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

I don't like gender neutral toilets. Not because I think men are less hygienic than women, I just think it's embarrassing for the men as well as the women. I expect I'm old fashioned though.

Moocow, I think (but not 100% sure) but I think building regulations would prevent that. As I understand it, there must be two doors between a toilet and a kitchen/food preparation area. Therefore the first door would have to open on to a corridor, and the individual cubicles would need to go off that.

I don't care which I use. If the queue for the womens is too long, I've been known to use the mens, although perhaps not if it's a multiple loo with open urinals. Not that I'd be bothered, but the blokes might.

hate gender neutral toilets, often sticking of urine. Thank goodness that there are still women only loos in some areas where I live. Regarding sh** on the floor, I have never sen that but speaking frankly, there are some people who only know to squat ie feet on seats or squatting on the floor, I don`t think this is a gender thing. I have seen educational notices

I don't like to slag off men too much as far as toilet habits are concerned, my husband, sons and even my little grandson all manage to hit the right spot without leaving wee all over the place. My husband does tell me sometimes that the state of mens' public toilets can be disgusting and notices that there are those that exit without a handwash, maybe a reason for the pristine basins However, having said that women are far from perfect, I remember going into a toilet at the cinema and it was left in the state JaneA described up thread, in a naice town too, Esher. There were two girls at the basin when I discovered said cubicle and my reaction of "aaaagh!" as I came out as quickly as I went in was met with "pretty disgusting isn't it!" I couldn't help wondering what happened in there, that it was all up the walls

Over on MN, women in the corporate world are not appreciating the mixed toilet set up and often mention that male colleagues do leave it in a mess, wee on the floor etc. I think there is a hell of a difference between single floor to ceiling mixed sex cubicles and and a women's washroom with mirrors and handbasins, a place where most women want to keep it single sex for so many reasons.

Boys' toilets in school always have a certain odour that the girls' never do.

I will use mixed loos but prefer single sex ones by choice due to all the above reasons. (I rather like the posh ones which use air to flush.)

I don’t think the lack of cleanliness is the issue ( womens loos are often disgusting too) more a feeling of being safe in a womens rather than mixed gender.

I worked in a large building with 2000+ others. At times the women’s loos were pretty grim, but we always reported it promptly to Facilities Management (no pun intended, I don’t think).

Male colleagues told me the men’s loos were so awful, they wouldn’t use them as changing rooms, if changing for the gym or for sport, as they couldn’t risk hanging their shirts/jackets etc on the hooks on the doors. The mind boggles.

I now feel slightly nauseous...and am moving swiftly to another thread ...

I was at the hospital with my dying mother.

Mixed gender loos. I was surprised to see that there was only the one loo. The one next to it, when they had single sex loos, was still there but locked.

I went in and all was good. Nice and clean, loo seat in its position. Wonderful.

An hour or so later I returned. Loo seat up, urine spattered over the bowl and on the floor. Loo roll scrunched up on the floor.

I took one look and burst into tears.

Obviously this was partially due to my sadness at my mother's state. She did die later that day.

But I'm not keen on mixed loos at all.

I am also aware that women can leave loos in a state. But they rarely lift the seat up and aim at the edge of the loo oor the floor.

Unless they're very drunk.

We are going to have to get used to mixed toilets because it solves the problem of those who are not sure what they are, lack of urinals does extend the queue though.
Hygiene is another issue that is down to lack of cleaning, no excuses there

I don’t like them at all, a lot of seaside towns seem to have them, so we always stop off at a supermarket on the way!
Have recently been into a couple of toilets where you’ve had to pay. Absolutely marvellous , spotless, full marks to Wiltshire, every local authority should follow their example.

I think women's lavatories can be equally as horrible as men's. As others have said its more an issue of privacy and safety for most women.

Gender neutral toilets are a disgusting idea as far as I am concerned.
I also think they are a perverts/ peodo`s paradise and it`s only a matter of time something will happen.

I don’t know whether so mens toilets are cleaner than mens or not and I don’t really care. What I do care about is going into a toilet area and seeing a man there.

Sorry getting het up - is there no edit button available? I’ll need to type slower ?

I meant to say I don’t know whether women’s toilets are cleaner than men’s or not.

From what I read, many teenage girls are struggling where gender neutral toilets are implemented in schools, sometimes not going to the loo when they have the urge, which isn't good. Pre pubescent and teen years aren't the greatest time in a female's life, getting to grips with periods and bodily changes can make some embarrassed without the added pressure of sharing a very private space that a girls cloakroom should be with the opposite sex.

Having cleaned loos in pubs, hotels, care homes and so on I can attest that the basins in men's loos are cleaner but I would point out that I hardly ever had to replace bars of soap, refill liquid soap dispensers and whether linen roller towels or paper towels, the ones in the ladies need replacing more often.
Draw your own conclusions.

As for shit on the seats that was generally rare in either the gents or the ladies I'm glad to say. It did happen though. A friend (also a cleaner) had a theory that it was from seat squatters ie people who put their feet up on the seat to facilitate easier evacuation.

....but the situation for women regarding loos is pretty bad. I don't mind the idea of gender neutral loos if it means I can avoid a long queue of women with crossed legs. You never see a queue outside a gents.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48367242

SirChenjin If there were women standing in a long queue there would be little likeliehood of any assault indeed the gender neutral loo would in effect become a ladies loo if they all had the sense to use it. There may be an argument for not using a gender neutral but if there are enough women it's not applicable.
Of course TerriBull the girls' toilets in schools have always been places of safety and refuge (Laughs out loud) They were in fact the places where the hard girls smoked and beat up the weaker ones who ventured in, just in case they thought about reporting them! The situation got so bad in many schools that the loos were locked and only opened when a member of staff was able to supervise. (But the idea that teenage girls are especially supportive to each other is quite sweet).

Yes I agree LondonGranny, often the wait is horrendous.....but urinals facilitate a quick in and out as it were. I'm sure men don't want to have women walk past them when they are in that position, anymore than woman would want to be exposed (no pun intended) to men standing up having a pee. Therefore gender neutral toilets would need to have cubicles too and then I imagine the queues would still be there.

I don’t agree with mixed toilets in schools, they give opportunities to boys to tease girls and make their lives very difficult, especially if a girl has her period.
I think there should always be ladies and the gents, but as I said previously, I don’t have a problem using mixed loos, providing there are no urinals, but there should still be the option of ladies/gents. Perhaps a completely separate loo for disabled, baby change, and trans should be offered. M+S already offer a completely separate loo for disabled and baby change and family use, they could just make them gender neutral too.

I take your point Trisher about "hard girls" I know girls are not all sweetness and light, hence the saying "the female of the species is more deadlier than the male". Yes girls can be bitches. I'm was referring to privacy issues, I went to an all girls' school from 11,as far as periods were concerned there was at least "we're all in the same boat with this" mindset when we took our sanitary wear off to the toilet we didn't have to concern ourselves with the sniggering of the opposite sex.

I used to work as a cleaner in a pub and two offices - this is my humble opinion.
The men's pub toilets smelled worse but apart from spilled urine weren't much more disgusting than the ladies.
In the ladies there's greater scope for misbehaviour, wet blobs of toilet paper thrown up at the ceiling (why?), streaks of make-up in the sink, abandoned sanitary protection chucked on the floor.
The children's toilets by by far the worse for vomit.
You needed a strong constitution and a weak sense of smell to cope with it. And a sense of humour.
On balance you just take your pick, don't you? The state of the place depends on the people who use it.

On holiday in Europe this year, you often had to pay to use the loos, but they were generally very clean, plenty of hot water, soap, hand driers. You got a ticket and you could get most or all of your money back if you spent it in the supermarket, where the loos were.
I would rather pay and have decent loos.

And they were separate mens and women’s.