First the link, along with a quote from the article:
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There are two pictures in the article, one showing what the toilet looks like from the outside (passersby see only the reflection of things outside the toilet) and the inside (from which vantage one can see the outside clearly). The exhibit in question, incidentally,is from 2003, and presumably no longer in operation.
Assuming the toilet were clean, you really had to go,* and* that there were probably alternatives available, would you be willing to use it? Why or why not?
There used to be a bar/restaurant here in town where the men’s room was behind a one-way mirror that was right next to the bar. You could be standing there taking a whiz and look out at someone standing there ordering a drink. It was kind of fun and weird at the same time.
I’ve been to a few places that have those. Not that unique. One was a bar in Vancouver. It also had a peep hole between the men’s and women’s restrooms…visible both ways.
no problem in principle; in practice I try to avoid public toilets anyway but wouldn’t necessarily avoid this more than a normal one (my decision on whether to like it more or less than a normal one is whether I judge it to be cleaned more or less than others versus it being used for “sexual deviancy” more or less than others.
Sure. There’s a toilet in a Darwin restaurant where the back wall of the men’s urinal is a two way mirror facing out to the diners. You get to aim at people you don’t like. Lots of fun :).
Completely willing, but maybe not completely able. I’ve got a shy bladder, and have a hard time peeing if I know someone can hear. Actually seeing them might cause me to seize up.
There’s a club here which has one way glass above the men’s urinals, which looks out on the main floor area. The spot right in front of the glass is one of the only well-lit areas, so girls often pause to check their hair/makeup in the mirror. Very disconcerting to take a whizz while some chick puts on lipstick eight inches in front of you.
These one-way windows, one-way mirrors depend very much on the relative lighting on both sides – must generally be dim light on the see-through side and bright light on the reflecting side, for it to work well.
Thus, at night, if this loo is lit up inside, it might even work in reverse!
Even in the day time, with no extra light inside, you could peek through the mirrored side by putting your face right up to the glass with your hands around your eyes to shade the excess light – like this photo
I’ve seen one-way mirrors where you could do that. Maybe if the adjust the density of the silvering, they could make it not work that way.
NOW would you use this loo?
ETA: Ditto those bars where you look out through the urinals to watch the girls putting on their faces on the other side. If they look really up close, what will they see?
Jerome Bettis’ Grill in Pittsburgh and my husband said exactly the same thing. And yes, if you put your face to the glass and shield your eyes, you can see the dimmed image of the guys in the bathroom. Please don’t ask me how I know this.
After seeing the Dutch version of a Port-A-John at a 2003 airshow, an enclosed toilet of any kind is no big deal. They had these things set up next to the food tents with families all about. That day, I discovered what a prude I am.
I saw a clip on “World’s Dumbest” (think it was one of the Partiers episodes) that had an open trough as a men’s urinal at a music festival, and I’m pretty sure it was in Europe (reporter in the clip was Dutch, IIRC). Noteworthy in part for the drunk who staggered out of a Port-a-John and tried to wash his hands in it, and the stunned (female) reporter who asked another male nearby to confirm whether it was a urinal (he did, undertones of “well, duh!” in his response).
Most of the “one-way glass” I’ve encountered has actually been two-way if the lighting is wrong or if you get up close enough. Maybe I just dealt with poor-quality materials, but I wouldn’t trust it. So, no.
