# Public urinals in Paris? What the...... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 17, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763 "2018-08-17T00:30:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/21 "2018-08-17T19:45:43Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Okay, I looked it up. Paris has had pissoirs since at least 1930. When I posted this on Facebook, a philosophy ABD I know pointed out that Henry Miller had written about them. He would, the filthy bastard. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/22 "2018-08-17T19:50:40Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > San Francisco has these. They’re called “walls” and “gutters.” When I was in Lima, Peru, there was this stone bridge that led into a huge park. The walkway was wider than the exit, so there was a right angle in the wall. In that corner was a HUGE permanent brown stain, about waist high, and the funk could knock you off your feet. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/23 "2018-08-17T20:20:43Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I remember starting a GQ thread about the definition of _vespasienne_ (= _pissoir_, I think) years ago. > > … > > Since **18** 30 … right, **susan**? Well, yeah, if you want to get all true-y fact-y about it :smack: ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/24 "2018-08-17T23:12:14Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > I’m mildly bemused at the men vs. women aspect of this. In my meager experience, the person in the party who REALLY has to go RIGHT NOW is usually a woman, but anatomical realities as well as prevalent constructions of modesty and safety seem to preclude equivalent facilities. Or not; I haven’t clicked all the links above. The cities’ decisions to prioritize men’s urinals over women’s is just an indicator that rather than basing their plans on who needs a bathroom more urgently the most often they’re basing it entirely on which gender is more likely to shamelessly piss in the streets if there’s no other convenient option. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/25 "2018-08-18T00:45:02Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Not all people are familiar with public urinals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-OYM7AhW7Q). And now I know that the Dutch word for urinal is “pissbuck”. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/26 "2018-08-21T18:42:59Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > More of an eyesore than some dude whipping out his John Thomas and pissing in front of God and everybody? Yes, because the port-a-potty is there _all the time_. Blocking the sun in the day, blocking the view all day. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/27 "2018-08-21T18:45:53Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Yes, because the port-a-potty is there _all the time_. Blocking the sun in the day, blocking the view all day. You think the portapotties are bad, look at all those _buildings_. And art installations, my god, they’re not even useful! Tear them all down and replace them with penises. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/28 "2018-08-22T08:29:14Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Okay, I looked it up. Paris has had pissoirs since at least 1930. Since the late 19th century, in fact. However, at some point (late 80s???) they were all removed, considered unsavory and redundant since _paying_ public toilets had been installed. Now, they’re coming back. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/29 "2018-08-22T09:10:25Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Yes, because the port-a-potty is there _all the time_. Blocking the sun in the day, blocking the view all day. Generally not, they bring them in every evening for weekends and special events. I’ve not seen the ones in Paris, but I’ve seen it in other European cities, you get trucks unloading whole rows of them in the evening, then they collect them again in the morning. Men are far less likely to piss in the street during daylight, and more likely to be able to find alternative facilities, plus if they left so many smelly plastic eyesores in the most popular and attractive bits of the city all day, people would complain… Of course, unloading and collecting all these things is an expensive pain (and if you’re really unlucky, they’re not fixed to the ground, so drunk arseholes can push them over), hence the permanent ones that sink out of sight during the day and other solutions. ---
**Author:** ![laurieb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@laurieb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laurieb)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/30 "2018-08-22T23:24:16Z")
I travel a lot, so I’ve had experience (as a woman) with some female and male public urinals. There are numerous in Europe. Privacy isn’t that great, but much better than using male public urinals. I have used some male ones on a few occasions. I wasn’t really embarrassed (yes, my bare ass was exposed to the street), but Europe is very progressive, and I wasn’t harassed by one passerby. Would never try that in America, though. Plus, the times I had to use it were times when my bladder was about to burst, so I really didn’t care. It’s nice when my boyfriend or a friend is there, though. They’ll often shield me from outside view. It was just really unpleasant using it in freezing cold weather……. I wish there were more public urinals for women, though. On long days out with my friends on trips to Europe, there were way too many times I had to stoop by a tree while a friend shielded me. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/31 "2018-08-23T02:00:59Z")
Squat toilets were unisex when I was in Japan years ago, and no privacy walls in many of them. Belgians generally consider the world to be their toilet, or did. That’s why their national symbol is [this guy](https://www.brussels.be/manneken-pis). ---
**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 23, 2018, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763/32 "2018-08-23T03:15:16Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > [Paris has installed public urinals for men to use.](https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/paris-urinals-tourists-locals-reaction-uritrottoirs-toilets-notre-dame-a8491326.html) > > I’m flabbergasted. This needs to be a thing? Men in Paris simply piss in the streets at will, wherever, whenever?? If the word of [Zappa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eep1_tiPOVY) is to be trusted: > [@](#): > > The girls is all salty > The boys is all sweet > I say the food ain’t too shabby, > An’ they piss in the street > Down in France (ain’t that cold?) > Way down in France > (Now - now you know what? I saw it walkin’, an’ it was) > Way on down > (and then it said) > Way on down > Uh down in France [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-urinals-in-paris-what-the/819763.md?page=1)