# Pornography and pin-ups in men's restrooms

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [January 8, 2020, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112 "2020-01-08T06:47:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/41 "2020-01-09T07:02:06Z")

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There’s a little family run Mexican restaurant south of Tucson that very thoughtfully put up photos from one of those hunky firefighter type calendars in the women’s bathroom.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/42 "2020-01-09T08:01:18Z")

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> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> Where do you take your children for some decent _moules frites_? Long John Silver’s, I suppose.

No, Normandy.

> [@](#):
>
> Seriously, though… what an obnoxious comment to make about where someone takes their family for a meal.

Some places are family venues, from what I can tell of Le Diplomate, it’s clearly not intended as such.

> [@Ravenman](#):
>
> Man, if you call Le Diplomate a “pretentious mock-French brasserie,” it’s pretty clear to me that you haven’t been to an actual French brasserie.

You’d be wrong.

> [@](#):
>
> The size of the tables scales inversely to the pretentiousness.

I think the fact that it’s a Starr restaurant is where I get “pretentious” from. The actual food sounds delicious.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/43 "2020-01-09T08:11:16Z")

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n/m, dupe.

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**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/44 "2020-01-09T09:22:13Z")

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I kinda know what the OP is talking about. It’s a trend that already seems to be winding down, but a few years back there was this retro rat pack vibe in some places that would feature pin-up and risqué pictures. I feel it was around the same time that American Apparel was trying to be edgy.

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/45 "2020-01-09T13:29:01Z")

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I am utterly baffled by this thread. I just can’t wrap my head around being upset with a few topless photos in a men’s room at a french restaurant. It’s like being upset at seeing a squirrel in a tree. Why? What are you on about?

I very very rarely go to Le Diplomat ($$$), but I have been there a couple of times, once on someone else’s dime. Pretentious it may or may not be, but the food is delicious. The rest room walls are covered in old magazines intending to evoke an atmosphere of 60’s Parisian high life. There are a couple of naked breasts. I can’t remember if there were any full nudes. At any rate, I barely paid any attention to them, and I doubt anyone else did either. I can’t imagine why anyone would.

And please spare me the “Won’t someone please think of the children” rhetoric. If little Billy is going to turn from being a fine upstanding citizen to a syphilitic sex addict because he saw a 1960’s French starlet’s breasts on a bathroom wall, well, there wasn’t much hope for him anyway.

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/46 "2020-01-09T14:08:25Z")

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> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> Come to think of it, I HAVE seen some NSFW art in the men’s room at Buca di Beppo. No bondage, though.

Worst thing I’ve ever seen at Buca di Beppo was a small (16" or so) statue of Michelangelo’s \*David \*, who had a quite a bit more … salsiccia than the real thing does. And that was out in the regular dining room. Nothing in the bathrooms was particularly bad; mostly what I remember was a bunch of 1950s-esque personal grooming product ads.

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**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/47 "2020-01-09T14:18:39Z")

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> [@Max\_S](#):
>
> No idea if this is common in women’s restrooms but some fancier restaurants and resorts like to put soft pornography up in the men’s restrooms. On the walls, over the urinals, etc. Usually in frames.
> 
> I don’t care that much personally unless I have to take a little one to the restroom. But I mean, why have them there at all? For most people it is more difficult to urinate with an erection, so that’s not the point. And clearly the pictures aren’t there to actually masturbate to. During dinner? While out golfing? In a public or semi-public restroom? Who does that?
> 
> Did I mention that kids use the same restrooms as grown men?
> 
> And then there’s one place where I guess the owners have a thing for girls in chains. Nothing says good ole boys club like sharing your soft-porn bondage collection in the restroom, I guess.
> 
> It’s better than bloody pictures of war scenes, but terribly awkward nonetheless.
> 
> ~Max

I’ve only ever seen this at my mechanic’s garage. How many fricking calendars do they need?

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**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/48 "2020-01-09T14:22:05Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> No, Normandy.
> 
> Some places are family venues, from what I can tell of Le Diplomate, it’s clearly not intended as such.  
> You’d be wrong.
> 
> I think the fact that it’s a Starr restaurant is where I get “pretentious” from. The actual food sounds delicious.

Without hijacking this, just because something is not a family restaurant without a kids menu doesn’t mean you can’t take children there.

We brought our children to Michelin starred restaurants and other high end venues from when they were old enough to trust with good manners (ages about 8 onward). They loved the experiences and enjoyed it as much as we did. We didn’t expect any accommodations for them or special meals and their behavior was appropriate.

On the other hand, when they were around 3-4 I didn’t even take them to McD because they were going through a rough patch and couldn’t behave properly. It’s the child, not the venue, that determines if it’s appropriate.

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**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/49 "2020-01-09T14:22:34Z")

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> [@Typo\_Negative](#):
>
> I was gonna come in here and chastise the OP for being a prude.
> 
> But I searched and saw this in the Yelp page.  
> [Photos for Le Diplomate - Yelp](https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/le-diplomate-washington?select=rdCX-3mdXUIWgaU3dJs-Zw)
> 
> I don’t know if that is from the bathroom, but yeah, that is over the line for a restaurant.

IMHO, it’s a French thing. I have noticed among my multi-cultural European friends ( especially French ones) a tendency to position Americans as unsophisticated prudes. And they take a contrarian pride in their sophistication and lack of prudishness.

One time the wife of a coworker was going on about how overwrought Americans got about adultery, because in France an affair or two is no big deal, it’s a way of life. ( I did wonder how this woman would’ve reacted if it were her husband under discussion). And when I was young we talked about how if you went home with a French guy you met in a nightclub, you’d probably end up having breakfast with him and his parents the next morning instead of slinking out before the household woke up.

So I think it’s just the French being French, and I bet if you complained the reaction would’ve been an eye roll and a “Oh You Silly Americans” sigh,

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/50 "2020-01-09T14:57:00Z")

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> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#):
>
> Without hijacking this, just because something is not a family restaurant without a kids menu doesn’t mean you can’t take children there.

You’re right, I was too forceful in what i said. You should certainly\* be able to\* take your kid there. I’ve done the same.

You should not, however, expect the restaurant to pitch its decor at a PG level if it’s not what they want their theme to be.

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**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/51 "2020-01-09T15:00:17Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> You’re right, I was too forceful in what i said. You should certainly\* be able to\* take your kid there. I’ve done the same.

I accept your apology. 😉

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/52 "2020-01-09T15:03:13Z")

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> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> I accept your apology. 😉

Oh? I was unaware I’d made one. Motherfucker.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/53 "2020-01-09T15:14:04Z")

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Sorry, really. I just suddenly realised we were actually in the Pit and couldn’t resist.

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**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/54 "2020-01-09T15:18:00Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Sorry, really. I just suddenly realised we were actually in the Pit and couldn’t resist.

No worries. It could have been read two ways. Both funny. 😃

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/55 "2020-01-09T15:18:23Z")

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I’ve always thought it was peculiar to be in any space that is

a) de facto sex segregated male only space (a space with mostly male clientele is still pretty sex segregated even if the waitstaff is partly or exclusively female);

b) theoretically heterosexual majority even if only implicitly so (in a hetero majority world, any space lacking reason to assume otherwise);

c) chock full of visual stimulation that would appear to be designed to be sexy to a male heterosexual person  
The overall effect seems to be to lift sexual attractiveness from actual female people and partake of it in all-male social company.

I don’t see any reason to engage in the typical disparaging game of saying this calls into question the heterosexuality of the males so engaged. It may be insulting to gay people, for one thing, to imply that people who present as heterosexual should be objects of contempt if they’re actually gay in some fashion, and moreover it’s reductionistic. It’s probably oversimplistic to call it misogynistic, too, although it _can_ be. But speaking as a person for whom the presence of sexual feelings doesn’t make me particularly interested in a lot of male social bonding, I find it disconcerting and also interesting to dissect.

Is it unfair to say that it seems geared to appeal to males who like female bodies but prefer male interpersonal connecctions?

I find it way creepy in the bathroom.

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**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/56 "2020-01-09T15:42:35Z")

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Sometimes I just want some french onion soup and a piss.

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**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:** [January 9, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/57 "2020-01-09T15:50:26Z")

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> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> Sometimes I just want some french onion soup and a piss.

_ziiiip_ For the soup, you’re on your own.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/58 "2020-01-09T16:03:24Z")

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> [@kayaker](#):
>
> _ziiiip_ For the soup, you’re on your own.

Motherfucker.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [January 9, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/59 "2020-01-09T16:04:03Z")

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> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> Motherfucker.

Apology accepted.

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pornography-and-pin-ups-in-mens-restrooms/846112/60 "2020-01-09T17:00:01Z")

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> [@Typo\_Negative](#):
>
> I was gonna come in here and chastise the OP for being a prude.
> 
> But I searched and saw this in the Yelp page.  
> [Photos for Le Diplomate - Yelp](https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/le-diplomate-washington?select=rdCX-3mdXUIWgaU3dJs-Zw)
> 
> I don’t know if that is from the bathroom, but yeah, that is over the line for a restaurant.

> [@Larry\_Borgia](#):
>
> I am utterly baffled by this thread. I just can’t wrap my head around being upset with a few topless photos in a men’s room at a french restaurant. It’s like being upset at seeing a squirrel in a tree. Why? What are you on about?
> 
> I very very rarely go to Le Diplomat ($$$), but I have been there a couple of times, once on someone else’s dime. Pretentious it may or may not be, but the food is delicious. The rest room walls are covered in old magazines intending to evoke an atmosphere of 60’s Parisian high life. There are a couple of naked breasts. I can’t remember if there were any full nudes. At any rate, I barely paid any attention to them, and I doubt anyone else did either. I can’t imagine why anyone would.
> 
> And please spare me the “Won’t someone please think of the children” rhetoric. If little Billy is going to turn from being a fine upstanding citizen to a syphilitic sex addict because he saw a 1960’s French starlet’s breasts on a bathroom wall, well, there wasn’t much hope for him anyway.

Over the line? I think I’m leaning toward’s Larry’s position. This isn’t a big deal. It’s a particular aesthetic. I recall when I was a kid in the '70s and ‘80s, my parents’ friends would often have a bathroom decorated with cartoon images of topless and nude women in “naughty” vignettes. Usually it was in what we would now call the “man cave” portion of the house. No one worried that children would be harmed if they used that bathroom.

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