Althouse: "You can assess the true position of women in society by looking at its toilet queues."

November 15, 2008

"You can assess the true position of women in society by looking at its toilet queues."

Wednesday is World Toilet Day.

29 comments:

Mark O said...: Only on my mini-cam.; 11/15/08, 12:27 PM
Synova said...: If there are exactly equal toilets for men and women, the women's lines are still longer.

They try to solve this problem by designing urinals for women.

Ewww...; 11/15/08, 12:33 PM
Wince said...: World Toilet Day

Unfortunately, it does appear the world is headed toward that precise destination.; 11/15/08, 12:37 PM
ricpic said...: Public restrooms are a horror. That's why men get in, do their business, and get out. Apparently they're not such a horror to women, who take their time. That ain't society's fault.; 11/15/08, 12:41 PM
Trooper York said...: One of the worst features of having a store is the fact that so many people want to use your toilet. Now of course you don't care if your customers use it because they are going to buy something, but some people treat you like a convenience and want you to let you bring their whole brood of kids in when they live a block away. My friend who owns a restaurant has it even worse. People are pigs and make a mess. You can't spend your time cleaning up after them. Plus women scieve using the toilet after other people. It is just a big pain in my ass.; 11/15/08, 12:46 PM
former law student said...: This maybe why menstruating women were thought to be unclean, and had to stay home.

The ability of men to use urinals is an obvious time saver. To save time peeing, perhaps women should wear skirts and go commando.; 11/15/08, 12:51 PM
MayBee said...: Where women have the worst positions in society, there are few toilet queues. There are few public toilets.
For an article about *world* toilet day, the author doesn't seem to have gotten out much.; 11/15/08, 12:56 PM
Trooper York said...: The best restrooms I ever saw were in a small pub in Ireland. It had two
doors one marked lads and the other marked lassies and when you opened the door and walked outside you were in the middle of a field in the backyard.

Now that's entertainment.; 11/15/08, 12:59 PM
rhhardin said...: But surely even doubling current provision for female loos will only halve the length of the queues?

No. If the system's near capacity, there's a huge drop in queue length if you double the capacity.

It's it's nearly empty, it stays nearly empty.

If it's well over capacity, the queue length is determined by when people choose not to join the line and so is unaffected.; 11/15/08, 1:23 PM
former law student said...: in a small pub in Ireland

First time I was in a pub in Ireland I wondered where the hell the urinals were. Luckily another patron came into the washroom and peed against the ceramic-tiled wall. I then noticed there was a gutter along the bottom.; 11/15/08, 1:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Once when I was at the Squaw Valley ski resort in California, at the top of the ski lift. I saw a long line for the women's toilet and no line at all for the men's. One of the women said, "This is absurd. We're using the men's stalls." So the line broke in half with perhaps 15 women going into the men's room and standing in a line behind the urinals while waiting for the stalls, which few of the men needed.

Although it was a wee bit strange of have a line of women behind you while you peed, everyone was young and fit and in good spirits and there were no problems and no complaints and soon the line problems were all cleared up.

It was a sensible solution but I doubt it would work other places. At least here in California, too many people walk around looking for something to be offended by. If anyone tried to apply this solution anywhere but at the top of a ski lift the police would be called and people would cited, the women for using the men's toilet and the men for exposing themselves in front of women.; 11/15/08, 1:56 PM
Anonymous said...: In Victorian England, people used to parade in the parks in their Sunday finery. As there were no loos, men would step behind a tree and take advantage of their flexible extensions while women would simply squat down in the grass under their big hoop skirts.; 11/15/08, 2:01 PM
Anonymous said...: That is a bullshit article in so many ways. The sum of it is thus: women should be equal and therefore they should have bigger bathrooms.

Whatever, dudes. Speed it up. Even the bullshit article intimates that your problem would be half-solved right there.; 11/15/08, 2:03 PM
Matt Eckert said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/15/08, 2:07 PM
Cedarford said...: This is the endless female bitching about that fact that females prefer to take their time in restrooms, while men do their business, avoid conversation with other guys with their dicks hanging out and get out fast.

I am profoundly impressed with my wife's ability to pull clothes down, squat, pee, wipe, pull up clothes and get out of a 20 degree outhouse in a mountain cabin in under 45 seconds. Vs her propensity to go for a pee in the house or at a restaurant and emerge 30 minutes later after no doubt rewarding cell phone calls, rearranging her pocketbook contents, makeup touch-up.

Want to end female toilet queues?
Make each female bathroom 20 degrees. Female behavior utterly transforms when they cannot plunk their asses down on something comfortable. (Play guy music loud enough that the bitches cannot spend 15 minutes exploring one anothers present "feelings" in cell phone or cross-stall heart to hearts.)

Other "female toilet queue" enders might be going with Jap design - no seats to sit on when you squat, no "lounge areas" and high "smelly" stalls. (Which is why the author, who evidently hasn't travelled much, is unaware of the absence of female queues" in most foreign countries where women occupy a decidedly subordinate spot.)
Or a system design where both men and women have to swipe a credit card to get in, and are charged by the minute until they swipe out after wiping out...

We can be reasonably sure that the "feminist solution" of endlessly expanding "female loitering space" at the expense of usable restaurant, entertainment venue space until there is enough room for women to chat and linger for 20-30 minutes - is a non-starter.; 11/15/08, 2:25 PM
Matt Eckert said...: It just goes to show you that women just can not get along no matter what.

You know what is a good solution. Stay home.

Iron my shirts.; 11/15/08, 2:26 PM
Trooper York said...: Once when I was about fifteen years old I went to the Loews Kings theatre with a buddy of mine. We were there in the last five minutes of the movie so we decided to wait in the lobby until the next showing. Now this was in the tail end of the age of the big opulent movie house. Anyway, we see this door way and walk through it and see these couches and tall ashtrays with a bunch of magazines. So we sit down and light up a cigarette and are bullshiting. All of these women are passing through and giving us dirty looks. Finally an usher comes in and tells us we were sitting in the ladies room. I said holy shit why doesn’t the men’s room have a separate lounge.

He told me to get the fuck out of the theatre.; 11/15/08, 2:32 PM
Anonymous said...: Same thing at the bank I worked at trooper. After hours we all used the gal's toilets. Nice fixtures, good lighting, couches and a damned lounge to lay on if they didn't feel good.; 11/15/08, 4:07 PM
blake said...: Plus women scieve using the toilet after other people.

I do not understand this sentence. I thought I knew what the word "scieve" meant, however.; 11/15/08, 4:39 PM
former law student said...: I do not understand this sentence.

Women don't like it. They would prefer a pristine pot with a paper strip assuring cleanliness.; 11/15/08, 4:46 PM
blake said...: Well, hey, wouldn't we all.; 11/15/08, 5:09 PM
dick said...: I've never understood why women go to the rest rooms in groups. Is it that nice in their rest rooms that they want to stay there and chitchat?

When you couple that with the lines, the one rather explains the other.; 11/15/08, 5:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Larry goes into the women's bathroom.; 11/15/08, 5:21 PM
Trooper York said...: The only time I ever saw lines in the men’s room was in the South St. Seaport during the eighties. Of course you also needed a mirror and a rolled up dollar bill.

Allegedly.; 11/15/08, 5:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Actually, here is a really good rule of thumb: if you are at a bar, and there is a line for the men's room, leave.; 11/15/08, 6:51 PM
Methadras said...: Ah yes. Taking a shit. The worlds greatest equalizer. From the highest of the high to the lowest of the low.; 11/15/08, 8:11 PM
Alex said...: Yes even the Messiah needs to take a daily shit. No getting around that one.; 11/15/08, 8:58 PM
Nichevo said...: Blogger Seven Machos said...

Actually, here is a really good rule of thumb: if you are at a bar, and there is a line for the men's room, leave.
6:51 PM

Interesting. Clarify. ;>

Isn't it nice how we can all be nonpartisan about the squat? Then C4 comes along with "Jap" out of a clear blue sky. Okay, np. You can abuse the losers of WWII at will in my book. Even methadras varied upon my theme.

Then alex comes along...

I think that is about how long his honeymoon will last.; 11/16/08, 4:08 AM
Micha Elyi said...: The testimony of Cedarford (2:25 PM) and Trooper York (2:32 PM) reveals that "by looking at toilet queues" one can see that "the true position of women" in American society is one of superiority to men.

If one sex's water closets have more comfortable amenities and are more likely to provide privacy, it's the women's facilities not men's -- which is what one would expect given that men are treated as inferior to women, just as blacks were once considered inferior to whites and public facilities for blacks were cruder and shoddier as a rule.; 11/16/08, 4:04 PM