A sign of the times?

[Peter v]

On a similar topic, I was at the theatre recently (wearing tro*sers) and went to the Gents after the show. While waiting for a vacant urinal, I saw a woman come out of one of the cubicles, saying "sorry lads, I just could not wait" (There was a queue for the ladies ). My wife was waiting outside and, seeing me grinning, asked what was so funny. I told her that there had been a woman in the Gents and was overheard by an usher who said "Perhaps it was a cross-dresser". In a rare moment of inspiration, I said "Yes, in a way, it was a woman wearing trousers." The usher just looked puzzled.

[kiltair]

To me, it looks like it may be from somewhere like Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines or the like, where they were those knee-length skirt-styled jackets as part of everyday 'formal' dress ???

No, the sign is from China. It reads 'xi shou jian', meaning 'wash-hand-room'. It's not gender specific. Often, toilets just show the characters 'nu' and 'nan' to indicate which is which. This meant that my wife had to ask me always if she had to go 'right' or 'left' as she can't read Chinese...

Jan

[SkirtDude]

deleted

[Peter v]

I saw a woman come out of one of the cubicles, saying "sorry lads, I just could not wait" (There was a queue for the ladies ).

I have long thought that the best solution for handling lots of traffic in a hurry would be a large bank of unisex toilets (with full walls and locking doors of course) and a single line. That way gender imbalances take care of themselves ("dynamic allocation" if you will) . Also, that way you could wait in line and chat with your partner while waiting.

If the situation had been reversed i.e. a man in the ladies, imagine the howls of outrage. What a lopsided society

In fact I think I remember some state legislature proposing a law to make it illegal to go into a bathroom that did not match your driver's license said. I think that I heard about it because transitioning transsexuals caught breaking this ever-so-intelligent law would be subjected to jail time.

It is ofcourse, I think meant to protect especially women from men, when they are in a vulnerable situation, either in a small room, or in the cubicle.

When there is a good oversight, may be from a care taker, there should be no problem with unisex toilets. At home the toilets are unisex.

I can imagine that law protects vulnerable persons, but there should be some sensible leniency.

Explaining to an officer that you were only going to the toilet, being a male in a women's toilet room, is near imposible, but the officer cannot prove you were wanting to do anything else. Then the law comes in, you should know that you are in no circumstances allowed in there, ......... I would suggest they do a thorough DNA test to prove that I had been there because of high need.

If you wear a dress / skirt, you could always say, I don't go to the men's because I don't want to get beaten up.....

So if you hear a woman screaming for help in the toilets, turn around and ignore it.

[jaycee]

This could make an interesting court case! I was recently at a UK university where the toilets in the bar were unisex. To be honest I wasn't entirely comfortable with it. Just going for a pee...fine. After 5 pints of beer nobody really cares. But, without going into details (!), anything else wasn't really on the cards for me in a public loo used by men and women! Given that it was acceptable there, how could it be shown that a man going into a female toilet is somehow wrong?

Sorry, but I didn't have the guts to wear a skirt during my time at the university.