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From: jeff@tesla.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: 
Message-ID: <398@tesla.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Jul-84 10:36:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: tesla.398
Posted: Wed Jul 18 10:36:22 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Jul-84 04:48:17 EDT
Sender: jeff@tesla.UUCP
Organization: Cornell Electrical Eng.
Lines: 43

From: jeff (Jeff Frey)
Subject: Misconceptions about mens' bathrooms; queues for women's


1. Anny Randel believes for some reason that mens' public bathrooms
without stalls exist.  Other than such special cases as Pissoirs in Paris,
Melbourne, etc; or rather more-open facilities I have observed in some
Mediterranean countries, etc., all of which are for understandably
speciaized use, I have never seen a mensroom without sit-down
or squat-down fixtures as well as stand-up fixtures.  Indeed,
as both women and men are subject to the same pressures, why should
such a facility ever be built?  I note that the less-developed single-use
facilities mentioned above take advantage of the convenience of the
clothing of the male, related to his anatomy, to provide SOME relief
at small cost in space and gold.  Of course, the price is paid in
terms of environment.  AND, this type of facility
is of course discriminatory against women.
There are, of course, some mensrooms with sit-down toilets and no dividers
(summer camps; military facilities); and some with dividers but no doors,
the latter having removed to reduce incidents of what
may be perceived by some as anti-social behavior.

2. At almost any public event with large coeducational attendance and
only limited relief time (e.g., concert intermissions) queues often form
outside women's rooms.  Queues also form within
mensrooms, but the more-open layout (urinals PLUS stalls) allow parallel
queuing for the urinals.  I have no information on whether queues for
women's room stalls form in parallel or serially; perhaps, parallel inside,
serial outside?

Nevertheless, the fact remains that most architects are men; and also that
most architects appreciate symmetry.  Look at almost any architect's plan
for a public facility: you will note that mens' & women's bathrooms are
laid out symmetrically, and occupy the same floor space.  However, in 
this space, about twice as many men as women can be accommodated most of
the time because of the smaller area required by the urinal and, when in
use, the person using it.  My question to architects is: don't you
ever go to the theater?

3. I never want to hear about this again.

J.Frey