BlogHer10 and the Mystery of the Bathroom
August 7th, 2010 by Suzanne | Filed under random, What is wrong with people?.In the hallway of the two floors hosting most of the BlogHer10 conference are four bathrooms. Two are women’s rooms, one is a men’s room, and the fourth is a men’s room that has been converted into a women’s room. The sign perpendicular to the wall that said MEN is covered by an official-looking sign that says WOMEN. It has the international sign for women, the stick figure with the triangle skirt. There is a piece of paper taped on the door that says WOMEN.
The urinals are hidden behind a curtain, which cracks me up. (Maren quipped, “Ignore the man behind the curtain,” which made me laugh even harder.)
It is obviously a bathroom that has been set aside for women. Yet the lines in the two non-converted women’s rooms are long, and there is never a wait in the converted women’s room. What gives?
I’ve pondered the insanity of gendered bathroom politics before, but usually it involved people not wanting to share a public bathroom with a member of the opposite sex. It did not occur to me that women are so ingrained to not want to use public bathrooms that men use that we would rather stand in line in a women’s women’s room than breeze in and out of a women’s room that used to be a men’s room. I suppose there is a sacredness or safety of being a “female only” space, however “female” is defined. This is very strange to me, but I also sort of understand.
When I was a wee lass, I believed that the girls bathroom offered some sort of magical protection from boys. If I wanted to get away from them, all I had to do was slip behind the door marked GIRLS and I would be free from boys and their cooties. It took me a long time to realize that this sense of security was false. If someone was really intent on doing me harm, he would not stop at a door indicating that this was only for females. In fact, a few months ago, a woman was sexually assaulted in a bar in Manhattan while she used the women’s room.
I’m probably over analyzing this (although part of me wants to go even further and take the lack of comfort over a bathroom sex change and apply it to people), but it does strike me as worthy of discussion. Then again, I’m also the person who hates when single bathrooms are marked “men” and “women,” and I’ll just use whichever room is empty. Why wait?
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Then again, I’m also the person who hates when single bathrooms are marked “men” and “women,” and I’ll just use whichever room is empty. Why wait?
I do this all the time! I also, however, just use the men’s room pretty frequently. (Cedar Point security followed me in once and asked me to leave (the bathroom, not the park). No other place has ever had a problem.) If I have to go, I don’t want to wait for a bunch of women to hover (and miss) ahead of me. I find that except the very busiest places, men’s rooms are cleaner. When I was pregnant or toting a toddler, everyone just smiled. Now that I’m not pregnant and my daughter is old enough to hold it, other women (presumably the ones not ballsy enough to use a men’s room) glare at me. I also go into restrooms that are closed. Just because you’re cleaning it doesn’t change the facts: a) Public restroom in sight, and b) I need to pee/ get tissue.
Exactly! I am so happy to know that I am not the only rational person in the world.
I used the converted bathroom. I have no problem with it and honestly, I didn’t even think about it. Bathroom + close + I have to pee.
Remember when the storm interrupted our day at the Taste of Chicago? I can’t recall where we were heading, but it must have been after we left the shelter of Roosevelt University. We stopped at a Burger King, and, of course, the women’s single occupancy bathroom was occupied. I boldly used the men’s bathroom. I thought that I was very daring.
You are very daring, Mom! I learned it from you!
I don’t know if you will read this (it is so long after your post), but I, too, have used the men’s bathrooms! When you gotta go, you gotta go! Lat week, I was in a restaurant that had a one-peron bathroom–one man’s, one woman’s. 2 of us were waiting, & the hostess came over & said, “Y’know, the men’s room is free,& it’s basically the same bathroom, so you can use it.” I deferred to the person in line ahead of me, but she refused to go to the men’s! I don’t know why–it was thoroughly clean & lovely. Her loss!
Also, when I was in college, I went into the women’s room, but I had a funny feeling that someone had followed me who wasn’t a woman & who had evil intent. I was already in the stall & had shut the door. Instead of using it, however, I opened the door, banging it as hard as I could against the stall metal. As was my intent, that startled the intruder, & he ran out of the bathroom. Whew! Needless to say, I didn’t stay & use the facility.