over the walls of the ladies room, still stuck on the wall. Men just don’t seem to do that sort of thing (in my somewhat limited experience). ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/17 "2011-08-19T18:08:43Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > I think women tend to be more inclined to purposfully deface the bathroom as well. A restaruant I worked at had an incident with a babies shit diaper smeared all over the walls of the ladies room, still stuck on the wall. > > Men just don’t seem to do that sort of thing (in my somewhat limited experience). Men tend instead to damage the place: tear down stall walls and urinal dividers, smash mirrors, break doors. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/18 "2011-08-19T18:09:32Z")
> [@the lone cashew](#): > > Yeah, same here, have no idea whose brassiere is filled with tomatoes or what is going on in there. Speaking of, only one gender’s restroom contained balled-up soiled undergarments thrown in the corner often enough that you stopped saying “Can you fucking believe this…?” to your co-workers when you discovered them. Hint: Not the men’s room. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/19 "2011-08-19T18:10:17Z")
We seem to have reached the concensus that women’s restrooms have significantly more cooties. Why? We can easily explain why there would be more blood in women’s restrooms since women bleed monthly and men don’t. What about the rest though? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315/20 "2011-08-19T18:13:01Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > We seem to have reached the concensus that women’s restrooms have significantly more cooties. > > Why? > > We can easily explain why there would be more blood in women’s restrooms since women bleed monthly and men don’t. What about the rest though? What rest? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-filthier-public-restroom-mens-or-ladies-room/593315.md?page=2)