To Pee or Not to Pee

[Natasha]

To Pee or Not to Pee

http://middleofthepond.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/to-pee-or-not-to-pee/
12/8/2008

As if the average adult doesn't have enough to worry about, consider the awkward, impersonal but strangely intimate space tucked away in most gathering spots, the public bathroom. They are the bane of my existence.

I, at first glance, look like the person in the women's bathroom that your mother warned you about — a man. And a man in a women's bathroom is, by definition, a threat.

As a result, when I enter a women's bathroom, I expect to run into problems. Experience tells me that I will come face to face with another woman who will not recognize me as such, and she will respond accordingly, as if she is in danger. To avoid both scaring other women and being embarrassing challenged on my gender, I go through all sorts of gyrations when visiting a restroom in public is unavoidable.