CSvax:Pucc-H:aeq@pur-ee.UUCP (08/30/83)
Ken Arnold recently posted a complaint about the sameness in size, and thus the difference in queue lengths, between men's and women's restrooms. On the other hand, one complaint I could make about some public restrooms (e.g. at Poison Made Useful--er, Purdue Memorial Union) is that the anterooms of many "powder" rooms are little lounges wherein ladies may lie down or at least sit down and rest (how do I know this? because the doors into these comfortable anterooms are often left open, since nothing "indecent" is revealed), whereas the anterooms of men's rooms are tiny, grim, unfurnished cubicles, whose sole purpose seems to be to ensure that no woman peeks into the men's room. This must be a leftover of the days when women went about laced up in corsets, burdened with great quantities of clothing, and therefore exceedingly likely to be fatigued or even to faint. Inasmuch as women no longer go about encased from head to foot, but rather (at this season) are frequently no more than lightly wrapped from below shoulders to above thighs, this discrimination seems quite outdated. Men get just as tired as women (though I suspect the menstrual period is an exception to this); why don't we have similar places provided to just get off our feet (especially mine, which are flat) for a few minutes? I mean, if it's called a restroom, it ought to be a place where we can rest all of us, not just our bladders or intestines! -- Jeff Sargent/pur-ee!pucc-h:aeq
stanwyck@ihuxr.UUCP (08/31/83)
At both Oregon State and the Univ of Minnesota, many of the womens restrooms have the rest areas with couches or cots, and frequently soft chairs. None of the mens restrooms at either place have such. One further complaint that I have on the same issue (restrooms) - as a parent with an infant, my wife and i greatly resent the fact that many-most womens restrooms have a table/counter/someplace to change an infant, but mens restrooms almost never do. This means that I can not take my son out for the day to let my wife relax, as I can't find a place to change him. (Actually, we do make do, but it is far less convienient for me than for my wife due to the lack of changing places. I will believe that women are serious about social equality the first time I hear a women speak up and say that it is not fair for women to have special treatment in the area of restrooms or other areas where women are given special advantages. Instead, I find that women are just like the men they are complaining about - "if you got it beter than me, it's not fair, but if I have it better than you, that's just the way it is...." (A supporter of equal rights, equal opportunity, equal pay for equal work, but not a blanket supporter of every whim of the feminist movement....) don stanwyck : 312-979-6667 : ..!ihnp4!ihuxr!stanwyck
kmw@iheds.UUCP (09/01/83)
Don Syanwyck says: I will beleive that women ar serious about social equality the first time I hear a woman speak up and say that it is not fair for women to have special treatment in the area of restrooms... OK, here goes: It is not fair for women to have special treatment in the area of restrooms. If women get chairs or couches in the anteroom, and tables to change babies on, men should get them, too. (By the way, for the men who are curious, these things are the exception, not the rule.) I assume the couches were originally for women with cramps. Myself, I've only used the one at MIT to get some sleep between classes. (Not elegant sleeping arrangments, but when I was a student, I took sleep where I could get it....) It seems men would have as many reasons as women, excluding cramps, to want to lie down (tired, ill, whatever). And, of course, a baby doesn't stop needing changing just because it's the baby's father doing the caretaking. OK, Don, you're a feminist now, right? -Kathy Wilber
sarah@rdin.UUCP (sarah) (09/03/83)
cFbH*M Right now I'm living in New York City, and I can hardly even *find* a bathroom when I need it (short of paying for a movie or a five-course meal)--and when I do find one, it's usually barely large enough to contain the essentials. New York City gripes aside, I would gladly trade the "ladies' lounge" for a regular bathroom and equal rights. I never hang around public restrooms for fun or relaxation, anyway. Sarah Groves New York philabs!rdin!sarah