Why do we even have gender segregated bathrooms? Everybody pees so what is the big deal?

I have traveled in Asian countries where there is only ONE bathroom (or sometimes only a ditch) and had male and female people (as in PEOPLE) next to each other taking care of business without any problems.

Just take the freaking signs off the door and worry about something important.

While I am no fan of gender segregation, it currently exists  in Western society for shared bathrooms, etc because of the over sexualisation of women, the real fear of sexual assault and/or invasion of privacy  and so forth. Until those social issues are dealt with it's not realistic to expect shared bathrooms any time soon and the unisex single stall option is probably more realistic.

This is true of many places in the world, including some parts of Europe like Germany. (yes they have gendered specific ones too but they have a lot of common facilities, including spa areas and locker rooms)

I agree it makes no real sense. Americans love segregating though,  it is in our history.

Urinals were supposed to be vastly efficient, and there were a few efforts to try and figure out urinals for women without success,   and i suppose present some very little chance of exposure at them but still that shouldn't be an issue. I have seen a restroom in Germany that had individual stalls a separate room for urinals and common sink areas.

Americans are prudish because of our Puritan origin.  While the Puritans are long gone their original influence on social mores remains.

It is a lot different here than in either Europe or Asia.  I have been naked in places there that would have had me convicted as a sex offender here in America.


Sapere Aude

Trigger- possibly. Terminology, definitely incorrect - I'm always rubbish at trying to explain things...

Grossly simplified sweeping generalisation -
Blame the British.

Historically they've had very strong gender roles and expectations based on the binary, and didn't tolerate any deviance from the binary. There are plenty of old folk songs about women who cross dressed to 'go to war', or the *brave* menfolk who did the dangerous jobs.

It's the birth of misogyny and sexism - Boudica was the exception that proves the rule, and it was thought that womenfolk should be taught to not be that confrontational.

Roll that up with a big dose of Puritanism in extremis and you end up with old British colonies worrying about who should pee where, and creating random rules that only work with a simplistic world view.

Hopefully that makes sense.?

Sno

The west is just mid level in terms of its segregation.

Some cultures there's not much segregation and people even bathe mixed or share toilet facilities. Some like in the Middle East have it cranked to 11. I think we're in the center, still wanting male or female spaces, but not wanting a truly segregated culture where men and women can't freely mix. We have unisex toilets as well, though, maybe in future there will be more of that. Nobody tends to have segregation at home - just around strangers in public which makes me think it's largely because females have feared for safety or decency while using public bogs historically, and still do tend to prefer female-only settings for peeing and changing etc.

Quote

Blame the British.

Pretty sure you'll find gender segregation or roles to some degree in every culture, including ones the British had nothing to do with founding. Although as a Brit I'm flattered we still consistently spring to mind as the best moustache-twirling villains ever.

Apparently Romans and ancient Greeks had separate bathing facilities, and toilets sometimes, as did Muslims, so it was going on long before us.

Ah, the Romans, with emperor Elagabalus, and the deity 'The Great Mother', seem positively enlightened to the rigid absolutist stance taken in some nations today

As a Brit (expat) - I agree many societies have segregation in one form or another, and the line drawn ebbs and flows, I feel that we were particularly good in 'enforcing our views' abroad..

Quotewe still consistently spring to mind as the best moustache-twirling villains ever.

- best line I've read in a while

A study on the topic :- Transgender History & Geography: Crossdressing in Context

It's quite old - 2007 but I suspect worth finding.

Its a very interesting question though - especially in the light of the modernity of widespread communal conveniences



Sno

The Romans assassinated Elagabalus because of "sex scandals" so he isn't a great example. 


Sapere Aude

Because the political right believes in the "No men in women's bathrooms" mantra as we're all aware.

And the left believes we live in a "rape culture". They believe 1 in 5 women will be raped.

So they're effectively united on this issue, that men are potential rapists and deviants and need to be kept out of sharing bathrooms with women to prevent molestation. 

There are a few gender neutral bathrooms around but yes it's mostly segregated. We have gender neutral bathrooms at my college but it only gets away with it because there is a with and without urinals. Otherwise the law wouldn't permit it. I like to bring it up when people argue how gender neutral bathrooms would not be safe; I tell them how we have had never had any issues (and this is a college campus so ofc there have been assaults but never in the bathroom because  no one would commit a crime in public!)

Quote from: Sno on June 16, 2016, 12:51:31 AM
I feel that we were particularly good in 'enforcing our views' abroad..

One example being the laws the British Raj created to criminalise hijra and ban castration in India... also the idea that European (not exclusively British) colonialism and 'Christian' values are what caused indigenous people to start dropping or hiding their transgender (for lack of a better word b/c transgender is a modern Western term) traditions in places like Samoa, New Zealand, Hawaii and North America...