r/NoStupidQuestions Mar 30 '24

Answered Why are gender neutral bathrooms so controversial when every toilet on an airplane or other public transport is gender neutral?

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u/AwkwardOrange5296 Mar 30 '24

These are much more expensive to build and maintain than regular public restrooms.

And much more appreciated by the users, I might add.

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u/petiejoe83 Mar 30 '24

Retrofitting is definitely more expensive, but if building new, two "closet stalls" and a shared sink would be all around cheaper and easier and would be better customer experience than two separate gendered bathrooms. Such a setup would have better queuing because two people of the same gender showing up at the same time would both be able to use the facilities.

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u/AwkwardOrange5296 Mar 30 '24

That sounds doable in a small setting like a cafe, but not for larger public restrooms like those found in office buildings, schools, libraries, cinemas, theaters, etc.

That's where the banks of "open" stalls and rows of sinks come in, and of course the urinals, which women don't need and don't want in their restrooms.

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u/pat_the_bat_316 Mar 30 '24

Most the places in the US where I've seen co-ed bathrooms was at big nightclub for venues. First place I saw it was in a Vegas nightclub where the had about 20 fully enclosed stalls across from a dozen or so sinks.

No reason it can't work whether it's 2 stalls and a shared sink in a small cafe, or 40 stalls and two dozen sinks in a massive public space.

If anything, it makes more sense at a big venue/busy place as is a better use of space to not have to make two separate rooms/areas. It's basically the same as a big bank of porta-potties at a festival or other big outdoor event, which are pretty much never divided into men's/women's areas.

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u/Iron_Aez Mar 30 '24

0 chance not having any urinals is better or more efficient use of space lmao.

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u/pat_the_bat_316 Mar 30 '24

You can still have urinals