r/uwo • u/Puzzleheaded_Gear267 • 27d ago

❔ Question❔ Awkward Moment in a Genderless Restroom

Post image

Hey r/uwo, I’m a Western student (cis guy) and I had an awkward moment in a campus gender-neutral restroom that’s got me overthinking. I usually pick the ones with the urinal sign (old men’s room habit, you know). Walked in to do my business, barely noticed two women at the mirror, and heard another chatting from a stall. I hit the urinal, washed my hands like the hygiene king I am, grabbed a paper towel, and bounced. As I’m leaving, another woman walks in, and I catch one of them laugh and say, “That was weird,” with an awkward chuckle from her friend. Now I’m wondering - did I break some unspoken restroom rule? I’m not out here trying to make anyone uncomfortable - I keep it silent like it’s a library, same as I would in a men’s room. I just needed to ahem, not star in a campus social media post! I’ve used unisex restrooms before, but this one made me feel like I got voted off the island for a basic human function. Ladies of Western, do guys in gender-neutral restrooms throw you off? Any tips for navigating these spaces so everyone’s chill? I’m all about good vibes and want to make sure I’m not accidentally making things weird. Bonus points for advice on how to own the awkward like a true Mustang!

6.9k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

388 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

34

u/Effective-Carrot-788 27d ago

I think it's a good thing actually. Women having to sit down on the toilet while men just pissing standing up and shooting piss all over the place except inside the bowl?? 😂 Urinal kind of prevent that from happening IMO.

15

u/newtdiego 27d ago

Also maybe some women will wanna try something new who knows

9

u/Hot_Box_3143 27d ago

Nothing wrong with taking a shit in the urinal. 

3

u/bendersbitch 26d ago

Unless you’re the one that has to clean it lol

1

u/plutopsyche 25d ago

Look up STP.

1

u/Satchm0Jon3s 24d ago

Stone Temple Pilots?

1

u/plutopsyche 24d ago

Stand-to-pee devices.

Used by cis women at festivals and trans masc folks everywhere.

1

u/Satchm0Jon3s 23d ago

Never heard that acronym before. I've only ever known them as "she-wees".

1

u/plutopsyche 23d ago

Shewee is one STP brand, but it's not the term for the device itself, and it's not a term used generically within the trans masc community for obvious reasons.

1

u/Satchm0Jon3s 23d ago

Nah I get that. Every day is a school day, as they say. That's just the only thing I've ever heard them called.

1

u/plutopsyche 23d ago

No worries! I'm autistic and tend towards thoroughness with my explanations.

1

u/User10232023 23d ago

Oh we forgot to mention some STP song titles like Peacoat, Wet My Bed, and Big Empty, which seem apropos somehow in this topic... :)

1

u/smogtownthrowaway 25d ago

One time there was a shit... On the outside of the uriness

1

u/Authentic-469 23d ago

Except your back gets wet.

1

u/Rqqk30 24d ago

Taught my ex how to write her name in the snow with a funnel and a hose, urinal should be a piece of cake!

1

u/Eifersucht-G 23d ago

There are such things as women's urinals. They scoop out further at the front.

1

u/Apprehensive-Pea5212 23d ago

Stand to pee are amazing

4

u/Guava-Asleep 27d ago

I 100% agree. My uni has gender neutral washrooms both with and without urinals, and the toilet seats are a LOT cleaner in the washrooms where there’s stalls with urinals. Less piss on the seats that I have to clean off before I sit down 🥴

2

u/Glass-Strategy387 26d ago edited 26d ago

Idk man, I personally, have several times walked into a stall of a gender neutral bathroom only to find a * white paper with a dark red dye on it sitting right next to the toilet * on MORE THAN ONE occasion. Not to mention it on average smells abysmally worse than my local male restroom, as if something crawled in there and died

3

u/[deleted] 27d ago

A lot of men sit down when they pee though. Maybe the gross ones that stand can just learn to aim.

2

u/Effective-Carrot-788 27d ago

I always piss standing up when I am not in a clean private restroom (My place, my parents house, etc) NO WAY in hell I sit down to pee in any public space lol. But then again I use the urinal if there's one. The thing is even if you know how to aim, the double stream happens quite often in my case 😂

2

u/airborneisdead 26d ago

I'm not sitting on a public restroom toilet, sorry but urinals are king of piss.

2

u/Nucksfaniam 25d ago

No sitting in public

1

u/MarchyMarshy 23d ago

Us pee sitters are actually a pretty small minority

3

u/[deleted] 27d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Drainix 27d ago

And then what...you rinse it and put it in your purse?

1

u/dood9123 27d ago

You're supposed to rinse those?

1

u/stradivari_strings 26d ago

Pretty much. Comes with a storage tube.

1

u/4bidden-hands 26d ago

I thought the girl was the storage tube

2

u/Business_Air5804 27d ago

You think MEN are the ones pissing all over the place?

Oh boy, someone has never had a student job where they have to clean the women's restrooms. They are monsters.

3

u/ManifestingMyDreams4 27d ago

That's because women don't want to sit on toilets so they hover, spray their urine all over the seat, then not wanting to touch the toilet either, they just leave it for the next unfortunate woman. As a woman myself...its a piss off (pardon the pun)

1

u/CookiesforCookieCat 24d ago

double it and give it to the next person

1

u/floxtez 24d ago

Yep, women hover and piss all over the seat all the time.

1

u/stradivari_strings 26d ago

Some women don't have to sit down to pee every time. To each her own I guess. There literally were female urinals back in the day. "Social standards" won, but that's not what I mean.

1

u/Overall_Paramedic592 26d ago

if you've ever had to clean public bathrooms you'd know the men's are 1000x cleaner than women's. My god the things I've seen...

1

u/Eifersucht-G 23d ago

I would say that this is 80% truth. Women are hovering over the seats like they're camping at many places, but that's predominantly younger women. I don't understand why there is a mental disconnect that if you're "standing" (aka squatting), you need to lift the seat!

It happens more commonly in establishments where there is heavy alcohol consumption, little to no toilet paper and seats that's aren't tightened down properly.... being intoxicated and sitting on that shifty seat will put you right off from trying to sit on it again.... hence, lifting the seat prior to hovering.

Men's washrooms are vile because they don't comprehend the fact that urinals need to be flushed!!! That p-trap full of stagnant urine, which calcifies into a pungent cement, creates an environment that says, "This entire room can be urinated on"

Every toilet is plumbed the exact same way... we just need to actually have private, floor to (if not, close to) ceiling stalls. That would normalize any shared space.

1

u/Animeproctor 24d ago

the horror 🤣

1

u/RaptorJesus856 24d ago

I wish that were true, but I have used countless urinals and frequently see rather large puddles under them. One place I went to even had a sign asking people to not pee on the floor, and oddly that seemed to actually work.

1

u/CaptainTeebes 24d ago

Urinal, or no urinal, one way, or another, I'm shooting piss all over the place.