[–] goatsarecute 0 points 10 points 10 points (+10|-0) ago
I think that people who are too mentally damaged to use a public bathroom should be in assisted living and not among the general public.
[–] nomenimion 1 point 7 points 8 points (+8|-1) ago (edited ago)
Astoundingly bad idea, unless you love false rape accusations.
[–] ThirteenthZodiac 1 point 5 points 6 points (+6|-1) ago
With American culture being what it is at the moment, while I have no qualms with the concept of a gender-neutral bathroom, right now I would feel very uncomfortable - as a guy - using the same bathroom a woman was using. It just seems like a recipe for disaster.
[–] PasswordIsTomato ago
What's to stop a woman from saying that a random guy stepped into the women's restroom and raped her as it stands now? Because the male isn't 'allowed' into the female bathroom that somehow is preventing all of the false rape accusations involving restrooms?
[–] cynder 0 points 12 points 12 points (+12|-0) ago
Okay. Let's try this.
I consider myself to be kind of gender neutral. I was born female, never found it quite fitting, but being a male doesn't seem completely right either. So I just stick to the middle. Be whatever I feel like.
That said, bathrooms ARE NOT that big of a deal. I've used men's restrooms while dressed as both male and female. I've used women's restrooms as both, too.
Nobody cares. Might get a weird look, feel a little out of place. Boo-fucking-hoo.
Would I like to have a bathroom that is neither, or both? Sure. That'd be pretty cool. But also pretty inefficient as far as conversion. It is not the job of the rest of the world to conform to such a tiny fraction of people.
If a school is making a new building? Sure, add an extra, slightly smaller bathroom. Like a one-person thing. Make faculty bathrooms gender-neutral student accessible or something in old buildings, if there is a high demand. That's not too much of an issue.
But adding on or merging bathrooms is just unnecessary. It really is. Let normal people be normal, and take care of them, and throw us weirdos a bone now and then, if you can.
[–] [deleted] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
[–] CaptOblivious 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
It's a single user at a time room. be as uncomfortable as you want, no one cares.
[–] DjangoRed 1 point 7 points 8 points (+8|-1) ago (edited ago)
Absolutely and totally against it. Rape accusations. Male/female culture differences. Loss of privacy.
I don't need Becky telling Heather that my shit smells bad. Date ruined.
I don't need to deal with unflushable bloody tampons in the toilet.
I don't need to deal with a girl attacking me when I enter, because her friend "needs some space".
Restrooms are not just a place where people use the bathroom. They provide so many other functions, both physically and socially. It concerns me that people think these should be everywhere.
[–] [deleted] 1 point 0 points 1 point (+1|-1) ago
[–] DjangoRed 1 point 4 points 5 points (+5|-1) ago (edited ago)
I can tell you don't party much.
edit: When you code a computer program, you look at the edge cases and you try to break it. You go to the extremes to find why your code doesn't work. That's the kind of thinking that needs to be done here.
[–] TexasComments 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
When I was a teenager one of my jobs as a lifeguard was to clean the bathrooms. Men's bathrooms were always pretty clean except around the urinals and maybe some paper towels near the sink. Women's bathrooms somehow managed to get residue on the walls of the stalls, tampons on the ground, and all manner of nastiness near the toilets.
[–] BigTimStrange 1 point 5 points 6 points (+6|-1) ago
It's something that inconveniences the majority to bring convenience to the minority.
If you're not comfortable using either washroom, sucks but everyone has their own crosses to bear and that's yours. Do what all the other adults do - deal with it.
[–] [deleted] 2 points -1 points 1 point (+1|-2) ago
[–] BigTimStrange 1 point 1 point 2 points (+2|-1) ago
Like segregation. That was an inconvenience for the minority.
Linking being uncomfortable with using a gendered washroom to willful oppression of a group is one astronomical stretch.
Some people are harassed when using the restroom because their appearance doesn't fit society's expectations. It's not always a matter of anxiety attacks, although that's part of it. It's also about the way people are treating each other.
I think the other Voater's suggestion of a third, smaller washroom is the ideal solution. To me, the genderless washrooms comes off as not as removing a burden, but merely transferring it from the minority to the majority.
[–] TexasComments 1 point 1 point 2 points (+2|-1) ago
That's some impressive mental gymnastics.
[–] rennoc92 1 point 0 points 1 point (+1|-1) ago
Depends. If its big and has a urinal and stalls then might have problems. As much as they try sinks often get unfortunate views of the action. All it takes is for one guy to whip around before he's tucked in to cause awkwardness. Mature people will be fine but not everyone is. In clubs? Hell no. Add young people, alcohol and a place both can go with a locked door with no trouble?
The general rowdiness of guys having a literal pissing contest is not going to end well. It'll become another argument that men steal space in a "shared" space and should learn to stop manspacing contrasted with women who hog the bathroom and really don't need to use the neutral bathroom for socialising. Bathrooms are there to to serve 2 purposes. Empty and wash. Its why we don't share changing rooms in gym. Its why we can ask for a prefered doctor of gender when it comes to genitals issues. men and women just approach it differently.
Now if we can keep the men/women and then have a third option we anyone can go as they please because of lines, not giving a crap or nervousness of declaring gender then i don't mind.
[–] fleas 0 points 8 points 8 points (+8|-0) ago
Men and women use restrooms differently. Men are usually all business, in and out. Women on the other hand take more time and congregate there in groups. Forcing the 2 together sounds like a recipe for unneeded tension
[–] [deleted] 0 points 7 points 7 points (+7|-0) ago
[–] fleas 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago (edited ago)
I haven't hung out in a ladies room in years but the last one I was in had a couch, and a plush chair in a separate area with a large mirror. I think I ended up in there chatting with girls for over an hour. A couple stayed the whole time, most were quicker probably 5-10 minutes.
For not so nice bathrooms for a guy 2 minutes will be about the total in and out time.
Edit to add: Another experience I had at a baseball game. The line to the ladies was long and slow so they started to use the stalls in the men's. While waiting in line I decided to count how many men could go in the time it took a woman to go. It ended up being about 10 to 1
[–] Nationalist 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I've worked as janitor and I can say a lot of times the men's room will have just a stall or two and a urinal. Meanwhile the corresponding women's room may have 3 or 4 stalls and even sometimes chairs and a front waiting room. Shit's crazy, why can't women just use the bathroom for what its meant for?
[–] CaptOblivious 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
I'm guessing "in the men's room".