h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Bill Gates is big on promoting new developments
in toilet design in the Third Whirled, offering
huge financial prizes for innovative technologies
that are cheaper to produce, use less water and
possibly provide a secondary usage such as the
use of byproduct for energy or fertiliser.

Apparently India has the lowest ratio of toilets per
capita in the whirled. Some areas of large cities
have no sewage systems or any form of waste
collection. Local railway lines are considered the
only place where people may relieve themselves.

There are pictures of large crowds lined up along
the tracks using the rails as seats when defecating.
Presumably passing trains have some impact on
the dispersal of their residue. As well as imposing
some timetable restrictions on access.


~jwf~

jwf

A book of extracts from the writings of Gandhi that I possess was edited by an Brit who corresponded with him from here, and then got the chance to visit him at his Ashram.. Among other recollections he describes walking with Gandhi, who, while talking of higher things, also mentioned his efforts to get people to actually bury their faeces: and, in that tradition of not asking others to do what you will not do yourself,Gandhi picked up the faeces lying around and made holes in the ground with his fingers to bury it..

But as for fuel in rural India cow-dung mixed up with chopped up straw to make fire-bricks is a very basic traditional fuel used for household fires, houses being surrounded by what almost resemble haystacks. All of this I suppose goes with a very hot and dry climate.

Cass

I'm perfectly happy with single occupancy toilets being unisex. That's like being at home or someone else's house.
Don't think I'd like communal unisex ones in a public place - it would be the idea of being alone with a strange man that would scare me.

The girls would have nowhere to touch up their makeup & bitch about their male company in a unisex facility!

I have been to places abroad where you have to walk past urinals, to get to the unisex cubicle, which feels odd. If I am in an establishment with only one shared toilet, I feel I have to hurry & not be in there too long.

>> for fuel in rural India cow-dung mixed up with
chopped up straw to make fire-bricks <<

Holy smoke!


~jwf~

jwf

"Holy Smoke"-- Grade A+

And the point about women feeling more comfortable "making up" amongst their peers is I think an important one...

Many years ago I got pupils to compare male and female images in Newspapers. Women were very rarely shown actually in action, even women of performance choosing the posed, and more often than not studio-shot, image. This applied even to sportswomen, and Jessica Ennis was apparently advised this year NOT to put on too much muscle. It would presumably damage her advertising contracts.

On a slightly different tack, it was a girl pupil who pointed out the error in the Nazi pseudo-science that tried to justify the Nazi 3Ks approach by saying that the bird pretties herself and builds a nest in order to attract and keep a mate.. In fact , famously in the case of Peacocks, this is what the male bird does. In the bird species the female tends to be plain and dowdy,while the male is often magnificent. In the human species it does seem to be the female of the species that struggles hardest to be attractive and improve upon whatever Nature has provided as a foundation, hence the present crisis, highlighted this week, in the great plague of eating disorders particularly amongst girls.

The domestic loo was often called "the little boys room" because of the feeling of a safe retreat and "loo breaks" are often very convenient for "sisterly conflabs" and mutual support, safe for a while from the presence of males.

Cass

"are there any of you who *wouldn't* just use a vacant single-occupancy bathroom, regardless of what it said on the door?" [KB]

I would do that two-thirds of the time. The door might say "rest room" [no gender designation attached]. Or, it might say "Men" or something synonymous. Or, it might say "Women" or something synonymous. I wouldn't think twice about the first two. If someone told me it was all right to use the women's room, I would do so.

One of my favourite public loos is at a shopping center. There's about eight little toilet rooms, with proper good doors and real walls, toilet and and a sink to wash hands. They are big enough that you can go in with your children to help them (maybe not more than two of them perhaps...) All are unisex. So you all line up in the corridor leading in to the toilets area, and just take your turn.

There's also two large toilets, with handicap rails and space for a helper, and those also have changing tables for babies. Also, unisex. I've used them if it was really urgent, but try not to usually. They are for those who really need them, of course.

What I don't like about having separate rooms for ladies and gents, whether it's cubicles with flimsy partitions or real little rooms, is that often they seem to have about the same number of stalls. Perhaps a few less for the gents, replaced by some urinals, what do I know? But the problem is that having a wee is very much faster for gents than for ladies. It's all that business of pants, sitting down, pulling up nylons, skirts, underskirts and getting everything back in place without tucking your skirt in your nylons... so every time there is a big event with a break, you see ladies lining up, waiting waiting waiting, and gents zooming in and out of theirs.

So many times, I would have liked a bathroom break in intermission, but when the lines are crazy, I just give up, and hope I can hold it until later...

if the queue for the men's is shorter than the ladies, I usually use the men's loo.

The only problem with that is that there tend to be a LOT more skidmarks in the pan.

Me too... either way round really

Advantages of unisex toilets (provided they are clean and all cubicles are well-equipped, lockable, reasonably sight- and soundproof and also clean)
- less waiting for the women.
- Need less space.
- All cubicles are used in equal amounts.

Advantage of single-sex toilets for men
- No giggling girls
- No one spends ages in the cubicles
- No menstruation paraphernalia
- Providing the men are well-enough bred to remember to wash their hands: No one hogging the sinks (because mirrors are usually over the sinks. This is also a design flaw, because a lady touching up her make-up needs (a) a dry shelf below the mirror to put her cosmetic bag and (b) she needs to get close to the mirror - not easy when you have a washbasin in the way.)
- No need for conversation with complete strangers.
- There is probably always plenty of loopaper.

Disadvantages of single-sex loos for men
- You often can't take your toddler in there - and certainly not your baby.
- If the floor's wet, you can't be sure it's because it's just been cleaned.


Advantage of single sex toilets for women
- More privacy - all loos are behind closeable doors.
- No fear of being in an enclosed space on your own with a strange man.
- With a bit of luck, somewhere to refresh your makeup without getting your handbag and the front of your trousers soaking wet.
- No one will bother you if you need that bit longer to adjust your underwear after you've finished
- You can have conversation with complete strangers. Which makes it easier to ask the person on the other side of the wall if they've got any paper in there.


Lots of that is just speculation and, of course, there are dozens of exceptions. Wouldn't life be wonderful if we didn't have to go to the loo?

"Well "loo" does come from the French "l'eau""

Folk etymology. No links have been found between the terms, with 'loo' coming into common use long after 'gardyloo' (gardez l'eau) fell out of common use.

One is finding this thread and the conversation occuring therein, most enlightening.

Although, as it progresses, I am increasingly of the opinion that the female of the human species does indeed require her own, specific, 'space', to which we commonly afford the title 'toilet'. For the main reason, that it would appear, for the most part, that those 'tasks', to which the female uses such a facility, are so vastly different from the simple ablutions that might take place within waht is, on the surface, the analagus facility, but for the male of the species... Fasinating... mirrors, make-up, sanitry towels, hand-washing... fasinating...

All most men need is a suitable set of steps, shielded from view of the main public thougher-fares, which provides ample space and privacy for 99% of that to which a male might wish to do....

well, then, isn't there a case to be made for individual, unisex toilet cubicles, hand washing facilities, and then a separate, water free, area with mirrors and shelves? Most of the younger men I know have to get their hair, hat or whaever "just right" before they go out in public, I'm sure they also would appreciate a space for a quick fix while they're out.

Separating make-up rooms from toilet rooms just might be a stroke of genius...

CASSEROLEON

<"making up" amongst their peers>

Should that be pee'ers?

And it isn't a 'rest room'. What a daft description. You go there to rest? Ahem. I don't think so.

PP.

Here's a little something for those that prefer their public restrooms be as luxurious as possible:

http://www.bestrestroom.com/us/Hall_of_Fame/default.asp

Would you believe they hold product launches and meetings in this loo? http://www.hotelsbycity.net/blog/hotel-throne/bathroom-images/majestic-hotel-england/

Given the locale, I don't consider 'product launch' to be a very advisable name...

B

Why is it we have convenient rolls of toilet paper hanging in our loo, but never have rolls of bedside tissue hanging where we sleep? The answer might be that we don't like to think of what happens in the bed as "dirty," but then why do we have rolls of kitchen towel hanging next to our food? Are we more embarrassed of nocturnal activities, than of a lack of food hygiene?

"never have rolls of bedside tissue hanging where we sleep? "
Some of us do