The Bizarro world of gendered toilets

[Ms Grace]

For those of you not familiar with Bizarro, he us a character from Super Man comics who, apart from the strength and ability to fly is generally the opposite of everything about Super Man, also he tends to say the opposite to what he actually means. "Me Am love you" means he doesn't like you at all. Confusing? Try men's and women's loos!

As a small bladdered individual I spent many years in dude mode getting to experience the male version of public toilets in and around the city. Now I am FTE I am seeing the opposite female version within those same places. Walking in for the first time is always curious and almost a bit disorienting. Since they don't have a need for urinals and a need for more cubicles the layout is quite different. Also they don't smell as rancid. Not alway, but usually surprisingly cleaner. Twice now, at a major railway station, the cubicles I used didn't have a single drop of pee anywhere on the seat or floor! Shocking, I know! The men's loos at that same station...eyeww!

Anyway, I'm sure it won't matter to me eventually but I'm still getting to experience the 'normal' female version of what (to me, at any rate) had been the bizarro world of men's loos.

[Jill F]

Oh, Grace, don't even remind me of how bad they were for me.  I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing a men's room since March '13, but OMG, it is so much nicer now.

My top 10 things I don't miss-
#1 The smell.  HRT made my olfactory get quite acute and I noticed it more.  Not just waste, but locker room guy sweat.
#2 The mess on the floor.  Wading in it sucked, especially at concerts and ballgames when drunk guys aren't very particular about where it goes.
#3 Guys who like to check out your junk.
#4 Guys who urinate in the stalls, soak the seats and floor or refuse to flush.  EWWW!
#5 The lines at sporting events and heavy metal concerts.  Men usually outnumber women at these and tend to drink more.  I used to refer to it as the "beer return line".
#6 The amount of graffiti or vandalism.
#7 Urinal cake smell
#8 (In a single occupancy bathroom) Walking in on someone masturbating.
#9 Seeing how many don't bother to wash their hands.
#10 Realizing I shouldn't wash my hands because someone used the sink as a toilet.

Sorry, didn't mean to get all guy-bashy here, but let's face it, there's always that one Neanderthal who wrecks it for everyone.  I'll take chatty Kathy over these things every day of the week.

[CrissyMarie]

So, I been using the woman's restroom now for about 2 months, and have come to the conclusion, that you don't have to pass perfectly to feel you are ready to go in them, though it does take a ton of confidence to go in with attitude like everything is fine and I belong in there.  I remember my first time, I was walking maybe 5 feet behind another girl heading toward the bathroom, she opened the door and glanced back, seen me and held the door for me to come in. I replied, "thank you so much". And went to my own stall while she went to another.  I didn't look perfect, nor sound perfect.  But my confidence and walk as I entered suggests that I've been using them my whole life.  Just a little more motivational words from your girl Christina. <3

[katiej]

On a recent road trip I had to use the ladies room at a few different rest areas and truck stops along the way.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much cleaner they were.  Mens restrooms at rest areas are particularly nasty.  Pee on the floor I can handle, but how in the world do you miss the toilet when going number 2?  It's baffling!

#8 (In a single occupancy bathroom) Walking in on someone masturbating.
#10 Realizing I shouldn't wash my hands because someone used the sink as a toilet.

Fortunately I never walked in on #8.

And #10 - I would sometimes not wash, because I knew my hands were cleaner than those faucets.