Women in the gents!

I still have flashbacks to the loo in a non tourist area of Turkey. a hole in the floor with a couple of flat stones to plant your feet on and a tin bucket at the side to put your "waste". It was grim.

I suppose we're lucky in western countries, having mostly hygienic toilets.
When I was staying in India I went to one at a restaurant - just one for everyone.
It was rather low down and there were lots of mossies flying around trying to bite you. I got out of there as quick as possible.

You don’t see anything Nonnie!

Well a lot of you are not as easily embarrassed as me. I don't think I could cope with seeing a lot of men's bits at the urinals on my way to a cubicle!

Exactly grumppa

I’ve gone into gents when queue for ladies- usually when there are just single toilets one for men and one for women. They are usually identical inside.

I wouldn’t object to men in women’s toilets as we’re all in cubicles anyway, when we’re “doing our business”. In general I think unisex ones are the way to go.

We were at Alder Hey Children's Hospital last year with our daughter and our granddaughter and the toilets were unisex. No problem with that, except that people tended to pull the door to when they left and you couldn't tell whether they were vacant without a gentle push. One of my pet hates, it happens in lots of places.

I led the charge at the BBC when we were recording '100 Women'. It was the practice to record two episodes back to back with a 10 minute 'comfort break' in the middle. So, 10 minutes for 100 women to have a tea/coffee and biscuit and go to the toilet. Not a man in sight, but still some women felt they had to stand in the long queue at the ladies - just could not bring themselves to use the queue free gents.

The queues in ladies' loos are sufficient justification for women to appropriate the cubicles in the gents.' There is no such justification for men to invade the ladies'. I would be very suspicious of the motives of members of my sex (I don't do gender) who did.

At the end of a long walk, I was desperate. My OH and DSs pointed to a building and said, 'There it is' and off I went. It was only when I emerged that they grinned and revealed I'd been in the gents. The only other time was when I rushed into the loo in a Lakeland shop and didn't see the sign on the door until I came out. 'Should have gone to Specsavers'.

The queues at women’s toilets at events are legendary. Despite women usually being the one with an elderly mum or a child, as well as their own needs to see to. Why not use the men’s toilets? I have and no doubt will do so again.

In all honesty nonnie, I have encouraged this. I admit the situation was slightly different, the gentleman was with his young daughter - probably only about 4 years old. He didn’t want to take her into the gents (apparently they were in quite a state) and she was very upset/scared about going in alone. They were in one cubicle and I in another, it really didn’t bother me at all.

If self-identification of gender is permitted, anyone will be able to use any lavatory they wish.

Women already have to deal with male-bodied 'women' using female facilities so I don't see why men can't cope with a woman in the gents.

In another place, in UK, a large village church has recently added toilets. Why on earth have they made them male and female instead of two unisex loos? Very inconvenient, pardon the pun, when we sang in a concert there.
My church has two loos, both unisex, but one has disabled and baby changing facilities. Much more sensible and useful.

Perhaps unisex loos could be designed so that cubicles were near the entrance and the urinals screened off at the back. That way everyone's modesty is preserved! I've never used one, so don't know if this is already the case.

Once on a European tour with my choir, we were due to sing in a cathedral. There were no toilets, but just across the square were the public loos, Ladies and Gents, unusually for Europe. We trooped over, only to discover that the Ladies were closed for repair. So one of us stood guard whilst we all used the gents.
Needless to say, although it is a mixed choir, only the ladies were desperate.

To be honest I ve no problem with unisex toilets as long as there’s cubicals and no urinal

As I said Nannie I used it when no one was in there so your question is not relevant to me usage ( I also had a lookout ?

How would those of you who have used the gents feel if a man came into the ladies when you were in there?

Yes, I once led a raid on the Gents after standing in a very long, unmoving queue at the NEC. About 20 of us, of all ages.

I must admit I ve used the gents when there’s been a queue at the ladies and not in the gents it’s been a quick run in and out
They may have been European students used to unisex loos

Fennel maybe all loos should be cubicles and then we could all use all of them regardless of the gender we were born with or the one we have decided to become.

I expect it will soon be illegal to label toilets as M or F.
With all this debate about banning gender going on.

At one time it was illegal for a man to go into a ladies loo but not for a woman to go into a gents.

The toilets in Europe are often unisex - no problem really. I had to laugh at one lot of toilets in France where there were two doors beside each other labelled Femmes and Hommes. In I went to find that it was the same set of loos - just two differently labelled doors!