What, exactly, is the big deal about leaving the toilet seat down? Why should a man have to encounter a toilet, lift the seat, urinate, then lower it again? Can’t everyone just set the seat in the position that they need it? Are woman going into the bathroom in the pitch dark and falling into the toilet. That seems to be the main complaint, but why not turn on the light? Even guys need to sit down sometimes, and neither I not any guy I know has ever had any kind of trouble with this. (For the record, I personally pee sitting down when at my home, since it’s more comfortable and doesn’t get my hands dirty. I only pee standing up in public bathrooms.) The only rationale I can see is that women have to wipe when they pee, so since they take extra time on that, they shouldn’t have to take extra time lowering the seat. I just don’t get it. Does it have something to do with menstruation? Am I missing the point entirely?
I actually like it down. I don’t mind putting it up & down, either.
It looks better down, as far as I’m concerned.
-SSB
I think, for the most part, “leaving the toilet seat up” is the product of stand-up comedy routines. No female-ish person I know has ever had a problem with it. Maybe I’m just surrounded by loonies…?
I actually got yelled at for this while at a freinds appartment. I was trying to stop myself from laughing, but she was dead serious. My poorly hidden amusement didn’t help matters, to say the least.
It’s definatly exagerated by comedy routines though. It’s sort of a shorthand for “clever” observations about men and women.
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“Yeah, we can’t do nothing without a sword. That’s why they call us kenshi.”
It is one of the very few rules in my house. It is explained to all guests. If a guest refuses to abide by it he or she will not be asked back. If a guest forgets and is contrite, then I will forgive.
My house, my rules. Hubby learned to abide by it, so can others.
Have you ever seen the underside of a toilet seat? Esp. if you have two males in the house who can not aim? (Please god, don’t tell me that this is only in my house or I’ll shoot myself) Ewwww. I’d rather not see that, thank you very much. Of course, I’m the only one in the house who even thinks of cleaning the toilet, so I have to look at it more often than I’d like. Thank God for those Mr. Clean antibacterial wipes.
And why don’t men pee sitting down? I’ve seen my husband do it, so I know it’s possible. In fact, that’s how I taught my son, but one visit to the men’s room and he decided that standing up was the way to go. Is it really that much effort to pull your pants all the way down and sit?
YES!
The question still is, what’s so hard about reaching out and bringing the seat back down if you’re a woman???
Is it really that much effort to pull the seat all the way down before you decide to sit?
If a guy just doesn’t do it, or forgets to do it, what’s the big deal with the women who make it such a big deal, like lee, why? Does it really get your panties in a bunch when someone does something so silly like leaving the toilet seat up and you’re too flustered to put it back down? Is it the end of the world?
I think the ladies that make a bigger deal out of it than it really is, really have more serious issues on their minds. Leaving the toilet seat up is not cause for ending friendships. Guys might as well get upset over women that leave their makeup everywhere, or flush tampons down the toilet, leave the toilet seat down when guys like to stand up…
The only time I care about the toilet seat is if it’s the middle of the night. I have “fallen in” before, and I don’t turn on the light at night because I don’t want to blind myself (and I get around fine in the dark).
Otherwise, I could care less if the seat is up or down when I enter a bathroom. In fact, I grew up with a brother who didn’t really care to aim, nor did he care to lift the seat. The result? Guess. I definitely would have preferred that he lift the seat, even if he forgot to put it back down again. It’s not really something I’m going to have a coniption fit over.
This is the way my dear, sweet fiance put it, when I commented on how much I loved the fact that he rarely forgot and left the seat up.
“I figure that you have to leave the seat down the entire time you go to the bathroom, and maybe 25% of the time I go to the bathroom, I have to sit down too. So the seat is down the majority of the time, and that’s the way I keep it. Since I’m the only one who needs it up, I can put it up and down myself.”
I think this is reason #567 on the list of qualities that caused me to fall in love with him.
Man speaking up here.
I’ve always found the “I might fall in” argument to be specious - if it is that big of a hazard just check.
However, when not in use, the proper position of the toilet is: seat down, lid closed. I don’t always remember to do that, but it is the ideal towards which I strive.
It’s a big deal for Mrs. D., so I work really hard at trying to remember to put it down. Of course, when i forget I can always blame my son. (Poor kid.) I guess her concern is it “looks better” or something. I think of the toilet, and pretty much the entire bathroom, as just about as utilitarian as imaginable. Looks just don’t enter into it. She also has this wierd thing about closing cabinets, closets, and drawers. Hey, I’m probably going to need to get something else out of there sooner or later!
I remember the first time we went to a party at our friends house, and Mrs. D was the only biological woman there. We all got a kick out of harrassing her for putting the seat down.
And the only answer to why we pee standing up is “because we can.”
There was a really great episode of Alison Bechdel’s alternative-newspaper comic “Dykes to Watch Out For,” where Sparrow, one of the members of the lesbian commune, has taken on a male lover and convinced her roommates that he should be allowed to join (mainly because they need the extra rent money). One of the other members is especially leery of having a man around, sits down on the john in the dark and promptly falls in. She screams that she can’t fucking believe that the FIRST THING the son of a bitch does is piss and LEAVE THE TOILET SEAT UP! Everybody in the house shows up to see what she’s yelling about, including the man, who’s got a scrub-brush and can of cleanser in his hand; turns out he noticed nobody’d cleaned the crapper in a couple of months and had nipped down to the kitchen to get some Bon Ami.
Actually, I get really grossed out if the lid is not down. I find the idea of flushing the toilet without the lid down, in the same room that I keep my toothbrush in, totally repugnant. I think that it’s only fair that way too. You lift the lid to whatever level you want it at, then before you flush, close the whole thing. And that way, I don’t have to stare at my open toilet bowl everytime I walk into the bathroom.
Plus, if the men can’t aim, they are the only ones who have to look at the underbelly of my toilet until I get to cleaning it again. When I’m at home, I usually try to clean it everyday, but during finals… YUCK!
I put both lids down (the one for sitting down, and the outer cover). But, only for functional reasons, not because the GF tells me to or anything.
I’ve dropped too many things in that damn toilet water – pagers, toothbrushes, magazines, books, etc. – it’s just not worth leaving the lid up anymore.