Thoughts on Gender Neutral Toilets -or are men’s loos more disgusting than ladies?

I used a unisex public toilet in Iceland which was a small cabin in the middle of nowhere surrounded by lava fields and snow.

I was dreading removing my large heavily padded coat and all my lower layers in the bitterly cold temperatures ..... but not only was it spotlessly clean but it was heated by a radiator and had hot running water, all courtesy of the hot springs!

I recently spent a week with my sister, who lives in Estepona, Spain. The loos in the many restaurants I visited were spotless and also those at Malaga airport. It is very rare that I find either a public loo or one in a pub/restaurant in the UK cleaned to that high standard. The same applies to the cleanliness of the roads, which were cleaned each morning. It is so sad to see this country's hygiene standards slipping so dramatically.

I have to use disabled loos and they are unisex....not often found them dirty. Men`s loos smell worse than women`s.

Thank goodness for knickers and sticky backed pads trisher!

I was on a fullday crafting this weekend. The loo started off spotless, I was the only female with 9 very nice considerate older men. By the afternoon, the toilet rim was spattered and there was a strong smell of urine, Everything else looked clean. If there had have been a choice, I would never have used a male loo.

Its a backward step and women I know just don`t have any more to drink after breakfast because there are no women only loos where they are going. They would rather risk cyctitis than go into a smally loo with a spattered toilet rim

SirChenjin I assume no more than the sanitary belt and towels with loops which were used when I was young. (But they were horrible!)

Davidhs It's more environmentally friendly to cover the loo seat with toilet paper.

Never mind about split knickers ladies the answer is to carry your own plastic loo seat cover, not especially environmentally friendly but we all have to make compromises.

If the pantaloons were split then didn’t the rags move about? I’m probably overthinking this

The material was usually old -literally rags and led to the term for menstruation-"on the rag"

SirChenjin You had a piece of folded material which you pinned front and rear to the waistband of the knickers, unpinning to go to the loo, changing and washing when needed.

I miss the attendants in public facilities- I remember when you had to pay a dime or quarter to unlock a stall in the ladies rooms but have no idea if men had to pay-

How did they go to the toilet when they had their periods? They wouldn’t have been able to wear the split pantaloons then

I dread my GD being potty trained and having to take her into public toilets.

trisher
I knew about split knickers too...it was the using the loo back to front that I hadn't twigged. I also had no idea crinolines were so flexible. I had this idea you could lift your feet off the floor in a crinoline and the frame would hold you up so I couldn't imagine how they even got through cubicle doors.

Hmmm - hope they all had strong pelvic floors.

Oh I knew about the split knickers. And some used them way after the 1900s. My mum (born 1922) remembered her grandmother (died about 1945) wearing them. She made them herself. Simple if you think about it two tubes of material and a piece of elastic!

...by the way, I discoverd this week how crinolined Victorian ladies used loos....I'd been wondering for years....simple when you know how.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUHeSTDv_24

Feet on seat. It's a thing. When I was a teenager I was given a book called 'Growing Up Gracefully' by Noel Streatfeild, published in 1955. She suggests it for those plagued by constipation. I don't remember any reference to fibre in the diet though.

London Granny - seat squatting? How on earth do they do that? I’d be afraid of falling in

There used to be a local public loo with a female attendant. It was always spotless, polished to perfection with a fresh lemon scent - bliss! Most loos are grimy and disgusting so I'm glad I can still hover!

When my gch went to Japan, the loo sung to them and squirted water up to wash them clean. They were very impressed.

I do remember in the 50s and 60s some public lavs had a lady in an overall who went in before you go wipe the seat. Not sure if this was just in the London department stores. Any ideas?

There are but that’s not what the new style of gender neutral loos look like.

Disabled loos are already gender neutral.

And if there wasn’t a queue trisher there wouldn’t be.

Ultimately women shouldn’t be forced to use gender neutral toilets - better architectural planning should be the first step.