How do you feel about unisex public restrooms?

[Gopi Passiflora]

I mean, on one hand unisex restrooms can solve the problem of "who goes where" by eliminating the need to choose altogether. But on the other hand, people of one gender may not like sharing rest rooms with those of another gender.

Curious what your thoughts are about this.

[Wulfie Reanimator]

Plenty of unisex public bathrooms where I live. Society is not in chaos.

[Fritigern Gothly]

I have one of those! It's called "the bathroom at my home!"

As far as public ones go, have been to bars with only one toilet and had no problem with that. I have been to a school without separate bathrooms for boys and girls and thought nothing of that (and still don't). I have had workplaces without separate male/female bathrooms and not once did a problem arise.
And as a side track, there was this self-cleaning, public restroom in the middle of a shopping district which I used all the time (I used both restroom and shopping district all the time 🙂 )

So I don't have any problem with public unisex bathrooms. Bring 'em on!

 

P.S. I am weird and like documentaries on a variety of subjects. One of those was the history of public restrooms. Turned out that the first restroom, segregated by gender, was built in London because having women and men use the same restrooms was beyond scandalous. It was not a "safety" thing, no... Men and women were not supposed to socialize unless they were family or chaperoned and OMG, imagine having to talk to an unknown woman!

[Velk Kerang]

While it certainly would solve a lot of safety and security issues in regards to that debate I think it can be costly for business owners to be forced to provide them. Personally I don't have a problem with the idea myself. I just don't think people should be forced in to anything they did not freely choose to do themselves. I'm also against people being sued though as some have been over this issue for BS reasons. The simple fix though would be to provide one single unisex bathroom with a lockable door and people have to go in it separately. Kills the debate and people can stop pissing and moaning about potty issues. lol😁😎

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

Our RL Bar has a pair of washrooms and both are unisex. Never any issue. Just lock the door!

[Bree Giffen]

What about standard bathrooms with multiple stalls and sinks. No thanks. 

[Kathlen Onyx]

48 minutes ago, Velk Kerang said:

The simple fix though would be to provide one single unisex bathroom with a lockable door and people have to go in it separately. Kills the debate and people can stop pissing and moaning about potty issues. lol😁😎

The problem where you have unisex bathrooms goes deeper than just cost or privacy.  There have been countless criminal activities that happen in public bathrooms including rape and assault. I would not be comfortable with this option unless it was implemented like the above with a single room with a lockable door.  In the US most, if not all unisex bathrooms are this way.  I realize that criminal activity can happen even without the bathrooms being unisex but I think the risk outweighs the cost and convenience. It also isn't just men and women that use the restrooms, it is also children.  

[Kathlen Onyx]

The problem where you have unisex bathrooms goes deeper than just cost or privacy.  There have been countless criminal activities that happen in public bathrooms including assault. I would not be comfortable with this option unless it was implemented with a single room with a lockable door.  In the US most, if not all, unisex bathrooms are this way.  I realize that criminal activity can happen even without the bathrooms being unisex but I think the risk outweighs the cost and convenience. It also isn't just men and women that use the restrooms, it is also children.  

I originally had another word that started with "R" in there as well next to assault but it must have triggered something as that post was hidden.

Edited May 25, 2021 by Sam1 Bellisserian

[Velk Kerang]

Right or wrong this is always my proper response to those individuals who cross the line. Depending on what they do is depending of if I stop or not. lol They better pray them cops show up real quick. lol😎

 

[Coffee Pancake]

2 hours ago, Gopi Passiflora said:

I mean, on one hand unisex restrooms can solve the problem of "who goes where"

Who goes where isn't a problem.

The problem is other people getting overly worked up about who else goes where ... and then creating fictional narratives to try and support their position. 

[Mercedes Avon]

To be frank, all bathrooms are already unisex. Women have peed next to transitioning women and men have peed next to transitioning men for years. No one had issues because they did not know. Now that they know, they are allowing their minds to run away with wild silliness where there is none.

[Rowan Amore]

I used to.always use the mens room at concert venues.  No line!  And they rarely use the stalls anyway.

[Stephanie Misfit]

In the UK there is now a move away from unisex bathrooms and the new legislation being drafted states that all new buildings must again provide single sex facilities. This is partly in response to the distress experienced by women and girls at the increasing number of facilities being made unisex and the belief that this restricts women's access to the community, with some women expressing that they would rather wet themselves than share a bathroom with men.

In countries such as India, single sex facilities for women are absolutely essential to prevent sexual assault, and cannot be taken for granted. For women from certain cultures living in Western countries, they are also important as these women cannot share a bathroom with men.

It is interesting that for many years, women did not have access to private spaces at all. Women's toilets were not introduced until the well into Victorian era, and because of this women did not venture far from their homes (the so called "urinary leash").

 

 

[Ceka Cianci]

I don't think much about them at all because I don't use them, unless it's a single room.. I have my own little thing of Lysol in my purse at all times, just in case..

Honestly, rather than have two big rooms with a few stalls, they should just have a few rooms. There is too much wasted space in big public bathrooms..

Plus they are more private and safe. I don't care how elegant they make a big bathroom, they all have that big school locker room feel to me..

There should be two signs on the door.. One saying Bathroom and the other saying leave it as clean as you found it.

 

[Silent Mistwalker]

2 hours ago, Gopi Passiflora said:

I mean, on one hand unisex restrooms can solve the problem of "who goes where" by eliminating the need to choose altogether. But on the other hand, people of one gender may not like sharing rest rooms with those of another gender.

Curious what your thoughts are about this.

 

Simple. I refuse to share a public restroom with men. It's bad enough having to share one with other women. 

He has his bathroom and I have mine. I never use his but he is always trying to find an excuse to use mine because it is cleaner. 

[Silent Mistwalker]

55 minutes ago, Coffee Pancake said:

Who goes where isn't a problem.

The problem is other people getting overly worked up about who else goes where ... and then creating fictional narratives to try and support their position. 

This.

[Paul Hexem]

It's a design and materials cost question more than anything else, otherwise it'd be a non-issue.

The real question is, what does this have to do with SL? The only things bathrooms in SL get used for involve multiple people at once anyway!

[Bree Giffen]

I work at a large office and a set of single bathrooms just won’t work. The logistics would just fail. Also, there are religious people who have a problem with unisex bathrooms.

[Rowan Amore]

10 minutes ago, Paul Hexem said:

It's a design and materials cost question more than anything else, otherwise it'd be a non-issue.

The real question is, what does this have to do with SL? The only things bathrooms in SL get used for involve multiple people at once anyway!

Can't say I have ever used a toilet in SL.  Nor eaten so that might be why.  😆

[ChinRey]

3 hours ago, Paul Hexem said:

The real question is, what does this have to do with SL?

That's a good point, so: How do you feel about unispecies public restrooms?

[Lewis Luminos]

Assault in public bathrooms is rare, much rarer than assault in private homes, on the street, in bars etc. Segregating men and women in a bathroom on the grounds of safety makes no sense unless you are also segregating them everywhere else too.

If it's about "what you might see" then the solution is stalls, which all bathrooms already have. If you don't want anyone to see what you have, or if you don't want to see what other people have, simply don't use a bathroom with urinals in it. Which most unisex bathrooms don't have anyway.

And really, the bathroom debate has never really been about assault or safety. It's always been solely about one thing only - making trans women disappear. 

All a trans person asks for is to be accepted as the gender that they present. So naturally they prefer to use the bathroom that matches that gender.
But sometimes that’s not always possible or safe. Many times during my early transition I would switch bathrooms depending on the location, whether I felt confident that I was “passing” etc. So I might use both men's and women's on subsequent days, or even on different occasions on the same day. My ability to choose, which is protected by my rights as a British citizen, was extremely valuable to my sense of safety and wellbeing. 

What annoys me most about the situation in the US is the hypocrisy of it all. Take a trans man for example:

 

That's me, btw.  When I walk into the men's room no-one bats an eye. I wouldn’t be challenged or threatened. But a trans woman in a women's room is at risk just because she doesn’t look like a Stepford Wife; she doesn’t match the narrow conservative idea of what a woman should look like. Even cisgender women are getting threatened in women's bathrooms because they look like this:

Now here’s the thing, and this I think is why the situation is unbalanced and targets only trans women.

Homophobia.

Some men are terrified that they’ll see a woman, fancy her, and then find out that she was born a man because they think that it makes them gay.  Their solution to this problem is to make trans women disappear altogether. Trans men are excluded from the debate because those conservative cis men never fancy us anyway.

The bathroom laws in the US are a method of getting trans women to disappear. If they’re never allowed to use the women's bathroom, they’re going to have to use the men's. And if they’re going to have to use the men's, they’re going to have to dress as men in order to not be at risk of violence. Hence, they disappear.

Just remember, if you want all trans people to use the bathroom that matches their birth gender only, then you're asking for your daughter to share a bathroom with me. And with him:

 

[cunomar]

Here in the UK they are trying to make it law kids have gender issues before they even know what sex is .

Sadly i have no kids that might allow me to attend a school meeting on the subject and suggest all those in favour strip naked and fart for the amusement of those opposed .

On the flip side anyone who feigns offence because of sign on a door at someone taking care of a basic human need when they are caught short should be locked in a public glass box and fed 3 times a day for a week .

Edited May 26, 2021 by cunomar

[Ceka Cianci]

Zombieland rule number # 3

Beware of Bathrooms.

 

[Krystina Ferraris]

In work we have one bathroom for everyone - never thought about it and nobody ever had an issue with that.

In the fields I share with horses, cows, sheep, foxes and birds of all genders 🐮 

[Krystina Ferraris]

11 hours ago, Gopi Passiflora said:

I mean, on one hand unisex restrooms can solve the problem of "who goes where" by eliminating the need to choose altogether

I honestly can't understand this... I see people for who they are, they go to the restroom they choose as the gender they present. Really who cares? There is no choosing, I don't "choose" to go the female toilet, that's how I was born and what I see fit. Women of all genders should not "choose" either. There shouldn't even be a question about this.. it's so sad that in 2021 there are still people out there who question the right of a trans woman to use the female toilet.