“Hey, Pete, I’m out of toilet paper. Will you pass some over?”
“Sure…but don’t ask me for a tampon!” jokes the boy in the toilet stall next to mine.
It was 1987, I was 18 years old, and I lived in a college dorm with unisex bathrooms. We brushed our teeth, emptied our bowels, and washed our hair side by side in a gender blended atmosphere. Bathrobes and towels covered our private bits but real privacy was scarce. And it was all perfectly NORMAL.
Thirty years later, I cannot believe the political attention and moral outrage now being given to the people with whom we will or won't share our public restrooms. My comfort level or lack thereof is the same whether I am in this shared space with a strange man OR an unknown woman. In fact, the less known they are, the less self conscious I feel. Contrary to the intimate bodily functions taking place, this is not an arena for intimacy.
Going to the bathroom is not a sexual experience (for most of us.) To those who worry about sharing this space with an opposite gender bathroom mate, I say: get over yourself! We go there for a lot of reasons: to pee or puke, wash our hands and wipe our butts, put on make up, take out tampons, smoke cigarettes. Generally speaking, we do NOT go to the bathroom to meet people.
So stop creating controversy over this simple and daily necessity of life. I have plenty of other stuff to worry about besides who is taking a piss next to me. Like who didn't replace the toilet paper roll!?!
--Heather
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