Hate may be a strong word for how I feel about you, but it is not a warm happy feeling by any means. I am more...confused and perplexed by your very existence. And more frankly, I simply do not approve of you. To borrow a phrase my boyfriend uses for a Midwestern game called cornhole, I am against everything [you] stand for.
Now I recognize that in multi-stall public restrooms, there are some people who don't like the idea of having a person of a different gender taking a piss in the stall next to them. Additionally, urinals really freak some girls out. (Not girls who'd wear this dress, evidently, but that's a whole 'nother story I can't even get into right now...) Some women claim safety concerns, which should never be trivialized (although I think there are better anti-rape measures than making people pee in different places, like saying, hey, men shouldn't rape, but again, I digress). I will never forget this scene from Boy Meets World (one of the greatest shows to ever be on television and I will FIGHT YOU if you disagree) in which Cory cannot handle the gender neutral showers in his dorm (jump to around 3 minutes in):
Though I do not sympathize with anyone who feels this way, I empathize with them and respect their opinions, so I have no major problem with sex-segregated restrooms in general. Though I will freely admit that I will go into a men's restroom to wash my hands or grab a paper towel if it's closer than the women's restroom, and if there is a line out the door to the women's room and free stalls in the men's, you know where I'll be. And in my personal experience, though I tend to dislike making generalizations, guys seem to be pretty chill when they find a girl in their bathroom.
I do have a major problem, however, with you, sex-segregated single stall bathrooms. Don't pretend you don't know who I'm talking to: all you rooms with a toilet, a sink, a mirror, and a handicap rail. WHY DOES THERE NEED TO BE ONE FOR MEN AND ONE FOR WOMEN? YOU ARE IDENTICAL 6 FT. BY 6 FT. ROOMS. For argument's sake I have spent time inspecting you, and there are no differences. The only thing you accomplish is to not so subtly remind us that the world thinks there's some grand difference between men and women. I suppose you even more subtly tell us that there's not, because these rooms are exactly the same, but that might be too subtle for the masses to handle, so I'm raising my fists and shouting SEPARATE IS INHERENTLY INEQUAL! Pardon my French, but we all shit on the same toilet in our homes, why do we need separate ones out in the world? Don't even try to defend yourself by saying women need trash cans for their "feminine products" (I disapprove of that term, btw), because I'm sure men's bathrooms would be a lot cleaner if there were more trashcans in them. And in fancy single stall bathrooms both genders get fancy soaps and hand lotions (speaking from experience again), so don't try to talk your way out of it by being gender-normative.
There is no reason for your existence, please eradicate yourself from my social world.
Good riddance,
Maya
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| While I'm pushing for this... |
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| I DEMAND this. |
Nice post!! I never really realized how bad these bathrooms are. They really are exactly the same. Haha, also, I completely agree with you saying that girls should be able to go into a men's room to use the bathroom and vice versa because, really, it's not like you'll be any less private, you wouldn't walk in an instantly hoot and holler at guys at a urinal, you'd just go into the stall like any other normal person and use it. Kinda weird, but I don't know.
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