BBC:
A few years ago, Nathalie Des Isnards was attending a music festival with her husband David, and planning to watch her favourite group.
Before the show, they headed to the toilets. "I spent 30 minutes in the queue waiting to pee," she recalls. Much to her frustration, she missed the first part of the concert.
Meanwhile David took just "two minutes", and saw the whole show.
"I was upset. I told myself, 'We're in the 21st century, something should be done about that.'"
She set about creating a women's urinal. The simple seatless basin she devised is housed in a cubicle with roof and door, designed for faster use but also privacy. "I was not a designer. I was a user first," says the 46-year-old.
A different but important engineering challenge.
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Are Female Urinals the Answer to Queues at the Loos?
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(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @06:24AM (3 children)
On a post like this, you realize it would have been better off posting a quality aristachu sub, eh?
For real.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @08:18AM
Pissah! In Boston, they would call this a real Pissah! Except they cancelled the St Paddy days parade, and rejected all the aristarchus submissions, especially the ones in favor of female urinals and protestantism. So sad, really.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @12:31PM (1 child)
Trick question. There are no quality ari subs.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 13 2020, @12:45PM
Oh there are, it's just hard to find them with all the trash you have to dig through.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday March 13 2020, @06:38AM (3 children)
I heard about something similar [trailsandtravel.com] quite a while back. Maybe there's room in the market for two designs?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @07:15AM (2 children)
Height is an issue there. Males stand at urinals and aim.
Perhaps we need to genetically modify females to allow more aim and control.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 13 2020, @06:11PM
Increase the pressure.
Older males gradually lose pressure. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) one of those prescription drugs that make it stand at attention also fix the dribbling. If you're reading this and think it won't happen to you someday. Realize this. Someday will come faster than you can possibly imagine.
Is there a reason females have less pressure? Or is lack of aiming control or an aiming device?
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday March 14 2020, @04:40AM
Perhaps we have to genetically modify females so it doesn't take thirty of them at once to go for a pee.
Seriously, what is it with group toilet visits?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 13 2020, @06:47AM (25 children)
I've never noticed that outdoorsy type country girls need a lot of time to squat behind a tree. Or farm girls. The mechanics involved aren't a whole lot different between males and females. Expose yourself, and let fly. Watch the livestock, or your pets. No fuss, no muss. Many have talked about this over the years, this is the first time anyone has actually DONE anything. All that is necessary, is that women accept it. They may dress slightly differently? Oh well, small price if it gets them in and out again in a minute or less.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @09:15AM (3 children)
Women fire piss downward, so they wear dresses. Men fire piss forward, not counting aim, so they get front openings.
In mixed company, a woman can modestly take a piss if she wears a dress.
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 13 2020, @12:22PM
Unless they're Scottish. They figured out that lift is quicker and easier than unfasten and whip out long ago.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday March 13 2020, @03:46PM (1 child)
I thought women wore dresses for other hygienic reasons, like to air out their twats when they're raggin'. At least that's what I was taught as a kid by a woman in a period(heh)-correct costume during a field trip to a museum in Yuma.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @10:05PM
Yes, that is another reason. The pussy needs air. This is somewhat true in modern times as well, though being able to easily do laundry makes it less of an issue.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Friday March 13 2020, @09:30AM (13 children)
Same seems to apply to city girls when drunk, replacing tree with vehicle. Also, physically, girls can actually use existing "male" urinals (seen it done), but typically the shape isn't ideal or comfortable (from speaking to girls who have done it).
Clothing, as you say, may have a lot to do with it - traditionally western men's clothing seems to be designed for fast easy access to the genitals, while women's clothing seems to be designed to prevent that. I strongly suspect that men who dress in women's clothes lose most, if not all, of the time advantage.
I'll throw in another thought though - the queue is caused by the length of time spent in the bathroom, which is not the same as the length of time spent peeing. Having been to various events/gigs with subculture crowds that didn't give a flying f*** about "normal" in terms of dress/sexuality/gender-identity/whatever, the typically observed result was equally long queues for both sets of facilities (with a mix of male/female/wouldn't-like-to-call-it in each). At at least one memorable event when I finally got the the front of the queue hobbling with legs crossed and deeply regretting every pint... I found the urinals and cubicles largely empty, the queue was actually for the mirrors.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 13 2020, @12:25PM (12 children)
Solution: remove the mirrors from the crapper and put them in another area.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday March 13 2020, @02:14PM (10 children)
Heck - mirrors take approximately zero space, maximize efficiency and put them along the queue!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 13 2020, @02:32PM (9 children)
Nah, many chicks for some reason prefer us men folk not to see the making of the sausage. Personally, I prefer the sausage not be made at all because I see makeup as an offline version of instagram filters (which is to say, lying) but that's neither here nor there.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Friday March 13 2020, @02:44PM (8 children)
Still works - women's bathrooms are usually down a dedicated hall from the men's - just put a door in the hall. Heck, could even put some shallow sinks and counters there too.
Do you feel the same way about suits, ties, and brushing your hair? Much of modern society is about image management, and women tend to be judged far more harshly on their image.
It's a pretty spectacular make-up job that actually lies - usually it just distracts and enhances. Look carefully and you can get a pretty fair sense of the reality. I mean yeah, I've seen some pretty remarkable transformations - but if someone's face is caked in that much makeup you've got to figure that's it's probably not because they're trying to tone down their natural beauty.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 13 2020, @05:10PM (7 children)
Nah, clothing is primarily functional rather than cosmetic; it's also legally required. If we allowed public nudity that'd be another story. And brushed hair is still your actual hair. I object to the falsehood not the vanity.
The only reason women are judged so strictly on their image though is that they buy into it as well. If they started giving no more of a shit than guys, there'd be like one generation of complaint then it would be the norm. And, frankly, women are each other's harshest critics. Guys aren't nearly as concerned. If it looks like she's brushed and washed her hair recently, owns a pair of boobs that are kinda similar in size and more or less boob-shaped, and doesn't have an ass wider than our shoulders, we're probably already interested even if she's wearing sweats and has no makeup on.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @06:57PM (2 children)
I'll take the one with ass! You silly white boys can fight over boney Betty.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 13 2020, @10:51PM (1 child)
Oh, sorry, I was assuming you had a man's shoulders. Hips as wide as my shoulders is a whole hell of a lot of ass.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday March 16 2020, @03:09PM
Different strokes for different folks.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @08:12PM (2 children)
> If they started giving no more of a shit than guys,
Then the fashion industry would collapse...and take a good chunk of the economy with it (speaking pre-virus days, who knows what the economy will look like soon).
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 13 2020, @10:53PM
We lived through the collapse of the manufacturing industry, so I'm pretty sure we'd weather it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:37AM
I don't think the economy is *that* dependent on retail clothing stores.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday March 14 2020, @03:18AM
>ah, clothing is primarily functional rather than cosmetic
Ah yes... that's why the tattered cloth sacks of yore are still such common garments...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by choose another one on Friday March 13 2020, @03:53PM
Mirrors are usually above the washbasins which you need to (damn well should) access after using the crapper, so you end up with effectively two queues - one to wash, one to fix makeup, converging on the same set of basins. Now, sometimes you do need water and mirror at the same time, so you should still have mirrors over the basins, but yeah, put some makeup-mirror stations elsewhere, with no need for water, and you'd fix a lot of the problem. Also, (venturing onto dodgy ground) some cubicles without need of plumbing of any sort where girls can just go for a "girly chat" might help...
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday March 13 2020, @02:21PM
> The mechanics involved aren't a whole lot different between males and females. Expose yourself, and let fly.
Well - they are a fair bit different in practice since women don't have an easy-aim dongle. Men can discretely unzip-and-whip in a relatively exposed area like a urinal. If you're going to squat you need to pull your pants down around your knees, and some sort of handhold helps immensely to avoid pissing on them.
Dresses are obviously more convenient for the act - but they pay for it by being less convenient for just about everything else.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday March 13 2020, @06:04PM (3 children)
I always thought the delay was because women need to sit on toilets and cleaning the seat and other preparations take time. Quite recently my wife told me that she simply squats over the bowl without touching it. That's how she typically manages it faster than I. Perhaps other girls could learn too?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2, Informative) by phantomlord on Saturday March 14 2020, @10:59PM (2 children)
In my experience, most of the women that end up doing that, end up peeing on the seat, making a whole different mess...
Many of us (most?) will clean the seat before we use the toilet because the person before us may have squatted, even if we're going to squat ourselves, just in case we accidentally touch the seat. Some may then create a barrier (seat liner if available, toilet paper if not), which needs to be disposed of after. And then, if the person peeing did pee on the seat, there's a 50/50 chance that she'll clean up after herself, leading to the aforementioned likelihood of cleaning the seat before using the toilet whether it appears it needs it or not.
To go along with all of this, there are a ton of women that flush their tampons, pads, etc even though most public bathrooms have a place to dispose of them, causing the toilets to clog and limiting the number of usable stalls remaining.
That's before we even get to the sinks and mirrors to wash up and primp.
So, while a guy may walk up to a urinal, whip it out, pee, and then optionally flush and optionally wash his hands in 30-60 seconds, women will often waste a 60+ seconds just getting into the stall, closing the door, and cleaning before she even pees, then will almost definitely wash her hands since she just wiped and may have gotten some on herself.
50 guys, 4 urinals, 2 stalls, at 60 seconds each means they finish in 8.3 minutes, while 50 women with 4 stalls (I figure 4 urinals take as much space as 2 stalls?) at 120 seconds each (60 to clean before, 60 to pee, with the time to wash hands and primp after being "free" regarding stall use) means they'll finish in 25 minutes. That's also assuming all four stalls stay functional, if one goes down on the first use, now we're looking at 33.3 minutes to finish.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 15 2020, @08:39AM (1 child)
In case you are curious, the general rule is to allow a 2:1 urinal to stall ratio and an equal number of fixtures. So a 4:2 bathroom for men is considered equal to 6 stall women's bathroom. There is also a number of the minimum number of stalls for men and women based on the capacity of the building. Of course, at the lower end you will adjust those numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 16 2020, @06:11AM
By your numbers a 4u:2s men's is a 4s women's.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:32AM (1 child)
I haven't gotten any women I know intimately to try this yet, but from what I've read, it's not hard for a woman to use a man's urinal just like men do. They do have to use their fingers and point their clit so it sprays forward instead of downwards. I read it on the internet years ago so it must be true... but seriously it seems logical. Any women care to comment?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 16 2020, @06:16AM
You uh, you... "point their clit so it"... do you think the clitoris has the urinary tract ending in it? That's... not how female humans are built, to several 9s.
The thing you're thinking of is a full vulva lift. You can approximate it by looking at your nostrils in the mirror, then pulling your cheeks firmly up and back on either side with your hands, until your nostrils are pointing forwards instead of down. Now imagine you don't have a mirror, and if you don't point well enough, you piss all over yourself. It's doable by most physiologies of women, but it's splashy and dribbly, prone to spraying onto clothes anyways, needs a goodly amount of pressure on a sensitive part of the body.
Can you farmer-blow your nose? The first few times, it was probably pretty messy, right? It's like that but piss instead of snot. And lower. And harder to pull off while cycling.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Friday March 13 2020, @07:46AM (1 child)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrseb/5152813796/ [flickr.com]
Or
Shewee [shewee.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by esperto123 on Friday March 13 2020, @01:05PM
i've seen the shewee before, probably the best solution, just make some disposable ones and put on wall of the toilet for sale.
But don't forget to remove the mirrors, this alone would save half the time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @08:50AM (2 children)
Why noy just remove their toilet seats?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday March 13 2020, @09:04AM (1 child)
I realize no one RTFA, but you could have looked at the pictures.
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/9DCE/production/_110689304_lapee1-creditericdelafosse.jpg [bbci.co.uk]
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @01:58AM
Those aren't her brand. The ones they are shilling in the article are the ones up top with the pink grill in the portapotty shaped booth.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @09:04AM
Just want to say, anything that gets them in and out quicker, I am all in favor of . Being a guy, standing outside a Ladies room, is highly stressful. So I do not care what they do in there, Game of Thrones, Hunger Games, Peeachelor, what ever gets my woman out of the pit a despair the quickest, one way, or another.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @09:24AM (11 children)
Why don't they just self-identify as males and use the men's rooms?
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Friday March 13 2020, @09:34AM (5 children)
Some do, I've seen it, maybe you just need watch your neighbour more carefully when pissing :-)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Freeman on Friday March 13 2020, @03:28PM (4 children)
No, because No. That is pure creep factor. Did you never learn bathroom etiquette? Specifically, you're there to do business, not peep at someone else, and small-talk is for outside the restroom. Don't forget to wash your hands.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Informative) by choose another one on Friday March 13 2020, @08:02PM (3 children)
"and small-talk is for outside the restroom"
you do know that around half the population go _to_ the restroom partly/mainly in order _to_ talk, right?
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @08:48PM (1 child)
Notice the correlation with the half of the population complaining about queue times?
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:27AM
No, I don't notice that at all. Instead, I notice when I'm at work that all the loud-mouth managers just love to have loud conversations while they're standing at the urinals.
Men have absolutely no right to complain about women talking in the bathroom together, or going to the bathroom together: men do it all the time.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday March 16 2020, @03:06PM
That 1/2 is the annoying half or they're women/girls, and I'm not a woman/girl. Women go to the bathroom to do all sorts of things other than use the restroom. Guys, do their business and get out.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Friday March 13 2020, @10:58AM (3 children)
...because the men's is usually disgusting?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 5, Informative) by EvilSS on Friday March 13 2020, @12:56PM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday March 13 2020, @03:25PM
I can attest that men's dorm rooms are less awful than women's dorm rooms. (Testimony from brothers who ran wire in a dorm or two.) Men don't need to worry about a certain time of the month and some women don't clean up very well after themselves. Exceptions to every rule, but you might be surprised at how often it's true.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @04:07PM
Cleanest bathroom of all: men's room in a female patronized business, like Michael's Crafts.
(Score: 5, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 13 2020, @12:27PM
Identify as a Ford and you can leak in the parking lot.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @02:08PM (3 children)
Is the unemployment situation that dire?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 13 2020, @06:14PM (2 children)
Is anyone complaining about women time spent in the restroom at work?
I think the complaint was from women missing a fun entertaining event due to excessive time waiting in line.
Maybe simply build women's facilities to have a lot more stalls? Would this be an unreasonable solution? Has any architect ever considered this?
The server will be down for replacement of vacuum tubes, belts, worn parts and lubrication of gears and bearings.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday March 14 2020, @02:29AM
Maybe simply build women's facilities to have a lot more stalls? Would this be an unreasonable solution? Has any architect ever considered this?
They can't.
I'm sure architects have considered this. They may have even pitched it to their clients. The clients surely told them "hell no".
Bathrooms cost a LOT of money, compared to most other building spaces (except maybe kitchens). And the companies building buildings are going to do it as cheaply as possible, so they only meet the legal minimums for bathroom space. Those building codes don't usually account for women taking twice as long (I think they might in some states), so they put in the bathroom space you see now.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday March 16 2020, @03:15PM
They do. For example, in my Library, there's 3 sets of restrooms, the guy's on 2nd and 3rd have 1 urinal+1 toilet. The women's has 3 or 4 toilets per floor. 1st floor has 2 urinals + 1 toilet in the guy's and another 3 or 4 toilets for the women's.
In some, nicer places, the women's restroom area, has a nice lounge area (women only), before you get into the restrooms themselves.
Just don't give your patronage to the places that have nasty restrooms and your problem is solved. Don't care about it, and they won't care about it.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Friday March 13 2020, @06:44PM (2 children)
In East Asia, Western-style toilets have been taking over. Asian-style squat toilets might be better for women, though. I've seen women's bathrooms at convention centers and the like that are designed to handle larger numbers of women. They are typically long troughs in the floor they straddle, with low dividers between individual stations. A constant stream of water along the trough flushes them.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 13 2020, @10:57PM
Yeah, I was going to suggest something like that myself. Efficiency, yo. Doubt spoiled little city girls in the west would go for it though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @06:53PM
Asian-style toilets are healthier for everyone. Resist the take over as much as possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 13 2020, @07:14PM (1 child)
Is is a squat and piss or is there aiming involved?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:17AM
Most of the ones I've seen use the "skiing position." First you put your feet roughly in front of the urinal facing away from it. Then you bend your knees and rotate your hips and sick your rear out backwards until your elbows touch your knees while using your ankles to maintain balance. From the side, it sort of looks like a pictograph of someone skiing. It isn't uncomfortable and you don't get everywhere. There are other ones too, but they feel awkward because you basically have to completely drop your pants or hike your dress/skirt up in order to straddle them properly. Those are much harder to stay in position or clean yourself with.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 16 2020, @02:05AM
Why not remove the wall separating the mens' and womens' bathrooms, and make it all one big horseshoe (no door to enter, just an open archway) with stalls along the perimeter of the horseshoe (facing in), and washbasins with mirrors in the center? Problems this would solve:
* Un-equal queue times
* Long queue for one bathroom, empty stalls in the other
* People thinking "I didn't wash my hands, oh well, no one noticed"
* Catholic priests, baptist preachers, and the like