# Unisex bathrooms - the time has come! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 10, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359 "2006-01-10T19:41:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/41 "2006-01-11T06:16:35Z")
As for libraries – well, **public** libraries are often daytime hotels for the homeless. I hope I don’t need to connect the dots for you? ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/42 "2006-01-11T07:40:26Z")
I think unisex bathrooms are alright for places like dorm rooms where most of the people presumably have an option of choice in living there, and often a similar philosophy about that kind of thing. Public places? No way. The status quo is just fine. I haven’t seen opinion polls, but I’m fairly sure the great majority of people are perfectly content with the way things are. If we had unisex bathrooms, Hollywood would have to abandon that cliche where all the girls in a restaurant go to the bathroom together to talk about their dates. Actually, it’s hardly a cliche – it’s fairly true, IME. I have **NEVER** seen a glory hole in a men’s room, at least not that I’ve ever noticed. I would be extremely surprised to see one outside an extremely scuzzy place. I have no idea what some of you are talking about making it sound like they’re common. Graffiti, yes, but usually that’s painted over pretty quickly in most places. What if someone used a glory hole on you by mistake? You’re sitting there minding your own business, and all of a sudden a dick pops through a hole in the wall next to you. :eek: Not good. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/43 "2006-01-11T10:59:12Z")
The gay bar I sometimes go to in Belfast ([The Kremlin](http://www.kremlin-belfast.com/index2.html)) has a unisex bathroom, mostly, I suspect, to prevent people having sex in the toilets. What you get instead is lots of people hanging out in the bathrooms, doing each other’s make-up, flirting and generally having fun…we joke that if they put a bar in there we’d never leave! As long as there are no urinals, enough mirrors and cubicles that are big enough to attend to any matters of dress adjustment, then I have no problem. Ideally, the cublicles should be large enough for a small sink and a mirror, and that way you can do everything in private. A bathroom attendant is also a good idea, for matters of personal safety and to keep the place nice and clean. Sometimes (e.g red wine spilt on a blouse) you need to be partially undressed and at a sink, and in that scenario unisex bathrooms fall down. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/44 "2006-01-11T11:02:12Z")
There’s a coffee shop in town here with a men’s room and a ladies room. They’re single-person use only and they’re identical. Each has a toilet and a sink. So what is the point of labelling them by gender? If I had a coffee shop myself I’d just label the washrooms 1 and 2 (or not label them at all in case customers get confused and decide they can only shit in washroom 2) and let the customers figure it out themselves. If the washrooms are identical, what’s the point of labelling them? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/45 "2006-01-11T15:01:39Z")
I don’t want anythign to do with women’s bathrooms. They’re too nasty and disease-ridden. Not like the clean men’s restrooms. Mwah-ha-ha. Don’t make me pull out the cites, ladies, or you’ll regret it with embarassment! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/46 "2006-01-11T15:12:32Z")
Ok - 1. Not all of us women have to go to the bathroom _en masse_. I hate that. Once, when I got up to go to the bathroom while I was out with a bunch of guys the only other girl piped and said “I’ll go with you!” Do you think I need help?! 2. Glory holes in libraries - _shudder_. 3. And that settles it. I am not sharing my bathroom with you, and trust me, you don’t want to share it with us. Guys - Celebrate their poops. Fart loudly. Pee on the wall. Girls - Chatter, cackle, and giggle like hens. Pee on the seat. Have periods and are not always very nice about where they put the refuse. _pulls out picket sign_ NO UNISEX BATHROOMS. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/47 "2006-01-11T15:24:39Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > I don’t want anythign to do with women’s bathrooms. They’re too nasty and disease-ridden. Not like the clean men’s restrooms. Mwah-ha-ha. > > Don’t make me pull out the cites, ladies, or you’ll regret it with embarassment! Ah, somebody else that’s spent time cleaning restrooms. I agree entirely. While men would sometimes make the more spectacular mess, women made a greater day-to-day mess. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/48 "2006-01-11T15:32:38Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > For some reason one of my recurrent nightmares is a huuuuuge unisex bathroom, without even walls between the toilets or any doors. You’re just supposed to sit there and do your business. And the worst part is, \*you can never find your way out. > \* Holy crap (heh); I have a very similar recurring dream. I really have to go and I enter this huge communal bathroom where the stalls aren’t complete and the people in there would be able to see what you’re up to. Not to mention, every toilet I go up to has something the matter with it so I can’t use it. I just keep checking and the room gets larger and more filled with unusable stalls. Horrible. Anyhoo, I like the unisex but individual use idea. I know it’s impractical for large communal situations but at work anyone can go, just one at a time. When my mom was returning to college in her 40s, one school actually had communal showers in the dorm. That goes beyond any reasonable expectation to me. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/49 "2006-01-11T15:37:22Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Holy crap (heh); I have a very similar recurring dream. I really have to go and I enter this huge communal bathroom where the stalls aren’t complete and the people in there would be able to see what you’re up to. Not to mention, every toilet I go up to has something the matter with it so I can’t use it. I just keep checking and the room gets larger and more filled with unusable stalls. Horrible. Oh, my. I thought I was the only one with this weird dream. My toilets (in the dream) are often flooding and broken, too. Sca-ry. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/50 "2006-01-11T15:40:31Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Oh, my. I thought I was the only one with this weird dream. My toilets (in the dream) are often flooding and broken, too. Sca-ry. Ditto that. The nasty-toilet dream just keeps running and running (along with the about-to-go-on-stage, haven’t-learned-the-lines, can’t-find-my-costume dream). ---
**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 11, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/51 "2006-01-11T16:07:23Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Why is it, BTW, that in a large public facility like a theater or sports stadium, at intermission or halftime, the line to the ladies’ room always seems to be twice as long as the line to the men’s room? > > If I were an architect designing such a building, I would always be sure to include twice as many ladies’ rooms as men’s rooms. > > Of course, going unisex could also be a solution. I believe that in the last 20 years or so, designers of large-capacity structures have been more observant of the fact that women need more restrooms than men do. I don’t know for sure, but I would guess that at least some state legislatures have turned their attention to the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Dubious\_Weasle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b782af/32.png) [@Dubious\_Weasle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dubious_Weasle)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/52 "2006-01-11T16:11:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No . . . but in some. I’ve even been in some (e.g., my local public library) where management has **covered the partition surfaces with sheet metal to keep glory holes from being drilled** ; it says something that they felt obliged to go to the trouble. Can’t say I’d consider glory holes even vaguely common outside of sex clubs and the occasional gay dive. In fact, over a number of years frequenting a great number of disreputable establishments both in the states and internationally I have seen exactly one. Admittedly, it was in a particularly disreputable Guam strip club which was skeevy enough to have fallen afoul of my ''outside of sex clubs" caveat. In any case, not that I doubt your story but do you think it’s possible that the metal was installed to discourage graffiti and/or allow for easier clean-up when it did occur? ---
**Author:** ![Dubious\_Weasle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b782af/32.png) [@Dubious\_Weasle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dubious_Weasle)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/53 "2006-01-11T16:12:45Z")
Sorry meant to add “bolding mine” ---
**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 11, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/54 "2006-01-11T16:13:20Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m sure the client would be just _delighted_ to pay twice as much he feels is necessary for a bathroom twice the statutory size. Some clients might be quite happy to serve the needs of their customers. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/55 "2006-01-11T16:14:50Z")
Even Uncle Cecil was nice enough to say that women’s bathrooms might be dirtier because of menstruation, breastfeeding, and that fact that if you’re under 5 your mother is much more likely to take you into the female bathroom than your father is to take you into the male one. Toddlers plus blood plus breastmilk plus sitting down to pee means more germs. The ladies bathroom will probably smell better though… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/56 "2006-01-11T18:09:26Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Guys - > > Celebrate their poops. > Fart loudly. > Pee on the wall. > > Girls - > > Chatter, cackle, and giggle like hens. > Pee on the seat. > Have periods and are not always very nice about where they put the refuse. Regarding that, see this BBQ Pit thread I started just a few days ago: “Guys who leave urine on public toilet seats” – [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=353158](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=353158) I had assumed, for obvious reasons, that this was a problem strictly limited to men’s rooms. But, no, it appears some women are too fastidious to plunk their buttocks directly down on a public toilet seat, so they “squat and hover”; and they are likewise too fastidious to clean up the mess with their own hands afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/57 "2006-01-11T18:11:43Z")
> [@Dubious Weasle](#): > > In any case, not that I doubt your story but do you think it’s possible that the metal was installed to discourage graffiti and/or allow for easier clean-up when it did occur? I wish I could say so, but I had observed glory holes between the partitions of this particular public-library men’s room, before the metal sheets were added. I infer the library management got so fed up that, rather than simply patching the hole, they decided to armor the whole partition against future attempts. ---
**Author:** ![dietmountaindewster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb9ed0/32.png) [@dietmountaindewster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dietmountaindewster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/58 "2006-01-11T18:32:10Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > As long as there are no urinals, enough mirrors and cubicles that are big enough to attend to any matters of dress adjustment, then I have no problem. You don’t want a bathroom with men in it with no urinals. Pee will be all over your seats. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/59 "2006-01-11T18:52:28Z")
> [@dietmountaindewster](#): > > You don’t want a bathroom with men in it with no urinals. Pee will be all over your seats. Believe it or not, that’s a problem the ladies already have to deal with. See above. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359/60 "2006-01-11T19:02:34Z")
> [@dietmountaindewster](#): > > You don’t want a bathroom with men in it with no urinals. Pee will be all over your seats. Well, I was going to say that having Urinals moves the men through the bathroom quicker, and makes it less likely they’re occuping a stall just to piss, but yours is good too. Though now I’m wondering if unisex bathrooms tend to have complaints about men leaving the toliet seat up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unisex-bathrooms-the-time-has-come/339359.md?page=4)