Womens Restroom Signage

 

Comments

[The Last Archimedean]

The fact that that sign is even needed is frightening. What happened to basic common sense? Men in the men's room, ladies in the ladies' room -- my 3 year old knows that much.

[Eviscerator]

You know, one could make the argument that is sexism...

A lawsuit I await any day now in this litigious society.

[TechTiger]

Double standard. It's reasonably common for women to use the men's room when the line for the women's room is too long...

[MahiMahi713]

In all honesty, to solve the issue of women going into the men's bathrooms, womens bathrooms should be larger than men's BRs to allow for more toilets. The only reason there are lines in the women's BR is because we only have toilets where as men have toilets AND urinals. And while women do check themselves in the mirrors and fix themselves up, it rarely takes that long and they will move aside for others to get to the sink.

[LaserSpawn]

while that is true mahi, mens rooms only have one or two toilets and a few urinals. they dont have the same amount of toilets as a ladies room.

i do agree that ladies rooms need to have more toilets so that they dont have huge lines.nothing is worse than hitting up a concert and having to stand forever in line because everyone has to pee.

[Jami]

They also need to be the first bathroom you find. Why do they always make the women's room the furthest away? Any time that the bathrooms are down a hall, you always come to the men's first. Besides the fact I usually have to go more urgently than the average man for medical reasons it can be really creepy being alone in a women's room when it's farther away.

Only place I've been where the women's room is first is the Hooters in Costa Mesa. There the women's room comes first, then the men's.

[Bored at the Bookstore]

Amen, Jami! The local Big Mall's restrooms are down a long, narrow hallway that runs from the mall walkway alllll the way to the outer wall if the building. And the men's room is first. Sometimes, guys sort of "hang out" in that hall to check out the females walking by - loudly and occasionally profanely. Kind of scary. It's better to trek to the department stores' facilities, although they, too are at the farthest point from the entrance.

[Hopea]

Here it's the opposite, the disabled bathrooms are first (if any), then women's and men's are the farthest down the hallway, without exception or atleast I've not found an exception in my whole lifetime.
I don't really mind (I'm a guy, but walking the few extra meters hasn't killed me yet) but women do occasionally complain about men passing their bathroom door!
So yea, either way, women aren't happy =D

[Skittles]

@Jami- I imagine they put the women's room further away to accomodate the longer lines that tend to build up.

@Bored at the Bookstore- Seriously men wait near the womens bathrooms to hit on them and catcall?!? What the fuck is wrong with those guys?

I say just make one huge unisex bathroom. Seriously why not just have unisex bathrooms? I know at first people would be a little weirded out but over time it might help people become less stupid over the whole penis/vagina thing.

[Wmdkitty]

I second the suggestion for unisex loos.

[Jami]

@Skittles - HELL NO! I don't want to share a bathroom with a bunch of men. They take FOREVER in there! Especially when they make a bowel movement. (And so many of them refuse to admit that their s**t DOES stink! *gag*) I already had to go through life sharing with a bunch of men being the only daughter out of four kids and the youngest. I don't want to do it in public.

@Hopea - Unless those men are peeking into the women's room the ladies have no right to complain. Tell them I told them to shut up and stop whining. I would love it if more places were like Hooters and the women's room was first. (I imagine that's incase some drunk guy tries to follow a Hooters girl into the bathroom so it would be easy for her to call for help.)

[Nick]

Could be a transgender issue, course I can only guess at what it was.

[Poofy]

In Texas, the law requires a person to use the restroom that is consistent with their physical gender. You can and will be arrested/ticketed for disorderly conduct if you use the other toilet and someone complains. This applies in the cases of people who are in the process of sexual reassignment too. Even if you dress as a female, if you still have a penis, you legally must use the men's room, and vice-versa. Once the anatomy changes, you're welcome to switch restrooms.

[Nomen Nescio]

laws like that one in TX are petty-minded and moronic. i can guarantee that the smartest approach to them is to use whatever facility is consistent with your physical presentation, grab a stall, close the door behind you, and who's to know just what precise genitalia you've got anyway?

...yeah, transfolk in the middle of transitioning, before they can pass as yet, are going to have trouble. they already do. can't solve that one without just building a more tolerant society, i don't think.

newsflash for the transphobes who push for restroom laws: when your average transperson walks into a public restroom, all they want to do --- all they're GOING to do, realistically --- is relieve themselves. they're pretty darn likely to use a stall, too, so in most cases nobody will even know there was anything unusual about them. grow up and get over it.

(for the record: i'm cis myself, but have transfolk among my friends and family. they're just plain people, too.)

[Mollywobbles]

Hear hear, Nomen! It's all the same behind closed doors.

[derrr]

Yeah, as part of the trans community, signage like this is usually targetted to transwomen.

Even though most people are wrong when they think they can spot a trans person. (Horribly wrong.)

And if you're transitioning, and someone tells you mrehmreh-use-whatever-bathroom, you call them out on sexual harassment and tell them to gtfo of your face. Your gender definition has nothing to do with them and they can shove off.

[Nocturnesthesia]

That was the idea behind the bathroom laws made in the 70s. Women's bathrooms generally have twice as many stalls as men's, and here at least there is always one large family/handicap/unisex bathroom for people who need space or to accompany opposite gendered children/other dependents. (obviously dumpier establishments don't always follow this but newer or public buildings do.)

I've always been mystified by trans issues with this. Unless the stalls don't have doors or something but I'm pretty sure that's uncommon in the Western world outside of prisons. With how squicky people are about gender issues (the worst insult for most people is to question their gender) and how strict the gender binary is (I try pretty hard to understand but still have trouble with pronouns and shit) it's difficult enough to be a transperson without people badgering you about where when and how you go for a piss.