Public restroom design is sexist.
A year ago today, Soraya Chemaly published The Everyday Sexism of Women Waiting in Public Toilet Lines. Her article was, obviously, met with ridicule, ignorance and ire -- I guess men are convinced that the "real" reason women's restroom lines are so long is because... women are vain? And obsessed with their hair and makeup? And love to bond and gossip in the bathroom stalls?
But the shocking -- SHOCKING! -- truth... is that women basically do the same thing men do in the bathroom -- with the exception of, sometimes they have to change pads/tampons. So what's "sexist" about public restroom design? It's that, in spite of THIS: 1) Women have wombs. That means they have smaller bladders. That means they pee more frequently than men. 2) Women have greater childcare responsibilities. They are more likely to be helping/waiting for/dealing with small children, and/or changing diapers. 3) Stalls (which women use because most women don't pee standing up, though it definitely can be done -- a fact that always surprises men) (another fun fact: we can also pee into Gatorade bottles while we're driving) take up about twice as much space as urinals. Meaning that, given equal amounts of space, there are fewer facilities in most women's restrooms than men's. 4) Women tend to wear more, and tighter, layers of clothing, which must be unzipped/unbuttoned and pulled down. This takes a little longer than unzipping your jeans and whipping your dick out.
...
... Most buildings still devote equal (at best) amounts of space to women's and men's restrooms. And, sure, there has been some legislation concerning restroom space in newly constructed buildings... but this does little to address the restroom situation in, you know, almost every existing building, including schools, political buildings, arenas, etc. In fact, many old building codes required more space for men's than women's restrooms, since women's roles were more restricted then. Why would you need a women's restroom in a university? Why would you need one near the Speaker's Lobby in the House of Representatives? (Fun fact: until 2011, the nearest restroom to the Speaker's Lobby was too far away for women to actually make it there and back during session breaks. Meanwhile, the men's restroom featured a fireplace, a shoeshine stand and televised floor proceedings.) This is why, occasionally, I am forced to commandeer a men's restroom -- with the help of either a male or female ally. For example, at my Stanford 5-year reunion last fall, we had this beautiful, amazing Dinner on the Quad.
OMG DOTQ!!!!
And, expectedly, the thing that always happens, happened.
There was a huge long line at the women's restroom... and no line at the men's. The girl in line behind me and I were like, "No. This isn't working for me." Standing in line, uncomfortable, missing out on a three-course meal and an open bar? No, thanks. So we got in line at the door of the men's room. When the first guy that came out, we stopped him and asked, "Are there any men in there?" He checked and said, "Yes, there is one more guy in there." When THAT guy came out, I guarded the door while my new ladyfriend went in and did her thang. (#BeRude?) Shockingly -- SHOCKINGLY! -- she didn't take hours and hours, just because she's a woman. She took, like, two seconds. Then it was my turn. By then, a guy had gotten in line behind me. I asked him to wait outside while I peed. He said sure. I peed, and returned to the party. The five women who had been in line in front of me for the women's room were still waiting to get into the women's room. This is the part where certain ignorant dudes might just be like, "Why don't you just buy a Shenis?" (If this sounds like you, please see Dear Dudes: If You Think Women Are The Problem, YOU Are The Problem.) For those who don't know, a Shenis (or a Freedom to Stand, or a Pee Buddy) is a funnel that women can use to pee standing up.
And, like, sure. A woman can use a pee funnel to pee standing up. But this does little to address the fact that:
1) There's still going to be a long line. 2) There are still fewer things to pee into in a women's bathroom than a men's bathroom. 3) Women will still have to pee more often than men. 4) Women still occasionally have to deal with menstrual stuff. I support a woman's choice to use (or not use) a pee funnel. Part of me, personally, cringes at the idea of it -- I guess because I don't like the idea of carrying around this big pee funnel? Or something? Also worth noting, as mentioned above, all women have the ability to pee standing up without a pee funnel. If it's new to you, practice a few times in the shower before you try it at a concert or whatever. But basically, what you need to do is: 1) Find your urethra. If Orange is the New Black is correct, many women don't know exactly where their pee comes from. (Hint: it's not your vagina.)
2) Find your labia (I think most women know what/where to find this).
3) Stand with your feet about shoulder-ish width apart. 4) Use your fingers (on one or two hands -- whatever you're comfortable with) to separate your labia, just in front of your urethra. 5) Pee. You will need to start and stop abruptly, not gradually, or else it will kinda drip. Again, you should probably practice in the shower, first, until you have a sense of how it's going to work. But trust me: you'll be surprised at the range and arc of your stream. Regardless. Even if every woman learned how to pee standing up and decided that she preferred it to sitting (fun fact: a 2011 study out of Johns Hopkins found that 35% of American men prefer sitting to standing while they pee, and 49% of married men in Japan willingly sit to pee)... There's still the whole, everything-I-said-above this: 1) There are still fewer things to pee into in a women's bathroom than a men's bathroom. 2) Women will still have to pee more often than men. 3) Women still occasionally have to deal with menstrual stuff. Fortunately, legislation and new building codes seem to have recognized this as a problem. Hopefully, this means that obnoxiously long lines for women's restrooms and the obnoxious stereotypes that accompany them will soon be a thing of the past. But in the meantime, can we all just acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, women aren't the vain, narcissistic, mysterious bathroom-dwelling creatures that we assume they are? And instead think of them as people who have to wait in much longer lines than men, for entirely stupid reasons?
15 Comments
Spiral
9/23/2016 09:59:47 pm
Fair enough, I guess I just didn't pay enough attention to when this happens to care.
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Cyp
12/17/2016 11:07:33 pm
Some of the things you mentioned is biology so I guess in your opinion biology is sexist. The others are just your personal choice because you choose what you wear. So saying bathrooms are sexist is dumb.
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2/4/2017 08:55:07 am
Actually, your reading comprehension of this article was dumb. Did I call biology sexist -- or did I saw that it's sexist to ignore scientific facts (i.e., biological differences)? Nice try, though. :P
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Elliot James
4/1/2017 10:05:58 am
But that's exactly what you're doing. Your saying that the biological reasons are justification for sexism against men by allocating them less restroom space than women, as many building codes are now requiring.
Lewis
1/30/2017 02:01:16 am
Don't sit there and act like the only reasons some women take ages in the bathroom are purely selfless because that would be ignorant. Every women is different, yes things should take longer for you guys but to the point where there is a massive queue? Some of you ARE in there playing the vanity game and making other ladies wait. Target THOSE ladies not men for apparently making toilets sexist. And here you are calling other people ignorant. Your "article" if you can call it that is attempting to place the blame on men. But that's fine you can play victim all your life if you want.
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Eva Glasrud
2/4/2017 09:17:19 am
Lewis... what do you think women's bathroom look like? Do you think there's, like, a makeup counter and a vanity inside of the toilet stalls? Your "comment" if you can call it that is very confused -- but I was highly amused that you think *I* am the one who is "playing the victim," when you're the one who feels "targeted" by my blog post.
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Marcello
3/19/2017 12:26:13 am
I remember the line difference at, well, pretty much any museum/park/younameit. At a park in Spain I remember thinking "why don't they build more?" (about 25 women in the queue, just 2 guys in front of me).
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Eva Glasrud
4/10/2017 11:22:17 am
That's funny -- there aren't even mirrors in there. I believe you, but I still think that's funny.
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Elliot James
4/1/2017 10:04:09 am
Wahhhhhhh...inequality is OK but only when it benefits me...wahhhhhhh...like when building codes require more space for women's restrooms than men's...
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Claire
4/10/2017 02:52:59 am
Oh, don't be silly, it's not a matter of equality so much as pragmatism here. Can most women stand while they pee? At the moment, it's not the case. Therefore, you need more stalls, which take up more space than urinals. The fact that there are large queues in fornt of women's toilets just prove that there is a fault in the design of the building, and Eva's suggesting that we can remedy to this, so that everyone is more comfortable at the end of the day. It's just common sense and observation, really, no need to get all up in arms. Besides, biology does require that women go to the restroom more often. For instance, pregnant women do need it much more often than your average Joe, don't you think that type of issues would be worth considering when designing buildings? Or do you really believe that this is a sexist thing to say, and discriminatory against men?
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Eva Glasrud
4/10/2017 11:24:16 am
Thank you! It's surprising someone could have read the article and completely missed the point. But then again, not everyone reads the article before commenting... I was just reading about a system some news sites use where, before you comment, you have to answer a few basic questions about the article to prove you read it. It's kind of brilliant.
Claire
4/11/2017 11:44:09 am
Yes, I think some people simply stop reading properly after they see the word "feminism" and only select bits of information that they think disqualify all that is being said. I also think that type of comments show that there is quite a widely spread misunderstanding about the meaning of the "equality". Being equal doesn't mean being the same. I often see comments online about how men and women will never be equal because they are different, but those simply refuse to account for the fact that equality doesn't mean uniformity. It's actually quite the opposite to me, and I don't think we can build a society that gives equal chances to everyone if we're not able to assess objectively some of our differences and act upon them. For instance, all that is related to childcare, maternity and the job market seem crucial to me. It's a matter of aknowledging that women's bodies are different, and that it wouldn't be fair to refuse them the access to a stable personal income because of this. It just makes me generally sad that it is becoming ok to slander anyone who uses the word "feminism" on the internet these days, and pretend that we're all self-interested bitches, when really, for some women, it's a matter of life and death. A single mum who has difficulty getting a full-time job and can't rely on a partner has it significantly harder than a single man in the same position. As a society, I think we should aknowledge that type of things, and it's not a matter of "favorising" women over men, it's just recognising some differences and giving equal opportunities to both genders.
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TellingTheRealTruth
6/16/2017 07:49:44 am
Well i can only imagine what they're doing to each other.
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sheyla
6/7/2022 01:52:38 am
You, you publish all this blablabla stuff only to justify a PLAIN DISRESPECT of what females do, to others waiting in line, by sitting decades of minutes in toilet box just to do a simple pee.
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Kay
4/6/2024 10:42:06 am
There really are women who spend an inordinate amount of time in those stalls just for the fun of making other women suffer. We are capable of hurrying out of consideration for others. Many just choose not to do that. I am an older woman who just had to pee behind a dumpster because a woman in a single stall bathroom decided that she is the only person on the planet who matters. Sure, the bathroom situation is unfair, but that doesn’t account for the many sociopaths who get off on the suffering of others.
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