I think that it mainly represents a change in what we consider taboo. Back then the nudity taboo often didn’t extend to same-sex nudity. (We also swam naked in my public high school same-sex gym classes.)
I completely agree that having more privacy built into our public bathrooms would better accommodate our contemporary sense of comfort and safety, but sometimes there are external pressures against it. For example, we want to convert one or more bathrooms at work into one that is more friendly for our TG students and faculty, but campus facilities are resisting, claiming that our proposed change will put our building in violation of ADA guidelines and code for the minimum number of toilets/size of building.
The historian Nancy Tomes wrote an excellent book 20 years back, The Gospel of Germs, framing the evolution of bathroom design in the context of the growing understanding of germs and disease. (This isn’t the only thing the book is about, but it is the part that I found most fascinating.)
When I was younger, it was still common to see men’s rooms where the urinal was a long trough hanging on the wall. If it was busy, the users stood shoulder to shoulder. They still exist, but are falling out of favor.
Then came individual urinals, and now many new places have panels between the urinals. In the age of COVID, of course, the trend is to mark off every second unit with tape.
In middle school (or junior HS as it was called in the late 60’s) the bathrooms had no doors. The walls weren’t made of glass, though. I guess it was supposed to suppress smoking, sexual activity, flushing M-80s down the toilet, and having any sense of self-esteem.
This isn’t open concept enough. What’s with all those exterior walls? Just put some furniture and appliances in the middle of a field. If I can’t see the sky when I am shitting, I might as well be dead.
the dive bar i would hang out at just up the street from my dorm had one of those and a single toilet in the corner on the men’s side and two toilet stalls on the women’s side.
No. The argument we get has to do with the number of handicapped stalls and wheelchair-friendly sinks we can fit in the rooms. I don’t think it holds up against close scrutiny, but the people in decision-making positions are good at resisting necessary change. (They’re much better at unnecessary change.)
Did that work at your school? It sure the heck didn’t work at mine.
So much this.
Brief personal experience:
In Italy, I alternated with my wife in bringing son and daughter to the swimming pool.
There were locker rooms/showers for men, for women, for moms with sons and for dads with daughters.
Having one of each gender, and both young enough to need help, I got nasty stares whichever I chose (being male, I did not try the women’s one).
Here in Sweden, it’s quite normal for young girls to be in the men’s lockers/showers, and I imagine the other way round, and nobody gives a damn.
I’ve been told that some smaller country places, not so many years ago, still had a single, mixed, locker room (cannot vouch for 100% veracity).
The toilets in the children’s section of my local library don’t have doors-it’s claimed to be a safety measure against sexual assault by an accompanying adult.
I actually live in subsidized housing in Jamaica Plain. This is above the average price for the area…but not too absurdly priced, given the size of it.
That being said, I have made it a habit to walk by this house every day just to wonder if someone is pooping in the living room.
Time was, towns and villages in England each had a pair of V public latrines: one wall each for the women and men. Folks would sit cheek to cheek on the walls with their neighbors, discussing the morning’s business while ahem attending to business.(1) The kings would sit on a very different throne of a morning while discussing matters with their advisors - privy council indeed.
The Ancient Egyptians who could afford such things had private bathrooms in their homes,(2) but their kings’ advisors also attended the morning’s royal ablutions. “Please repeat that, Rahotep: water was being poured on my head while you spoke.”
Chinggis Khan’s warriors, on pain of death, were not to piss nor shit in any body of water near their encampments. Had they also been into frequent washing, they really would’ve been lightyears ahead of the Europeans.
The Victorians introduced Europe to the idea of privacy during elimination, and a separate room dedicated thereto.
I have absolutely no desire to return to a pre-Victorian past regarding pissoirs. I share 8-p’s opinion of both this nightmarish bath “room” and open plan homes. My god/s, we might as well go back to chamberpots and ask everyone to watch! Trapping droplets, germs, and odors behind walls and a door is infinitely preferable, thankyouverymuch. I only wish our Victorian home (1901) had more than one bathroom. What I call the 1/4 bath (toilet only) in the unfinished basement doesn’t count - even my BF is loath to go in there, let alone go in there.
The tiny “rooms” within bathrooms containing (and containing) the toilet as bryan (whose grandparents displayed a very pleasing wit) describes sound ideal, both privacy- and germwise. Actual water closets?
We had a mirrored vanity (bed/dressing room furniture, not a sink surround/cabinet) in our bathroom which faced the toilet. We hated the arrangement as much as fredtal hates that mirror wall. We were very happy when it found a new and loving home, and an armoire with five drawers next to a door’d section w/shelves inside took its place. It’s a far more um commodious, less self-regarding solution. TP, etc within easy reach and convenient towel storage is nice.
Brief tangent: bath and powder rooms directly off kitchens are so very fucking wrong.
(1) I stayed with a dear friend and his roommate for a brief vacation a number of years ago. His roommate walked in on me while I was sitting in the bathroom, and the poor guy was much more embarrassed than I. I made him feel better by telling them about those walls once I’d come out.
(2) This is why they drank super weak beer all day instead of Nile water.
I looked at the article and thought “well this is silly – what kind of developer would do that?”. Then I realized that it’s Jamaica Plain, and it is will probably go for more than the $900k asking.
The JP market is a bit insane now. Right down the road from me, this house sold for more than the asking price of 1.7 million. And it’s not that nice. That property burned down a year ago, and the burned down husk of a structure sold for $700k.
