Clara Greed, Inclusive Urban Design: Public Toilets (2003)

[oursin]

I've been reading this, on and off, for some while now, and have now finished. It's not really a book one wants to sit down and read all at once, but I've been wanting to read it ever since I read an interview with Clara Greed in the Times Higher Educational Supplement. This was just after I'd been asked to be A Nexpert on the history of public

Comments

[serrana]

We've had a big municipal go-round recently about how we can't have a nondiscrimination law which includes transgender people because, oh horrors, they'd want to use the women's room.

Never mind that the "problems" this would cause are so unlikely as to beggar belief: a man dressing as a woman so he could sleazily check out women in bathrooms would be guilty of other crimes, never mind much more likely to get beaten up than almost anyone else I can think of.

I tend to think the obvious solution is "family" restrooms, with a decent-sized stall and a baby-changing table and miscellaneous toiletage...but this suggestion in the local press was met with "that would be oppressing small business-owners." Rrgh. And in our household, it's not like my husband can take the girl in the men's room any more, but she can't go in the ladies' by herself....

[oursin]

Greed is thoroughly aware that men may need to change babies or be in charge of somewhat older children of the opposite sex. She is very in favour of more 'family-friendly' arrangements, and is particularly fierce about provision which doesn't take into account that women may have pushchairs to accommodate.

[serrana]

Well, you know, it's okay if people don't make provisions for my kid to pee in the potty.

As long as they want her to whiz on the floor of their stores.

[antisoppist]

Some shopping centres now have women's toilets with one larger stall at the end that you can fit a pushchair and a small child in as well as you, but we could do with more of them. Otherwise you have to choose between leaving the child in the pushchair outside the stall, going to the toilet with the door open or guiltily sneaking into the disabled loo instead.

[green_knight]

Again, experience from Japan: most public loos had at least one stall with a baby seat that was usually big enough to bring in luggage, particularly in railway stations.

[ironed_orchid]

bathroomproject is about gender free public toilets.

Here, in Australia, we now have "parents' rooms" for parents of either gender with small children in tow.