I’m European. I can’t pee sitting down.
I hate that about American public toilets that people can look in at you. Why bother having a door? Otherwise they tend to be kept in a better state than Irish toilets.
I don’t know why they don’t know this, because every public toilet in the United States has a sign saying not to do this.
If you’re used to squatting to poop, there might be at least two concerns:
(1) You find it gross to make skin-to-porcelain contact with the crapper.
(2) You are used to squatting, which aligns your bowels for maximum flow.
Standing on a sitting toilet happens often enough in India that sometimes sitting toilets are made with footrests on the sides of the seat.
That’s not very fair. Imagine how’d you feel if you had to pop a squat everytime you had to take a dump.
For public bathroom privacy, we rely on a deep sense of shame and body loathing which we carefully instill in our children from birth. Then we buy them sweatpants with “Juicy” written on the ass, push up bras and tube tops. Clear now? 
They can look in at you? They can? I’m wondering how Irish toilet doors are different.
They’re doors. Often heavy, solid, wooden doors, with hinges and latches and locks like your front door. The walls they’re set in are real walls, floor to ceiling. This effectively means that a public bathroom is a room of rooms.
At least now I understand the term “water closet”. Yeah, it’s just like a closet inside a larger room.
US bathrooms have stalls, with walls that don’t extend all the way up or down, and doors that often have gaps on each edge. Yeah, in most US public bathrooms, you could spy on someone on the toilet, but it’s generally only done by very small children who haven’t learned better yet.
I think it’s the pipes, not the plants, that are the problem.
Typical US public toilets for men that I’ve encountered both a) have low partitions so a tall person can just look in (which you do get occasionally here, especially anywhere drugs might be being consumed) and also b) there’s a gap of a centimetre or two between the door and its frame a wide crack (excuse the pun) that people can easily look into while you’re taking a shit. I find it disconcerting and offputting.
To do either, though, you’d have to make an effort, either to stand on tiptoe (unless you’re exceptionally tall), or to peer in through the crack. You can’t see anything if you’re walking by like a normal person. And if you did make that kind of effort to peer in, that’s weirdo behavior, and any American would find it offputting too.
I’m six foot four and in a lot of places it would take effort for me *not *to see the person in the cubicle over the partition but it’s the gap that annoys me more. The only person who has actually peered in at me was some kid in ORD. It’s just, y’know a comfort thing when you’re vulnerable. It’s not entirely rational.
Wow broad brush strokes much? It’s plain to see these Americans are really pissing you off today, you seem so angry you’re about to choke - what gives?
Americans aren’t pissing me off 
. But I am allowed to retort in kind, or is that forbidden again, too? So if the question is posed as “US great, but the water in the rest of the world is not safe, electricity is a problem, and can I eat the food?” that’s okay? You don’t see that this might come across as a bit offensive?
If you haven’t read the previous threads on the topic where several US dopers posted variations on “I’ve never heard that I shouldn’t flush my tampon, the pipes can handle that” it’s not my fault. I’m just repeating what the US dopers themselves said previously - but of course under the double standard of this board, this is not allowed.
Reread the OP, he puts northern europe on a pedestal above the US and asks a question about Southern EUrope - why are you so defensive. Come to the US I can show you a vile toilet or two if you’re reallly interested (greasy gas stations off the Highyway in the rust belt)
You’re a peein 
If you don’t see the double standard on this board generally and in this question specifically, I don’t know how to explain it to you.
Constanze’s ire is justified, I think. Mdcastle’s posts have some troubling implications. Like the Mexico one, for example.
(Dang, I just realized that Mdcastle and Md2000 are two different posters!)
No, I get that you know you need different plugs and there are different voltages. I was just adding that you won’t be able to use those items in the bathroom without a specific adaptor in addition to the usual US/UKplug adaptors and they’re only available for shavers (or at least, only usable for shavers - the voltage is really low).
I think the OP’s questions were reasonable, and I’m just as European as you.
There is a bit of a double standard on the Dope occasionally, with questions about simple things in the US seen as stupid and questions about simple things outside the US not seen as stupid, but I don’t think that acting as if the US people’s questions are all stupid helps matters.
FWIW, I do remember a thread or two where US dopers did express incredulity that not all plumbing systems in Europe can handle tampons and the like. But this thread isn’t an example of that.
Who said that the OP is asking a stupid question? If the question were phrased differently - without the denigrating attitude - it would be a normal travel question that comes up in Europe often enough, too - where can I drink the water? And what precaution do I need to take when eating salad? Are common question in the guide books for Southern Europe. Partly because of corruption in the companies and cities leading to bad quality water pipes; partly because of less water to begin with, partly because of less money and less strict standards for treatment plants.
And the other posters who chime in to rant about Eastern Europe places not having “real” toilets because they are of the squatting variety instead of the sit-down variety - that, too, is not a matter of “dumb” question, but of the automatic cultural arrogance that there is only one right way to do things - the American way. That’s part of the double standard. (Another part is how it’s okay for US dopers to post critical things, but if I repeat the same things, I get flamed or warned. Because saying bad things about the US is forbidden, no matter how factually true, but saying bad things about other countries is no matter).
I didn’t say it’s an example. I said that because it had come up in the past, it’s something that US tourists, esp. female ones, should be aware of, so they don’t cause blockages. I get flamed for repeating exactly what US dopers have said before in other threads - I consider that double standard. If you no longer mind this, that’s your thing.
Yeah, but anything that can handle the logs can handle the Charmin, unless you flush an entire roll at once. Whereas newspaper pieces, or that traditional US staple, the Sears catalog, probably will plug after the 2nd sheet.
I was just making an example. In the USA and Canada, washcloths are a normal part of hotel towlery (?) and most people don’t travel with them; whereas the guidebook warned that except in Holiday-Inn-wannabees, European hotels tended to NOT provide washcloths. Which, I assume, you are confirming. Vive la difference… chacun son gout, vaya con dios, ich bein ein Berliner, etc.