OK, so this is a really great controversy. University of Chicago wants to install gender-neutral restrooms. Do what? you say? Yep, they want to make all the bathrooms available to everyone. This may be very surprisin' to many of ya'll, but Go for it, I say. Seriously, I see no problem with it. Azygos does, as does his source at Pardon my English, as it seems do most of the commenters to the source story.
I think it is so strange that in this sex-crazed society of ours that there would be such prudish feelin's about biological functions. I have been at concerts, football games and other large crowd events where it is not all that uncommon to find some woman with a full bladder who will venture into the men's room to use one of the stalls to piss. From my observations, very few men balk at the activity, and some take amusement in it. Now, really, urinals are affixed so that you have to face them to use them, so your back is to the room. The toilet stalls are surrounded by doors and walls, so there is some privacy provided as well. So what is the big deal?
I was in Germany in the Army and it is not uncommon for people to stop right on the side of the road to do their business with no thought of hidin' themselves. I remember one incident where I was ridin' in the back of a deuce and a half, a large truck with the back covered with canvas and we were pullin' a water trailer. I needed to whizz in the worst way. You just didn't signal the driver to stop, you either held it or you figured a way to whizz. I climbed out onto the tongue of that trailer, aimed and let it flow. Just as the flow began some woman in a Mercedes pulled along side to pass. The woman looked over at me, smiled, waved and then went on her way.
When my wife was alive, we used to enter the bathroom all the time with the other one in there, doin' whatever we happened to be doin': brushin' our teeth, whizzin', showerin' or poppin' zits. I adored that intimacy. One of the things I gauge for compatibility is how offended some gal gets if I need to take a whizz on a trip and just pull over to the side of the road and do my business. I mean, sure, I do attempt to conceal the deed, but turnin' my back seems sufficient.
Seriously, folks, even the very youngest know what number one and number two are and how it is done. I have always thought it made more sense to have gender neutral toilets. I am still awaitin' the time I see some gal sidle up to one of those urinals and lets it flow.
Posted by notGeorge at December 7, 2003 08:10 PM