A few years ago all the changing and showering facilities at the local fitness centre were changed from Mens and Womens to all mixed where men, women, kids use communal showers and changing rooms (with individual cubicles for un/dressing). They are all the same around here. I'm no prude (love to swim in the Med in the raw when I get the chance), but even after all this time using them, I still feel a bit uncomfortable, and if I am reading things rightly pretty much everyone else using them looks a bit ill at ease too. One part especially I find annoying, as a habit of a lifetime, as soon as I hit the showers before or after swimming, my first move is to get my trunks off. I've been in the process before realising a few times Is it just me being an old fuddy duddy or is this a bad bit of 'progress' (aka cost saving)? Does anyone like them? GG
No your not a fuddy duddy and it has nothing to do with being a prude either, it has everything to do with privacy!!!!! they'll have us all sharing public toilets soon!!!! . Val
Few year's back i had to go to a place (which i can't menchon) in the UK, and every were i went someone would have to be with me (no mater what) and yes, in the toilet sat down and some one is there watching me
I can't see the problem. When we go swimming as a family, we simply find a family sized cubicle and all get changed there. It is especially useful if I don't go, when the missus has to take the two lads into the changing room. In the old way, at what point exactly does it stop being ok for a little boy to be taken into a room that may be full of naked ladies? 3? 4? 5? At what point does it become ok to trust a little boy to go into the mens changing room on his own while his mam goes into the ladies one? Different people will have different ideas about this, so it can be awkward for all. Unisex changing facilities gets rid of that problem entirely. This is different I think. Hospital wards should be same sex, where practical. Our local NHS trust is actually going the opposite way to what you describe, in that mixed wards are being phased out in favour of same sex wards. That's as it should be. It is undignified enough being ill in the nick while others can see you suffering, especially if you ended up there quite unexpectedly without having had time to pack pyjamas or a dressing gown, so you have to wear one of those awful hospital ones that reveal everything, or hospital PJs that don't actually fit.
I went in a male public toilet in America some years ago and the cubicles had no doors, so you could seem them all sitting there having a c rap. I did my bit and got out fast.
Then don't go to the loos at Victoria Coach Station in London. After a 2.5 hour journey, it's naturally the place to head for before going out into the streets of London. Imagine my when I exited the loo to see a bloke staring at me!! He was er... foreign and I told him "no, not this side - it's for ladies only... Someone coming out from the cubicle next to me said" not any more it isn't - it's unisex now!" I stormed off then - having a rant; won't do a coach trip to London ever again, Jenny namaste
In Manchester Arndale there are cubicles with two loos in! I thought they may be for a Mum and child when I heard - but no two adult sized loos in one cubicle. So if you ever want a wee with a chat Manchester Arndale Centre is for you! Btw all NHS trusts should now be striving to achieve a single sex ward status, except A&E, intensive care and some medical assessment wards - so hopefully you should be OK if you have to wear a gown in hospital!
When I lived in the Dominican Republic it was common for bars and restaurants to have a communal toilet room where all the girls would pile in and you would get on with the business while others titivated their hair, nails etc. As a blondish female I was under scrutiny to see if top and tail matched, as it were.
I must be an old fuddy duddy too then. Years ago, it was "trendy" to have communal changing rooms in some shops. I never felt comfortable in those - so I don't have to even consider how I would feel about communal rooms in leisure centres/unisex toilets/dual toilets/mixed wards. What Val calls privacy, I call dignity. I neither want to see other peoples bits and bobs nor smell their bits and bobs: thank you! Talk about a step backwards!
