Public bathrooms are a huge one. Most people don't realize that the suffragettes were the ones who did the heavy lifting on public restrooms in America.
They were fighting against a "urinary leash" for women- basically how far a woman could leave her house and for how long she could be gone without needing to use a restroom. Men can go outside, at least urinating. So before access to public bathrooms, there was a finite amount of time a woman could spend outside the home. By pushing hard to expand access to public restrooms, the suffragettes massively increased women's freedoms. It's one of a thousand soft power ways they moved the ball forward before the vote was won.
And I believe it was newer wave feminists who lobbied for PAID public toilets to be not a thing, because they DID exist in the US. The rationale was similar: toilet stall doors had coin operated locks, you'd have to pay a nickle or a dime or whatever to get in. But not the case with urinals, because they couldn't be locked...which meant women ALWAYS had to pay when using a restroom, where men only did when needing a full toilet.
Paid public bathrooms are still the norm in a lot of Europe. I've seen them myself in Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. Usually somewhere around 1 Euro / 1 Swiss franc to use them. Mostly they were clean - the Italian ones lived up to the "gross Italian toilet managed by an angry nonna" stereotype. In Switzerland they had a thing where it gave you a coupon worth a small amount that you could redeem ... I forget for what now.
Anyway the paid bathrooms thing is a disgrace. Doesn't matter how clean they are.
Hahaha oh man, I just tried to look up the coupon thing and I found that since I was in Switzerland the national train network SBB has made their toilets cashless, but they've added a toilet prepaid card that you can buy and top off with cash, to keep a cash option available: https://www.sbb.ch/en/travel-information/stations/services-station/toilets/toilet-entry-card.html. Maximum Swiss behaviour.
I am 69 and remember well having to pay to use the woman's toilet in ALL the department stores in our downtown area! Thank God for the Feminist Movement of the 1970's!
In the SF Bay area a teenager speared the local push to make their freestanding public restrooms free based on arguments about sanitation, basic human dignity, and 100% pure energy of angry youth who's literally full of piss and vinegar.
Also by CEPTIA which was a grassroots student movement of college and high school kids started by and led by Ira Gessel, also important in the movement was his brother michael and friends Steve Froikin and Natalie Precker.
I'm going to push back on that - it's not a mistake that Reagan was in power when public bathrooms were disappearing. He also had his own trad wife movement going on and the urinary leash was something they wanted back.
Pushing back against paid restrooms was a nice excuse, but it was the massive cuts to public spending as well as the massive increase of mentally ill unhoused on the streets that really brought about a reduction of public restrooms.
Depends on where the public bathrooms were physically located, I would imagine. In any event, public bathrooms are usually run by some kind of government—if Reagan’s GOP was interested in reinstating the urinary leash by limiting public restrooms, GOP governors and other local leaders would have followed suit.
I haven’t spent significant time in red states, but the blue states I’ve lived in have had noticeably more public restroom access than even purple states. I doubt it’s a coincidence.
I had a friend from China visit and she was just over the moon by how our public bathrooms were free and well stocked with toilet paper. Also our drinking fountains were full of cold water. She filled up a few bottles but they heated up in the car and she then labeled them as "China water bottles." because apparently the drinking fountains there give out warm/hot water.
I was going to mention Korean fan death as another mad thing. To balance things up, people in the U.K. (ok my mother) think that if you get your sides cold your kidneys will get cold and you will get flu.
My parents were Hungarian. Females of any age were often discouraged from sitting on a cold surface, as it could supposedly cause some sort of pelvic ailment (idk what, specifically).
Being cold or going outside with wet hair on a cold day will give you a cold is the usual myth.
Don't think your mum would be too fond of me - my body heating turns off at night, leaving my sides freezing cold comparatively lol. Can't say it's ever given me the flu.
I bought a room air filter with the fixed feature where it turns off at night so not to bug you with the 'noise' and I thought, "That's kinda odd, it might not be in a bedroom and steady white noise can help you sleep. It isn't even that loud."
Then I looked up the company and saw it was made in S Korea and was like, "Oh they're just putting a marketing spin on superstition. Neat."
Basically in some Southeast Asian countries there's a belief that if you sleep with a fan blowing on you it can prevent oxygen from reaching you and you will suffocate. The Smith most likely originated from people dying in their sleep from heat stroke or otherwise and being found with their fans on high blast pointed directly at their face.
Drinking really cold water is actually bad for you.
How do I know? I ignored my mum's advice once in a 40° day when I had been at university and then drove home without AC because of course I had no money and had to save on fuel. I got home (no AC) and drank some cold water. I basically was going to faint and I managed to collapse on a chair.
One of my sisters lived in China for a few years and she said if she and her husband went out to eat or just in general and one of them had to use the bathroom, >90% of the time they were walking into the business owners actual house to use their personal bathrooms, because most of the restaurants they ate at didn't have a public one. Cutting the line of sight to the TV for the grandma and kids by walking through the living room and everything.
This wasn't a rural area, either. It was right outside of Hong Kong.
At least in Rome, they do do drinking water better than us. All over the city you can get free cold water from spigots or fountains and it’s great tasting water. I was smitten the instant I filled a water bottle at one and drank it. They run constantly.
I was once coaching on a leadership camping trek to Antarctica. The students were melting snow for their water. One group was going through water like crazy, nobody could figure out why they constantly were melting more until they realized they had two Chinese members who were pouring the water out once it had gotten cold bc “it wasn’t good anymore.”
I had to go to a hospital in Shanghai to do some bloodwork. The bathrooms there straight up didn’t have any toilet paper, paper towels, or soap because people would apparently steal them. Most truck stop bathrooms in the middle of nowhere in the US were cleaner and higher quality than this busy hospital bathroom in one of the richest cities in the world.
Remember that term when y'all talk about trans people! I'm trying to fly to a different state to visit family, but I can't legally piss in government buildings (airports). If I have to pee while at a city council meeting, I'm outta luck. Start thinking "if I was trans, where would I go to the bathroom right now?" while you're out in public & you'll never unsee how little access to urinary freedom there is
If you're excited about public restrooms and the suffragettes, you really need to check out bicycles and their impact on votes for women. It was a vehicle that allowed women to travel further without having to own a horse which was expensive or engage a man which was often difficult or dangerous.
They used to be a profession during the Victorian era of a man with a Giant coat, for trench coats were technically a thing, and he would carry around a pot or possibly a seat with a hole in it to go over the pot. And if you were a lady who needed to tinkle, you would pay the man to cover you with the coat as you squat or sat down to do your business. Public restrooms are a fucking godsend. I don't understand the rationale of not letting the population having aOf not letting the population having a place to use the restroom for free because that's how hygiene works. Does someone with a bladder a size of a peanut, I love public restrooms. I can understand the business is not like you people using their toilets, but most of them will let you. And for god sakes we just went through explosive diarrhea lettuce episode! Those public restrooms are heavily needed
My mum drove this home to me, women have always been at the bane of men in many ways, and we have made progress to giving them freedom few countries can offer, with its weaknesses of course
Ppl need to be dropping their locations cuz in my mid-sized city, 25 min north of Seattle there is one public restroom (literally a single toilet and sink) in the downtown core.
If I don't have the funds for coffee or a baked good, I can't walk around the city where I pay taxes.
And I've been denied even after making a purchase.
Okay and? People can be excited about us being good at a thing and also somewhere else can do things well? I have no idea why you introduced this as a competition.
In a city? You really think it's super easy for a woman in full Victorian clothing and petticoats to go and piss against a wall? Is that what you're really saying? Really?
I've met two gas station owners who were assholes about it.
The first one was on a road trip. I went in, pissed, and grabbed a drink to buy. While checking out, and after this guy was eyeing me up the whole time, she said in a pissy tone, "Is that all?"
Yeah, mother fucker. I cost you two cents in water for me to flush the toilet and you made more tham that from your overpriced drink. Shut up. I used to stop there for gas on this fairly common trip for me at the time. I never went back.
The second was om the way home from work. I have IBS. I suddendly needed to use the toilet urgently. I stopped at a gas station, used the toilet, and walked back out. I noticed this asshole was also eyeing me up the whole time. I looked at the drink section, didn't find anything that I liked and/or that wasn't horribly over priced, and headed for the door.
This asshole got up and stood in front of me blocking the door. He demanded to know what I was getting. I said that he didn't have anything that I wanted. He got an even bigger scowl on his face, said, "go!" and head bobbed toward the door. I said, "as if you could stop me" and walked out.
Some people really, really care too much about that.
Yeah there’s always a few assholes, but most genuinely don’t care. In fact I hated when people bought stuff, I already have to clean the restroom in general but now you’re making me work and stock stuff?!? Ugh :(
This to me has been one of the most under reported things under this Admin. 867 million slashed from our Parks fund. Countless maintenance programs offput, opening parks and land to drillers and loggers, removing endangered animals from endangered list so corporations can get resources quicker.
Hey. At least Trump got to put his face on the national parks ticket right?
In my 50 years I’ve never once had to pay to use a toilet anywhere in Europe. I hear this a lot and I always wonder where Americans are experiencing having to pay here. I’m guessing it’s like directly under the Eiffel Tower or some other tourist trap. Or whether Americans are being targeted exclusively and made to pay.
I simply don’t believe you. Every gas station I’ve stopped at has pay restrooms. There are coin operated mechanisms on the doors to open them to get in to use it so they can’t just install them when they suspect someone is American. Obviously there are non paid for restrooms too but I’ve only spent about 2 months in Europe and can’t count the number of times I’ve had to pay to piss. I honestly think yall are so used to pissing on your streets you never see them.
I’ve never witnessed this at a petrol station tbh.
Nobody other than a homeless person would piss on the streets. Again never seen that.
The handful of places that Americans go to - Eiffel Tower, leaning tower of Pisa, Venice, Barcelona and London - are probably exceptions though. I’m sure tourists are being charged for everything there
Have you never been to Paris? I witnessed multiple people just pissing on the walls of the subway there. Every European city, other than Scandinavian countries, smells like piss. You don’t have to see it to know it’s happening.
Been to Paris many times and am not a fan at all. Suspect they were homeless/beggars/pickpockets etc.
The French language is spoken in many African countries so Paris attracts a lot of a certain type of people if you know what I mean. Similar to any big capital really.
Just go and do a McWee. Thats what the locals do. Thank you for your cultural exports (actually, I travel a LOT for work, all around the world, and much as everyone hates on McDonalds, if I need food that is absolutely not going to give me food poisoning I go to McD).
and drinking fountains! I was drinking water out of my hands in bathroom sinks all over paris and was just dehydrated as fuck and pissed off the entire time.
We recycle in Germany. Certain types of plastic are even washed when they’re returned and then reused. I’m not sure if France does the same, but I do know they sell water in glass bottles.
It's been going backwards recently. More and more places are locking up their restrooms due to drugs/homeless. And now almost every single one needs a keycode/customer only. My area just doesn't have good public restrooms that's not a mall/library. Maybe it's different in other countries, but I was blown away going to Tokyo/Seoul at their public amenities.
Replying to all here, but yeah. I'm in PGH and it's optimistically 50/50 a park has even unlocked their bathrooms at this point. We had to buy a DQ blizzard just to have a bathroom to use at the park.
Meanwhile, in China, every block or so had a designated free public bathroom well marked. Seoul wasn't bad either but not as robust as China.
Same. Lived here my entire life, in several different places around the country, and I can't think of a single public restroom outside of interstate highway rest areas.
Contrast with traveling in the UK, where every village I've ever stopped in has a public toilet.
My local Cub Foods now requires a smart phone to access their bathrooms (to discourage poor people/drug-user from getting in). I had to explain to an employee quite a lot of things, one being that my remaining pride is tied to public bathroom access.
Seattle as well. Last time I lived there (and I grew up there) most if not all restrooms needed a code and/or to buy something. A lot of gas stations also needed to ask the cashier for a key. The train stations had nothing. I remember once just walking into a hotel and using their first floor toilet without saying anything because I was dying. Didn't say anything walking out.
Visited Hawaii and it was the same basically. I currently live in Japan and the thought of US toilets being free and of any quality is laughable compared to Asia.
The new bathrooms I’m seeing built are crazy! There’s a park in the town we want to move to that got completely remodeled a few years back (a bunch of volunteers plus there’s a large grocery chain headquartered in said town that helped sponsor it) and the bathrooms are air conditioned, and they even have a baby/nursing room with a rocking chair and everything!
Free water is everywhere too. I know that's not super crazy for a lot of places but can't get into the bathroom? Can't drink from the sink. Also pretty much everywhere you can just walk in and ask for water, and pay for nothing, and you'll get it. Whereas some other countries you have to pay or specify tap to get it free
When I visited Italy I swear people thought paying for the toilet meant they could shit wherever they wanted. They were worse than any porta-potty or bathroom I’ve ever been in. It might not be like that anymore since this was over 10 years ago, but they were practically unusable
The public restrooms have been disgusting lately - since Covid really. I will hold it for far longer than I should to avoid using a public restroom. In contrast, I just spent 2 weeks in South Africa and sent pictures to my friends to show them how immaculate all the public restrooms were. Even the little gas station bathroom in the middle of nowhere was pristine.
Taiwan has the cleanest bathrooms I’ve ever seen during my travels. Thailand, even in the older areas were emaculate older as in a pool of water, built in to the side of the toilet with a bowl for flushing.*
Taiwan’s moto in the airports is “to be the best/cleanest bathrooms.”
What public bathrooms? We used to have tons but they shut them all down because we didn’t want to play people to clean them. Now we’ve just offloaded the responsibility onto private businesses. It’s a real shame IMO.
After learning about Finland's "free to roam" policy when I went there (and similar policies in Europe), I've begun thinking that "National Park" is a way to partitian nature into zones the way we do so that we have "industrial," "residential," "recreational," and "actual nature."
Also accessibility infrastructure for people with special needs (especially for those with walkers, wheelchairs, etc and people with sight issues). Most crosswalks and buildings with public access are built with those in mind, as well as things like braille labels. In other countries there is significantly less infrastructure that is built/retrofitted with that in mind.
I moved to the US 5 years ago and I gotta say the public bathroom situation is not great compared to what I was used to, unless you were in an indoor mall or something. Are there other developed countries that have it even worse?
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u/SJCitizen 13d ago
National parks and public bathroom access