How did public restrooms get to be separated by sex in the first place?

[LuckyTheDog]

Last edited Fri May 27, 2016, 03:12 PM - Edit history (1)

In March, North Carolina enacted a law requiring that people be allowed to use only the public restroom that corresponds to the sex on their birth certificates. Meanwhile, the White House has taken an opposing position, directing that transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. In response, on May 25, 11 states sued the Obama administration to block the federal government from enforcing the directive.

Some argue that one solution to this impasse is to convert all public restrooms to unisex use, thereby eliminating the need to even consider a patron’s sex. This might strike some as bizarre or drastic. Many assume that separating restrooms based on a person’s biological sex is the “natural” way to determine who should and should not be permitted to use these public spaces.

In fact, laws in the U.S. did not even address the issue of separating public restrooms by sex until the end of the 19th century, when Massachusetts became the first state to enact such a statute. By 1920, over 40 states had adopted similar legislation requiring that public restrooms be separated by sex.

So why did states in the U.S. begin passing such laws? Were legislators merely recognizing natural anatomical differences between men and women?

MORE HERE: http://yonside.com/public-restrooms-separated-sex/

[snooper2]

1. because it took a woman 45 minutes to do #2 back then-

40 minutes just to undress and redress with all that shit they wore...

[RandySF]

2. I wandered into a women's bathroom when I was a small kid.

And I remember, at least in those days, that it had very nice chairs for people to sit as they waited for an available stall.

[snooper2]

4. you were a small kind in the 19th century!

Holy Shit hats off

[RandySF]

10. Actually it was the 1970's

[gollygee]

3. Outhouses were unisex

It wasn't an issue before indoor toilets became common.

[JonathanRackham]

5. Private stalls

What difference does it make at all?

Just give it good ventilation.

[yeoman6987]

6. I still can't believe women will want to use a toilet after a big movie gets out

I stand in line waiting for a urnal or toilet and go in after 5 guys. Thankfully I just have to go number 1. It is disgusting and I see that in a mall as well. Anywhere that you have a busy bathroom, the stalls can be a mess. I can't see women being happy about that.

[hlthe2b]

8. ^^^This^^^ Like many women, I've frequently had to use the men's room--they are inevitably a MESS

I'm no obsessive, but honestly, I can't imagine how it doesn't make men ill to use them too. Outhouses are cleaner.

[angstlessk]

12. So you have never been in a woman's bathroom?

Just as disgusting at times...'girls' are not pretty flowers!

[yeoman6987]

16. I actually haven't been. I take your word on that

[Retrograde]

19. Some men don't aim as well as they think they do

A new trend in the SF region is to have one-at-a-time facilities available to everyone. I hope that puddle on the floor of the one I used last night was just leaky plumbing...

Women-only facilities seem to be a little neater than shared ones, but I'm not basing that on any rigorous study. And if a place is busy, it can get out of hand quickly.

[yeoman6987]

20. 100 percent correct

[Boudica the Lyoness]

7. Some of us, especially those of us who have been sexually

attacked by men, don't want the man who just followed us around the store staring as we lower/lift our clothes to sit on the tiolet.

Let me remind you that American toilet stalls have large gaps around the doors and some men are into watching women go to the toilet. We are not keen to provide the entertainment.

And then there's the issue of showers and locker rooms...

We have a right to dignity and safety.

[hlthe2b]

9. I empathize. That has to be tough and I agree on the general lack of privacy in US bathrooms.

That said, my early adolescence (as with many girls my age) was marked by bullying females that made shared locker rooms and bathrooms--especially after gym class unbearable. That is undoubtedly also the case with young boys and their bullying classmates in communal gym locker rooms, showers and bathrooms.

I can't believe this has not been brought up. Privacy issues with communal facilities are not just an issue with presumed opposite gender.


That said, I do support gender identity rights on this issue and those "Xian" males that are going into women's restrooms to make some kind of point need to be prosecuted. Certainly not the transgendered...

[LuckyTheDog]

17. The solution, then, is to make bathroom stalls more private

Not to marginalize transgender people.

[hlthe2b]

21. why would you say that to me?!

My own comment: "That said, I do support gender identity rights on this issue and those "Xian" males that are going into women's restrooms to make some kind of point need to be prosecuted. Certainly not the transgendered..."

I in NO way suggested support for marginalizing transgender people--quite the opposite-- and I resent your implication that I did.

[LuckyTheDog]

23. I thought I was reinforcing...

...your response to Boudica the Lyoness. I think you misunderstood my meaning. I could have been more clear.

[hlthe2b]

25. OH, ok... Thanks for clarifing

and sorry for the misunderstanding.

[LuckyTheDog]

26. My fault (nt)

[alarimer]

11. Privacy is of the utmost concern

That is the big issue to me with public restrooms.

Men can assault women anywhere. I think it's irrational to assume they will now pretend to be transgendered to follow women into restrooms and attack them, when they don't really need to go to the trouble.

And transgender women or men are not a threat to anyone, by and large, but they have more to fear from others.

I really need think we need to focus on privacy for everyone in these situations. Whether the space itself is unisex or not, all business needs to be done behind closed doors, for everyone's sake.

Same with locker rooms. No more of this changing in front of others. Some of us have always had issues with that. Some may think that's silly, but it is a very real anxiety.

[Nye Bevan]

13. You want to ban communal locker rooms?

Surely it's enough to provide a few stalls for those who are uncomfortable changing in front of others?

[alarimer]

14. Well, that's what I meant, really.

The point being, is that there should be options for those who desire more privacy.

And schools need to protect kids from bullying in locker rooms. More privacy in changing areas would mean less excuses for avoiding PE.

[astral]

15. locker rooms?

Same with locker rooms. No more of this changing in front of others. Some of us have always had issues with that. Some may think that's silly, but it is a very real anxiety.

I had just been wondering about that recently, at the health club women tend to cover up with a towel as they walk around or in the sauna, and I don't, as, hey, it's a women's locker room and we're all women. It's my age, I guess.

I had always thought of women's restrooms as a safe place BECAUSE there can be no men around. It is also a place where, at times, especially in our younger years, where women can talk about stuff where no men are around.

Young boys are known to go to the women's room with their Mommys, why, because sending them unescorted into the men's room is not considered safe. Laws are NOT going to change the facts.

I dont want little girls and grown men in the same restroom (unless they are with their father or male guardian who needs to do it that way for whatever reason, just like mothers do with sons). I would not use a toilet shared by men in the same room with me with nothing but a peep-thru stall to separate us, I dont care if he's not trying to peep at me, I still couldn't do it.

But, sooner or later all us old fogies will die off and the brainwashed young will learn there are no lines drawn between the sexes, no Mommy, no Daddy, just Parental Unit One, Two, maybe Three and Four, parental rights have already been eliminated, just in case nobody has noticed.

My mind is a confused fog over transgender persons, so I will not take a stand on that, but the lines aren't even drawn on that, it's just whichever bathroom you identify with that day.

I also am troubled by gradeschool, or even PRE-gradeschool kids being questioned about their gender identity. I say just don't make a big deal about it if they say they're a girl when they're a boy or vice versa. They will either find out it's true, or they will grow out of it in their own time probably when puberty sets in and they are called to be who they really are. Many people really are bi-sexual, too, so let's not try to pigeonhole them as children.

The whole restroom topic just sorta breaks my brain. I was past high school before I found out there really are gay people, it's not a joke. Those were the days, I guess!

[LuckyTheDog]

24. No, it's not "whichever bathroom you identify with that day"

That's a Fox News talking point.

Transgender people don't swing back and forth between transgender and cisgender status on a daily basis.

[LuckyTheDog]

18. My YMCA has a family locker room for people with small kids

All dressing and undressing happens in private changing rooms. Seems like that could be applied to the other locker rooms, too.

[frankieallen]

22. Maybe woman prefer toilets that are not covered in

Piss and pubic hair, don't want to sit in a stall next to a male taking a nasty dump and farting, prefer a clean area to wash up after,.... Shall I continue?

[closeupready]

27. Typical (of DU) gender thread - all heat, no light.

Moving on ...