Quote: A row has broken out at the University of Manchester after its students' union toilets were "de-gendered".
Temporary signs have made the "ladies" simply "toilets", while the "gents" have become "toilets with urinals".
The changes are in response to an unspecified number of complaints from trans students who are uncomfortable using the men's toilets.
PlymSpotter From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 11113 posts, RR: 63 Reply 1, posted (4 years 2 weeks 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 1725 times:
Quoting Hywel (Thread starter): The changes are in response to an unspecified number of complaints from trans students who are uncomfortable using the men's toilets.
They need to either grow a pair, or just use the ladies. Yet more PC gone mad
Falstaff From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 5671 posts, RR: 29 Reply 2, posted (4 years 2 weeks 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 1699 times:
Quoting Hywel (Thread starter): The changes are in response to an unspecified number of complaints from trans students who are uncomfortable using the men's toilets.
What a bunch of wimps! If you have a wheezer you are a man... If you don't you are a woman. use the correct restroom. If you have both parts I guess you could use whatever one is the cleanest and has the shortest line.
I for one don't like the idea of woman using the men's room. Why would they want to? It usually is dirty and stinky. I don't want to be taking the Browns to the Superbowl and blowing the place up and have a sweet dainty lady next to me.
If they really wanted to be PC they would have a transgendered restroom. Of course that would cost the school plenty of money to build them and to take the time to keep them clean.
IH8BY From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 1117 posts, RR: 3 Reply 3, posted (4 years 2 weeks 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 1691 times:
I think this was around about the beginning of the current academic year (September/October time). I can see the concern, but it's a little bit of a silly way to tackle the problem. If they're so committed to equality, they should either have gone the whole hog and created unisex facilities across the board (rather than having two different kinds of unisex toilets!) or had a separate de-gendered toilet - maybe it could be combined with the accessible toilet facilities, which are usually unisex by default anyway. Oh, and improve their communication with the student population to facilitate tolerance of trans students. That would be more effective.
Student union types... they sometimes seem to become so divorced from reality that they don't even know what's going on outside the Union building...
[Edited 2009-05-01 10:40:40]
Have you ever felt like you could float into the sky / like the laws of physics simply don't apply?
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 9212 posts, RR: 42 Reply 4, posted (4 years 2 weeks 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 1658 times:
Quoting IH8BY (Reply 3): Student union types... they sometimes seem to become so divorced from reality that they don't even know what's going on outside the Union building...
I'm sure a lot of them will try to convince us that the countless precedeing generations didn't understand and that they're the first generation that has all the answers. The rest of us will roll our eyes and say "here we go, yet again".
Falstaff From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 5671 posts, RR: 29 Reply 5, posted (4 years 2 weeks 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 1630 times:
Quoting IH8BY (Reply 3): Oh, and improve their communication with the student population to facilitate tolerance of trans students
That might be more difficult to than one would think. I for one don't get the transgendered thing anyway. I am open to a lot of things but I still think a man is a man and a woman is a woman. I think that if you like to have sex with the same sex as you you are gay. If you like to have sex with the opposite sex you are straight and if you like both you are bi. I don't get the whole man in a woman's body/woman in a man's body business. I know there are a lot of people who agree with me. Like I said if you have man parts you use the men's room if you have woman parts use the ladies room. I don't see what the problem is. Lets say you were dressed like a man and you were a woman. If you looked manly you could go into the men's john and noboby would notice. If you were a man dressed like a woman and looked like woman you could easily get away with the ladies room. I used to work with a transgendered person. She/he always used the ladies room. She had no problem using the ladies room, but a lot of women that worked there didn't like the idea of her/him using the ladies room. We don't have the gay mens room and the straight mens room it is just the men's room. We don't need to have the I don't know what I am room.
Quoting IH8BY (Reply 3): or had a separate de-gendered toilet - maybe it could be combined with the accessible toilet facilities, which are usually unisex by default anyway.
They have those at a lot of places. They are also sometimes called family restrooms too. I like to use them if I need to sit down that way I can have my privacy.
The faculty restrooms we have at work are all one holers and they are gender nuetral, but men will use one and woman another. The ladies don't like the stinky mens room, even though anyone can use it.
PlymSpotter From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 11113 posts, RR: 63 Reply 6, posted (4 years 2 weeks 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 1595 times:
Quoting IH8BY (Reply 3): Student union types... they sometimes seem to become so divorced from reality that they don't even know what's going on outside the Union building...
F9Widebody From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 1604 posts, RR: 11 Reply 7, posted (4 years 2 weeks 5 days 5 hours ago) and read 1544 times:
Here at "progressive" UC-Berkeley, we've already got co-ed bathrooms in the residence halls. Needless to say, no guys use the urinals...
DocLightning From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 16811 posts, RR: 57 Reply 8, posted (4 years 2 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 1501 times:
Quoting F9Widebody (Reply 7): Here at "progressive" UC-Berkeley, we've already got co-ed bathrooms in the residence halls. Needless to say, no guys use the urinals...
You're a Weenie? I had no idea. That's such a pity.
Signed,
-"Prick me and I bleed Cardinal"
Stanford/Weenie rivalries aside...
At Stanford my co-op (Chi Theta Chi) had bathrooms that were VERY co-ed. Like, even the showers. My general rule was that if there was someone already in the showers, I'd ask who was in there. If a male voice answered, I'd ask if I could come in. If a female voice answered I'd say that I was going to go downstairs to the other shower. If she then said "that's OK! You can come in!" then I'd go in. We all got quite comfortable with each-other.
There was even a urinal right next to the door, so if you were having a wizz and someone walked in, they'd see it all.
And very quickly, I learned not to care. It sounds a bit odd at first and it took some getting used to, but everyone needs to shower, everyone needs to pee, and everyone needs to brush their teeth.
JER757 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2006, 350 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (4 years 2 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 1494 times:
Quoting PlymSpotter (Reply 6): Quoting IH8BY (Reply 3):
Student union types... they sometimes seem to become so divorced from reality that they don't even know what's going on outside the Union building...
Welcome to the politician of tomorrow...
God, thinking of that makes me worried!
People who campaign for something just for the sake of campaigning do my nut in.
USFlyer MSP From United States of America, joined May 2000, 1785 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (4 years 2 weeks 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 1482 times:
I don't see what the big deal is. When I was an undergrad (7-11 years ago) all of our residence hall restrooms were coed!
Steeler83 From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 8804 posts, RR: 19 Reply 12, posted (4 years 2 weeks 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 1398 times:
Quoting Falstaff (Reply 2): If you have both parts I guess you could use whatever one is the cleanest and has the shortest line.
Seek medical help immediately if that's the case!!
Well,
this is what happened when we as a society get too bored. Some of us do something to stimulate ourselves. Then, there are those, like these witty individuals, who invent crap to complain about...
Do not bring stranger girt into your room. The stranger girt is dangerous, it will hurt your life.
SASD209 From British Indian Ocean Territory, joined Oct 2007, 633 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (4 years 2 weeks 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 1392 times:
The world must have passed by me.....
I thought women use a womens restroom and men use a mens restroom....every eatery, rest stop, airport, and company I've been to or worked for has had this arrangement.
Andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8298 posts, RR: 11 Reply 14, posted (4 years 2 weeks 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 1354 times:
In similar but equally stupid vein here in usually not too PC-mad South Africa....
You know the ladies and gents signs? Well, following complaints from Moslem groups that the lady's dress was too short, it has become LEGISLATION that all the signs must be replaced with a new sign with a long dress.
After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF...
NorthstarBoy From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 1713 posts, RR: 1 Reply 15, posted (4 years 2 weeks 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 1347 times:
I'd give it a week, until some girl goes to the Administration complaining of sexual harassment, then those gender specific signs will go right back up again.
When i was in college the idea of boys and girls sharing a communal restroom/showering facility was pretty well unheard of. There were co-ed suites, but only in the sense that boys and girls lived on the same floor, but it was always four men in one suite connected by a bathroom, four women in the next. two boys and two girls in connecting suites? never would've happened when i was in school, to much of a temptation for kids to be doing things other than "studying." And boys and girls living together in university sponsored housing? sharing facilities? that never would have happened, period.
I could have elite status if I wanted it, but flying the same airline all the time is boring.
How about the 'I do know what I am, but I am in thw rong body room'.
Quoting SASD209 (Reply 13): The world must have passed by me.....
I thought women use a womens restroom and men use a mens restroom....every eatery, rest stop, airport, and company I've been to or worked for has had this arrangement.
Me too
I have never seen one either. I know this one is based at a university, but I would have reservations about my daughter usind a unisex toilet.
I know loads of people who I think would be great at running the country, but none of them have the slightest inclination towards going into politics, mostly because they're too principled, too sensible, or just too nice really!
I always think I'd like to get into politics and make a change, but I fear what the system would do to me...
Have you ever felt like you could float into the sky / like the laws of physics simply don't apply?
Ncfc99 From United Kingdom, joined May 2005, 643 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (4 years 2 weeks 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 1270 times:
Quoting IH8BY (Reply 17): I always think I'd like to get into politics and make a change, but I fear what the system would do to me...
Me too
I work for the local council and I often think I could do a better job than the councilors. To me they seem like 2 gangs slugging it out in a school playground, trying to make the other seem worse than they are, and not devoting all efforts to making our lives better.
Wolverine From Germany, joined Aug 2006, 409 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (4 years 2 weeks 4 days 15 hours ago) and read 1253 times:
Well, I think, if a transgendered person has finished the surgeries, and looks like a male/female, he/she can use the mens/womans restrooms. Why not? Before, I think, it's easier to use the restroom of the gender, they were born in.
A close friend of mine is a transgender. He was born as a girl, his name was Christine. He always played football with us , and he was just like us. Wearing the same clothes than us, talking like us, just the same, except, he had no penis, but he always said, someday it will grow on him as well. We called him simply Chris, and he was one of us.
As we were teens, he suddenly became a females body, and he was very unhappy about that.
And for us it was strange, a females body and him, that just didn't match.
Then I moved away, and I lost contact to him.
Two years ago I saw him again, but first, I didn't know, that it was him. A man came to me, and said:" Hey! Do you still know me? It's me, Chris!"
He's got a beard, heavy muscles, a deep voice, there's nothing left of the females body, he once had.
He even got a penis and testicles.
So, why not? He is very happy now, he is married to a beautiful woman, and they adopted 2 kids.
I think, for us, who we are not transgendered, it's nearly impossible, to imagine, what they're going through, and why. I once tried to imagine, what it would be like, to wake up in the morning, and having a females body, everyone would refer to me as a woman. I didn't like this imagination at all.
PlymSpotter From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 11113 posts, RR: 63 Reply 20, posted (4 years 2 weeks 4 days 13 hours ago) and read 1218 times:
Quoting IH8BY (Reply 17): I always think I'd like to get into politics and make a change, but I fear what the system would do to me...
Yeap, I have thought about it, but the 'politics' encountered during mock sessions at my old school was quite enough to put me off the idea for now. Bickering, big headed twirps who think that they are so self important that everyone else should pander to their needs seem to crop up all to often in such circles.
Sponsor Message: 
From Peru, joined Apr 2008, 718 posts, 
From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 11113 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Jun 2006, 5671 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 1117 posts, 
From Cuba, joined Jul 2002, 2439 posts, 
hold the phone here...
From British Indian Ocean Territory, joined Oct 2007, 633 posts, 
From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8298 posts, 
From Germany, joined Aug 2006, 409 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
