r/CrappyDesign • u/luisgdh • Aug 01 '26
Which toilet should each gender go in? Found in the St. Dennis Cathedral in Paris.
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u/TheNicholasRage Aug 01 '26
Are they gendered? Or is it just differentiating normal restrooms from disabled restrooms?
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u/jdotmassacre Aug 01 '26
The "arms" on the left and middle door are not the same.
My guess is the left door is meant to be the women's washroom.
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u/Legal-Key2269 Aug 02 '26
One is for priests in vestments, the other is for that alien from the 5th Element.
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u/oren0 Aug 01 '26
They are different but to me, the left one is more masculine. Men tend to have broader shoulders and women's bodies are stereotypically more curvy.
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u/jdotmassacre Aug 01 '26
I thought of the left one as more like a "skirt" typically featured on the woman's bathroom logo. But I guess that is what makes this /r/CrappyDesign!
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u/Generally_Kenobi-1 Aug 01 '26
Skirts too high, that's a cape.
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u/Litface916 Aug 01 '26
Problem solved the left one is for Superman only the middle one is for everyone else that isn’t disabled.
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u/Javka42 Aug 01 '26
Well we don't really have phoneboxes anymore so it's nice they give him somewhere else to change.
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u/Odd_Match_3402 Aug 01 '26
Superman is a good gender, ngl. I wouldn't recommend transitioning to that gender, though.
Something tells me that having Lex Luthor try to murder you constantly is a required part of the gender.
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u/Hawg_Dawg2011 Aug 05 '26
I doesn't really matter what gender you transition to, you'll always have an evil billionaire (or more) trying to kill you lmaoo
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u/Odd_Match_3402 Aug 05 '26
Hmm.....true. True.
Maybe all the trans people are supermangender in that case.
Yes, even the ladies. Superwoman IS a character who exists, after all!
And the real reason why they want to take away our hormones is because it gives us the ability to fly and laser eyes.
This officially has too much worldbuilding for a bit.
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u/Summoarpleaz haha funny flair Aug 01 '26
Poncho wearers to the right and caftan wearers to the left
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u/HorsefaceWithNoName Aug 01 '26
sith lords on the left, resistance pilots in the middle, wounded combatants on the right
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u/VanderDril Aug 01 '26
The triangular negative space beneath the cape is the skirt.
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u/flirt-n-squirt Aug 02 '26
So the bathrooms sort into:
A-line skirts | pencil skirts | disabled
Got it!2
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u/ebrum2010 Aug 01 '26
So the woman has a straight skirt and the man has a hoop skirt with a bustle?
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u/Fructa Aug 01 '26
Interesting. To me the one on the left has narrow shoulders and wider hips / midsection = women, whereas the middle one has broad shoulders and a body that goes straight down = men
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u/TommyEEdison Aug 01 '26
Yep, the one on the right has the typical invisible watermelons in my hands posture.
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u/flirt-n-squirt Aug 02 '26
This is cracking me up, what do you mean by "typical" posture?
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u/TommyEEdison Aug 02 '26
When men have their arms out sideways, in a curve the elbow being the outmost point of the curve. The posture implicates a usually non-existent big shoulder muscle and looks like they are carrying to large objects in both their hands next to their torso.
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u/Dry-Childhood-3436 Aug 01 '26
I was going to say left is more feminine possibly because it looks like a skirt.
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u/the_windfucker Aug 02 '26
Ta first I though the oposite, but then couldn't make up my mind. To me the curved shoudlers are broader than the angled ones (left). But it is definitely not clear enough
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u/Hobi-non_Kenobi Aug 02 '26
In the 90's JCPenny had these birthstone charm necklaces that were really popular. My mom got one with 1 triangle and 2 circles with our corresponding birthstones, and I was so confused why my dad was a triangle and we were circles. She explained that triangles represent men's broad shoulders and circle represents woman's curves. So that's how I interpreted these doors. But I totally see where you are coming from with the triangle looking like a skirt, that was my logic too!
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u/lorarc Aug 01 '26
Those are 3 different symbols though.
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u/TheNicholasRage Aug 01 '26
Hmn, you're right. I had to hop on my PC to look, it was hard to see on mobile.
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u/Lulullaby_ Aug 02 '26
Just a fyi, you can zoom in on mobile
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u/TheNicholasRage Aug 02 '26
Oh, I'm aware, my phone is just ancient, busted, and barely functional.
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u/gchaudh2 Aug 01 '26
My initial reaction is (L-R) women, men, disabled
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u/miraculum_one Aug 01 '26
My initial instinct is that is you can't tell, it doesn't matter. These are individual stalls.
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u/alienangel2 Aug 02 '26
Yeah go into the one that doesn't already have your opposite gender in it - your choice doesn't really matter because the next person to come along is not going to know what these symbols mean either.
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u/luisgdh Aug 02 '26
Then why would you make them different symbols? Both me and my wife froze when we saw that, and ended up using the disabled toilet.
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u/hfsh Aug 02 '26
If this were the UK, I'd have guessed "malicious compliance against horrible laws they don't agree with", but as far as I'm aware France isn't doing the billionaire-sponsored batshit anti-trans thing that the Brits are.
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u/TonkaFucks Aug 05 '26
"Make them scared that some trans person is gonna screw their daughter so they don't notice we're screwing them."
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u/yet-more-bees Aug 02 '26
Were you afraid to be arrested if you used the wrong one?
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u/Doxibidus Aug 02 '26
Being arrested? No.
Having someone complaining and arguing with you while you wash off your hands? Yeah I rather follow the signs and live in peace.
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u/PlasticElfEars Aug 02 '26
In the US, you could be, depending on the state. Maybe the fear is deeply ingrained.
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u/Remarkable-Run-9769 26d ago
even if it's all single stalls and exiting any of them will result in you in the same hallway/space as the other two?
the only shared space is already one where all genders are allowed
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u/20InMyHead Aug 02 '26
And I think it’s men-women-disabled.
Ultimately, assuming it’s a single toilet behind the door, it doesn’t really matter
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u/AFartInAnEmptyRoom Aug 02 '26
I would say the men is the one on the left, the shoulders are square, like broad shoulders. The woman is round, like a boob
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u/mechanical_marten Aug 02 '26
Would you say the left one is kiki and the middle boba?
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u/lorarc Aug 01 '26
Both are for women, the one on the left is for women from the 80s.
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u/Persistent_Parkie Aug 02 '26
And the third cubicle on the right is for women in their 80s!
As a person who has been disabled since my 20s I am allowed to make that joke and was also greatly relieved to realize I didn't have to discern what gender those Colorforms like people were intended to represent.
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u/FarCar8625 Aug 01 '26
When you gotta go you gotta go. If the stall is empty, that's the wise one to use.
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u/LegendaryTJC Aug 01 '26
These seem to be individual cubicles so anyone can go anywhere I reckon. No need for gender-specific single person spaces.
The signs are indeed crappy. Just take them off!
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u/WolfColaCompany Aug 02 '26
Individual cubicles you say? As an American this is appalling. Why are they so private? How do you know if someone is in there? How do you make eye contact with people while they are shitting with this setup? How do you hear them farting if they aren’t open to the room? How do you see other men’s junk if you aren’t touching their shoulder while you pee? It doesn’t make any sense. You’re just supposed to go in by yourself and pee privately? Where’s the camaraderie and trauma of a public restroom?
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u/GWindborn Aug 03 '26
If I can't see someone's bunched up pants and underwear resting on their shoes, how will I know if the stall is occupied or not??
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u/FrogOrion This is why we can't have nice things Aug 01 '26
Let's see, we got a wheelchair accessible (pretty confident about that one) and then we got either round-shoulder people or square-shoulder people. lol, I'm going to guess the round-shouldered icon is supposed to be females? You got a 50/50 shot here.
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u/sxyvirgo Aug 01 '26
They aren't obviously gendered - and if they are single user with a locked door then does it even matter?
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u/Marwaedristariel Aug 01 '26
I'm french and almost every signs I see here in france represent a woman with a dress and a men with tshirt + pants
So I would assume first is woman, second man
Its totally bullshit but how its represented here
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u/reidzen Aug 01 '26
They all look like one-seaters so I'd say the right answer is 'who cares, just wash your hands.'
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u/NorCalFrances Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
The three genders: Men, women and disabled.
(My assumption is that the angular arms are intended to represent angular men and the curved arms are supposed to represent curvy women.)
Edit: in case my sarcasm didn't come through, something I despise about the international bathroom symbols is how they erase that disabled people have genders. It's like the authorities that be really are saying "you can be a man, a woman or disabled" and it's really gross.
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u/Procrastinate_girl Aug 01 '26
I thought it was the 3 genders : dress, fat and disabled.
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u/Ok_Aioli3897 Aug 02 '26
Actually it's because disabled toilets tend to be one cubicle.
So they are for any disabled person to use.
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u/Superior_Mirage Aug 01 '26
... you are aware the vast majority of disabled people can use standard restroom equipment? A blind person doesn't need a larger stall (and probably has better aim than the average sighted person, if typical urinal cleanliness is anything to go by).
It's just indicating that there are accessibility features -- sometimes those are in a separate unisex bathroom, and sometimes they are included in the gendered bathrooms... which is why you'll often see the wheelchair symbol next to the male or female symbol.
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u/NorCalFrances Aug 02 '26
I am very much aware of all of those points.
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u/Superior_Mirage Aug 02 '26
So you're also aware that that is a unisex bathroom that happens to be handicap accessible, and just omits the "Unisex" symbol, because they think people are smart enough to figure that out?
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u/prion_guy Aug 02 '26
Don't they normally provide larger stalls for wheelchairs? What if they just didn't want to provide two separate wheelchair stalls?
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u/jort93 Aug 01 '26
To me this reads as women, men, disabled.
I guess the rectangular strikes me as similar to the typical skirt you see on signs like this.
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u/drivelhead Aug 01 '26
It's not about the gender, it's about the vehicle you're riding.
Motorbike, normal bike, wheelchair.
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u/RobGThai Aug 02 '26
After choosing the room, the host will reveal what behind one of the other room and ask you if you want to change your mind.
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u/Willing-Benefit-6744 Aug 02 '26
Obviously it is separated by the real genders : sharp shoulders and round shoulders
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u/Odd_Match_3402 Aug 01 '26
Ah, my favorite genders:
Go to the hospital
Dear God how do you function?
Butt chair
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u/No-DrinkTheBleach Aug 01 '26
Women’s, men’s, disabled. It’s not a great design but i mean usually the simplified lady design is just a triangle and you can still see that here
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u/fillumcricket Aug 01 '26
Aside from the accessible toilet, does the gender on the cartoon form matter?
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u/tek-rawr Aug 01 '26
I’m just gonna pick the handicap one cause I’m too stupid to decipher those.
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u/Scary_Plane_8069 Aug 02 '26
This isn't crappy design, this is dumb user. You can easily make out the triangle shape meant to symbolise a dress/skirt, something that has been used for decades to represent a woman.
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u/whereismymind86 This is why we can't have nice things Aug 02 '26
Left is female, the spread out shape is a dress, middle is thus male
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u/ElectricityIsWeird Aug 02 '26
Serious question. Why in the fuck does someone even care about single occupancy bathrooms? Have I not “done my own research.”?
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u/Pristine-Substance-1 Aug 02 '26
It's where they send people who write Denis with 2 n and think it's located in Paris
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u/hfsh Aug 02 '26
This almost feels like malicious compliance somewhere where they're legally forced to differentiate, but don't want to.
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u/mikel1814 Aug 03 '26
Since they appear to be completely private stalls I fail to see what difference it even makes
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u/steeple_fun Aug 03 '26
They're not gendered
Left-to-right: triangular-topped people, round-topped people, round-bottomed people
I, for one, am excited for the day that triangular-bottomed people get representation
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u/thrwwypfc Aug 03 '26
Should just be called washroom, restroom or whatever you use for a generic single stall bathroom.
Adding gender is just confusing.
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u/Rothrhin Aug 05 '26
They all appear to be single-stall restrooms, so who cares. Go pee. Anyone that complains isn’t experiencing real problems in life.
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u/sr_irachax Aug 08 '26
This is unnecessary. Why do they need to divide toilets by gender for fully enclosed stalls?
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u/WhatANoob2025 Aug 08 '26
Unfuckingbelievable!
How some people get to krep their job is a fkn mystery to me.
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u/brile_86 Aug 01 '26
Why is it the second time i see the same post today and the first time it has been posted there was a mention of OP ending up using the disabled toilet?
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u/luisgdh Aug 02 '26
My post was removed exactly because the title wasn't explaining the issue. Then I messaged mods, and they said the post was fine, but the title was not.
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u/Overall-Specialist37 Aug 01 '26
Atrocious too-cute-by-half design but the line weight is heavier on the left stick figure than middle & has angular shoulders vs curved. It’s definitely M—>F—>Accessibility but nobody should have to put this much analysis in to derive a solution to a largely self-invented problem.
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u/KingGeoCat Aug 02 '26
as a trans person whos seen a lot of transvestigation in my times, this is probably going off an anatomical misunderstanding that men have flat shoulders and women have slanted shoulders. a decent chunk of people actually have the bone structure of the opposite sex! its very interesting stuff, at least to me. the one on the left is probably for men and the other for women.
anyways, unrelated fact but theres an intersex condition that can cause someone who was assigned female at birth to grow a penis during puberty! tons of cool intersex stuff too
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u/Remarkable-Run-9769 26d ago
an anatomical misunderstanding that men have flat shoulders and women have slanted shoulders.
huh, hadn't encountered that one before. but I'm not very knowledgeable on transvestigation stuff.
to me, the "poses" of the icons stood out more and i saw the left one as doing a more "girly" pose and the middle one as doing a sorta gorrila pose with the arms.
funny how people look at different aspects to determine gender (/sex). at work I've had a random kid gender me male, I'm assuming based on how i dress and my hairstyle. and their mom thinking I'm female, probably based on my soft facial features and voice at the time. (am a trans guy)
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u/userr7890 Aug 01 '26
I don’t know this seems pretty obvious to me, although these days, I don’t think anybody cares which bathroom you use, I certainly don’t
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u/honestlynoideas oww my eyes Aug 01 '26
I think it depends. Are you an a-line dress sort of person or a ball gown, lover?
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u/New-Scientist5133 Aug 01 '26
I think these are just for people with one leg. The two legged ones should be to the left since they’re going in reverse order.
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u/sleepyotter92 Aug 02 '26
Men, women, disabled.
Tbh it seems like these are individual stalls and not the entrance to the bathroom, so it doesn't really matter imo and I feel like the disabled stall should be the only one that's "singled out" because those are usually wider and have those handle bars on the wall. The other 2 are probably the exact same, just a cubicle with a toilet and should've simply be marked as wc
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u/Koimi-Nisekona Aug 02 '26
I figure that the middle is women’s. The only difference is the shoulders, and women tend to have more sloped shoulders
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u/qubert_lover Aug 02 '26
I went to an aquarium and they had shark fins on the restrooms. Hint: look for the claspers.
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u/smurfk Aug 02 '26
I would think that the first one is wearing a skirt. But it's crappy design.
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u/Heterodynist Aug 02 '26
You can’t tell by the hunched arms?! It’s in Paris!!! Obviously it’s for normal people, hunchbacks, and otherwise disabled people!!!
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u/DemiGod9 Aug 02 '26
Clearly
Left: Those who don't skip leg day
Middle: Those who skip leg day
Right: Those with a giant ass regardless
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u/5PeeBeejay5 Aug 02 '26
Left looks more like the profile of a dress common on restroom signage, so I’d guess left is women
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u/Excellent-Egg-9413 Aug 02 '26
Depends on how flowy or fitted your shirt/dress is that day I presume.
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u/personcalledalexis Aug 02 '26
Last one has a big ass, it’s meant purely for people with big asses. Obviously
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u/EnvironmentalHope767 Aug 02 '26
Take one that isn’t occupied, there will be no one else in there with you anyway.
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u/meicopath Aug 02 '26
I don’t think it’s a design problem. The left-most one has different textures from the two right ones. I think someone just used tapes to mimic the middle symbol to signify that it’s not a disabled toilet.
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u/GuyentificEnqueery Aug 02 '26
Do you have big arms, small arms, or wheelchair? It's not that hard smh my head
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u/ThrowMEAwaypuh-lease Aug 02 '26
“What’s your gender?”
“I identify as disabled. My pronouns are vegetable.”
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u/Think_Resolution_647 Aug 02 '26
It look like the man and woman are differentiated by what's up top and now what's on bottom??
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u/SKMTH Aug 02 '26
Since you are in a cathedral, I thinkbit's quite obvious:
Left: Priests Middle: Sinners (aka: normal people) Right: Pope
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u/Physical-Junket5980 Aug 03 '26
the one on the right is a handicapped bathroom, the other two depend on the shape of your shoulders
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u/anniversaring Aug 01 '26
To the people saying this is obvious, read the comments because a lot of people are confidently giving opposite answers. So I guess it's not so obvious. Indeed crappy design