The difference between male and female toilet facilities in pubs and bars - gender discrimination!

Last night I attended a birthday at a pub.

As men we are used to pretty shabby treatments like sticky floors, wet towels, cubicles that won't lock and the relative lack of privacy at urinals.

Nobody really seems to care, and after a few beers it even seems quaint.

However, last night the men's toilet over-flowed after the rugby, and everything was flooded in the men's room.

The only option was to use the female facilities.

And that's when a lot of guys first saw the difference.

The females get two lovely cubicles that lock, and they also get soap, dry towels, and even air-freshener cans!

Now I know men are supposed to "rough it" in all circumstances, but it's quite upsetting in a way.
It is not a case of "separate but equal".
Men pay the same money at the bar, and get inferior treatment.

OK, it wasn't an upmarket bar, but it made me think from now on to rant a bit more about this to the owners.
Most guys wouldn't, but I know they privately feel the same way.

Is this gender discrimination only in SA, or also in other countries?
Maybe some would argue that some men are pigs, and they broke those things and thus we all deserve that treatment.
I find that a very unsound argument, and it would be taboo nowadays when applied to race, for example.

I think it's less about the bars themselves, but rather how men would tolerate this because to complain makes you a "wussy".
It's actually giving a cultural message that men are not only supposed to be pigs, but that they are happy to be pigs.

reply to post by halfoldman


If you want to go to a bar or pub, you deserve what you get insde. A place like that 9:/ 10 times is a sh t hole, I would find a better place to hangout IMO

I stopped going to bars many years ago, an happy that I don't have your exp's.
I think it's the roughn it idea you mentioned I've seen some of the woman's bathroom and your absolutely right on the cleaner room, but as man I agree we sometimes can be pigs

It's a BAR, dude?!
Good luck

reply to post by halfoldman


The reason the Men's room is disgusting and broken is because men are disgusting and break things. This goes 10 fold for any and all bars/pubs/clubs/discos/where alcohol is served and testosterone is king.

Originally posted by AK907ICECOLD
reply to post by halfoldman

 

If you want to go to a bar or pub, you deserve what you get insde. A place like that 9:/ 10 times is a sh t hole, I would find a better place to hangout IMO

I stopped going to bars many years ago, an happy that I don't have your exp's.

Good luck

That's not really true, I live in a fairly large city supposedly renowned for it's violence and such, and even I find that 9/10 places are actually pretty decent. It's more like 1/10, like the place described in the OP, that makes people like yourself who admittedly stopped going to these places years ago think that 9/10 bars and pubs are shatholes.

reply to post by Swills

Well the men in our company were not disgusting or breaking things.

Some surely might be.

I think it's also a case of investing less in man's bathrooms, because the received social construction is that men are more disgusting and likely to break things, so the owners just don't bother much.

Simple...women are more fussy.

Men pee anywhere.

reply to post by halfoldman


Just because the men in your party don't fit that description doesn't mean it holds true for all the men who visit that pub. I've been to pubs in the USA, Europe, and the Caribbean islands and all the bathrooms are the same. The only time the mens room is in good shape is in a higher profile joint who can afford bathroom attendants.That being said, not every single mens room in a bar is dirty and broken, but a lot of them are and it's because of the men. Alcohol and testosterone are the cause.

Lol i remember reading about a pub in Australia in about 1950's. This was a hangover from the mineral rush out in the bush but the bar didn't have urinals, just a trough below the bar that water ran through so you could go as you drank.

I really hope this was made up. I have my suspicions though.

reply to post by halfoldman


But don't you think both those restrooms started out in the same shape? You don't think they spend time remodeling female bathrooms while ours go unnoticed?

I'll tell you what happens... from my many years of bartending and enjoying bars.... two guys in pink polos with popped collars are in a men's restroom. Since the urinals are occupied by other patrons, one of those guys would like to cross streams with his buddy in one of the cubicles. He realizes that may make him seem gay, so in a moment of brilliance he decides that knocking the locked door in would make him seem sufficiently macho.






Khar

reply to post by Kharron


Never cross the streams!

I actually know the industry answer to this.

Guys are bathroom slobs. They tend to make messes, tear things up, and be generally stupid about bathrooms. Women are much cleaner and less likely to destroy things just for kicks.

Oh, and guys don't go into the bathroom just to talk, touch up their make-up, and talk smack about their dates.

Well most guys don't I guess is probably more PC.

~Heff

Originally posted by Hefficide

I actually know the industry answer to this.

Guys are bathroom slobs. They tend to make messes, tear things up, and be generally stupid about bathrooms. Women are much cleaner and less likely to destroy things just for kicks.

Oh, and guys don't go into the bathroom just to talk, touch up their make-up, and talk smack about their dates.

Well most guys don't I guess is probably more PC.

~Heff

In that case then surely, as the OP says, this could be seen as some kind of gender discrimination. In my opinion.

Well, as a general reply to various posts I can say it's not "upmarket", but it's also not a "dump", or in a generally dangerous or run down area.

I also don't think that the men's toilets in many pubs and bars are in a shabby condition because men deliberately break things.

If it was a nightclub (where people get off their heads every night) I'd accept that rationale.

I think it's a case of longer term wear-and-tear and deliberately neglecting the men's toilets in favor of the female toilets that eventually leads to a complete collapse in the latter.

So the female toilets are updated and well kept, while I guess the owners think the men don't mind.

And that smacks of gender discrimination.

Clearly that is also market driven, and female customers just won't arrive without a certain standard, but why are we men so silly to accept this?

reply to post by fairguy


I'd say less "gender discrimination" than an issue of who behaves more civilly while drunk.

~Heff

I wanna let men in on a little secret about the ladies room....especially in a place like a bar. Quite often it is a LOT more disgusting than anything you will find in a men's room. During my years as a bartender I have found tampons (used) strewn on the floor along with maxi pads stuck to walls. And because women will often squat over seats....theres always a chance you might find the toilet seat covered in piss...and worse things. I never understood how ADULTS could be so filthy. Drunk women pissing on the bathroom floor only to sashay back out on the dancefloor like some disco queen. There were times when I would rather squat in an alley than use the ladies room at the bar......and the movie theater bathroom can be worse!

Originally posted by Hefficide
reply to post by fairguy

 

I'd say less "gender discrimination" than an issue of who behaves more civilly while drunk.

~Heff

What I meant was automatically assuming whether people are going to act better or worse based solely on their gender. Maybe if that wasn't the case some males might not so blindly follow into acting so ridiculously.

reply to post by halfoldman

In high school, the boy's showers were open while the girls' were sectioned off.

Doesnt it make more sense to section off the guys?

I mean the girls dont have anything that could errr poke each other...

1) men don't take very good care of the bathroom. It's not the city's fault if their workers get tired of cleaning up after pigs. Women take better care of the bathroom because it's their traditional role in society, regrettably.

2) every country is sexist.

That's all there is to it.

I hate gender segregated bathrooms. The idea is retarded. Especially "single hole" facilities. If only one person is in there whys it matter? Ive been in numerous ladies rooms of the single hole variety. if no ones waiting but the mens room is in use why should i wait.

My solution is simple. most multiple occupancy bathrooms have an equal number of waste receptacles and sinks. Lets say its a walmart which would have 5 receptacles in each bathroom, along with 5 sinks in each bathroom.

A group of single occupancy unisex bathrooms with one toilet and one sink, 10 total. Why not? Walls and doors are cheap.

this also solves the transgender bathroom issue

It seems very essentialist to say men deserve their shabby facilities.

Especially where there's hints of male violence as "natural", attitudes become downright concerning.

Not only are men's facilities regarded as created by violent male customers, but that concept appears to be totally acceptable and worthy of excusing as an eternal fact.

Can one really legitimize one form of gender violence without recognizing that this has an effect on all others?