To whom it does not seem to concern,
Having seen a few gender neutral toilets appearing in public places, I hope they are not going to take over completely. I’m all for equality, but let’s not forget the equal rights of women, who have always identified as women.
I will be far from happy if I’m out and about and my only option is a gender neutral toilet. This would mean that my right to privacy as a woman was being dismissed, and I’d be forced to hold on until I found another toilet or wait till I got home. Single cubicle toilets are just ok. They have been around for decades and anyone can use them, male or female. But the emphasis is on the word single, which means I am doing whatever it is I am doing alone, rather than with another human being around, let alone one of the opposite sex.
Here are some of the reasons why I think gender neutral toilets are wrong:
1) Women have certain times of the month when they may be experiencing something only that another woman can understand, and so if a woman finds herself in distress in a particular period (no pun intended) the last thing she wants is a man staring at her with big inquisitive eyes!
2) Opportunist sex offenders will have a field day. Imagine it’s late at night and you’re having a pee. Are you telling me you would be comfortable taking your knickers down knowing that just centimetres away from you is a man with his pants down? Unless of course…… sorry I’m going off topic.
3) Men are sometimes gross! They do gross things that often smell gross, and they make gross noises that I simply don’t need to be hear!
4) Girl chat will be a thing of the past. Do you understand how important girl chat is? I will give an example. You’re on a night out with your girls and you have to go pee. Now us girls know that’s not the only reason we go to the toilet on a night out. We go to talk about the sexy guy that’s been checking us out for the last ten minutes, and about how cute our babies would be, and about if we could have a future with them, and if we could then about how to let him know we are ‘wifey’ material and have been waiting desperately for a man like him to sweep us off our feet – but without seeming desperate! Or we might need to see if our bums look as big as we hoped they would in our skin-tight bandage dress, or to check that our pits are still fresh, or to do a little catwalk in the mirror and take a few selfies. I could go on, but the last thing we need in that situation is a man to come and piss on our parade! Oops I did it again, no pun intended. You can see the importance of this chat though can’t you? In fact this should probably have been reason No1!
5) Peeping toms will be ecstatic. They won’t even have to keep their phone camera on standby just in case they catch a glimmer of someone’s knickers or cleavage, because the chances of them seeing a little something would be dramatically increased and they’d have all the time they need to turn their camera on.
6) Paedophiles! I don’t need to elaborate.
7) This next issue is not for the prudish! It may come as a surprise to you but the number of men who use public toilets to masturbate is shocking. Don’t believe me? Google it! and I for one do not wish to share my cubicle with whatever is left behind. In 2011 The Great British Sex Show revealed that 17% of Marks and Spencer shoppers in Britain admitted to masturbating in public toilets. I can only imagine how high the figures were for Iceland shoppers! And given that the population continues to increase, I would assume the amount of public ‘toilet’ w*nkers will also be on the rise.
So, dear government, please listen to us: gender neutrality is fine but don’t take away our rights as women to have toilets for women!
Yours Sincerely,
Fay Rose
Dear Government,
I’m not talking toilet-humour or potty-mouth. I’m talking about a need to re-think our current toilet situation. With more and more businesses, universities, hotels and restaurants jumping on board with gender-neutral toilets, it is time to recognise their positive effects.
The trans community, specifically, has long been calling for a change in the way that bathrooms rules operate. For a very long time, trans-women have been forced to use men’s toilets, and trans-men have had to go into the ladies’. Surely it is simpler and easier to cut the real problem out, and just have every man, woman, gay, straight, black, white, trans, cis, and whoever else you can think of, use the same toilets.
In my opinion (and I’m surer many other people’s), a toilet is a toilet. A place to nip in to, go and do your business, and come back out. Who cares if someone of the opposite sex is in there before or after?
I’m sure the question of women’s safety will come up. I’m also sure that people will argue that if men and women can use the same bathroom space, the risk of sexual assault will increase. Now, I’ve used gender-neutral toilets, and I haven’t felt more or less in danger when I’ve been in them. Firstly, I believe that if a man (or a woman!) really wants to sexually assault someone of the opposite sex, they would have no problem just walking into the other bathroom and committing that crime.
Now consider the benefit of gender-neutral toilets, where multiple men and women were coming in and out of at once. If an opportunistic predator was lurking in the toilets, just the presence of other men would likely put them off.
I know that some women will complain about men using women’s facilities, because they’ll make them dirtier. Public loos are notoriously grimy and smelly, but I would argue that it is the women who have a lot more to answer for when it comes to being unhygienic. Working in a pub, I’ve seen (and had to clean up!) all manner of disgusting things in both the men’s toilets and the ladies’. But the ladies win that foul competition by a landslide.
I don’t seen the real problem with all people using all toilets. It has always been the norm to share a toilet at home. All toilets on trains are unisex. Plenty of people will have nipped in the disabled or baby change toilet in a restaurant, and they are mostly unisex. As well as that, we have all become to used to seeing staff members of the opposite sex in toilets in shopping centres and nightclubs, as cleaners or attendants.
My point is: I don’t see what the fuss is about. Not only should we be sending a message of support and acceptance to those in the trans community, but we should also all just see toilets for what they are: a place to do your business, and mind your own business.
Sincerely,
Jasmine McRae