Why is this board so obsessed with restrooms?

[rocala]

I never realized that people think about public toilets so much. It's so bizarre to me, and I don't understand it! Why do we need multiple threads (even besides the joke threads) and convos in threads about restrooms at any given time???

Maybe this will cure them.

 

[ChristineM]

Maybe this will cure them.

View attachment 80787

Groundskeeper @Revoltingest ... Where are you when we need you?

 

[LuisDantas]

Probably outside the scope you are taking into account, but a couple of years ago a McDonald's store here in Brazil decided to implement individual unisex bathroom cabins for its patrons.

It faced so much violent backlash that it had to back down. Some people apparently saw that decision as "woke and communist". I kid you not.

I would never have expected to see McDonald's being called a "communist" institution had it not actually happened...

Após caso de fast food, deputados pedem veto a banheiro unissex. Entenda

No último dia 12, vídeo em que uma mulher reclama de banheiros unissex de uma unidade do McDonald's em Bauru (SP) viralizou e deputados se pronunciaram

www.uol.com.br

Entenda porque banheiros de gênero neutro do McDonald's têm causado discussão nas redes sociais

O vídeo já chegou a 1,9 milhão de visualizações no Twitter. Na rede social, alguns usuários levaram o fato com humor.

ohoje.com

Vídeo: Mulher se indigna com banheiro multigênero do McDonald’s e chama franquia de 'comunista'

Dois vereadores da cidade já haviam se manifestado em um vídeo contra o banheiro

jc.ne10.uol.com.br

McDonald's de Bauru é autuado após vídeo com banheiro multigênero viralizar

Vigilância Sanitária fez a autuação; rede de fast food tem até 15 dias para se manifestar

www.em.com.br

 

[Secret Chief]

I don't know how it is in other countries, but in the US, restroom usage has been the subject of serious legislature for a long time now. It was a talking point of segregation. Now it's a talking point regarding transgender people.

It has never really been about the restrooms. The restrooms are a proxy for a broader culture war. There are a few people who are genuinely disgusted by indirectly contacting people who are different from them, either by using the same toilets or simply by passing by them, and they're often catered to in order to help spearhead these issues.

The idea, I think, is more about overwhelming the public with consistent racist and transphobic narratives in order to normalize these subjects. While the restroom bills might fail to be passed, whether they passed or not was never of serious concern. They're meant more as a performance for hate.

If they pass, all it means is they're doing even better than they were reasonably hoping to, and it opens the door to push more extreme laws now that the Overton Window has shifted in favor of them. On the other hand, if these matters stay absurd, then we've still given an avenue for bigots to rally behind and connect with one another.

So there is a bit of counter-propaganda to highlighting how ridiculous these bills and the concern surrounding them are, as a way to inoculate against these political tactics. It's a form of damage control mixed with a call to action.

Which means that keyboard warriors have to talk about the restrooms because it's the newest hot topic battleground. Maybe some genuine activism could come out of it. Really, I think people feel an emotional need to vent and argue about it on both sides of the issue; any political consequences of these discussions are minute and secondary to trying to feel like one has some control over the discourse. So they start their own threads, of varying quality.

Good grief.
By way of comparison, in the UK the topic of public toilets is not quite as engaging in the public eye as broccoli propagation techniques.

 

[JustGeorge]

Maybe this will cure them.

View attachment 80787

How'd you get into the staff bathroom?

 

[Secret Chief]

How'd you get into the staff bathroom?

And who pulled your finger?

 

[Twilight Hue]

...and with whose in them and whose doing what?

I never realized that people think about public toilets so much. It's so bizarre to me, and I don't understand it! Why do we need multiple threads (even besides the joke threads) and convos in threads about restrooms at any given time???

So what about restrooms is so fascinating to the denizens of RF?

Apparently they ran out of things to talk about.

It's a bit like that glut of Noah's Ark threads awhile back.

 

[Twilight Hue]

PTDS: Potting Training Dysfunction Syndrome.

Imagine combining that with the word Trump.

 

[JustGeorge]

And who pulled your finger?

Oh, don't pretend like you don't remember....

You, of course! Who else would do such a thing?

 

[Secret Chief]

Oh, don't pretend like you don't remember....

You, of course! Who else would do such a thing?

I can be quite reckless sometimes.

 

[Nakosis]

...and with whose in them and whose doing what?

I never realized that people think about public toilets so much. It's so bizarre to me, and I don't understand it! Why do we need multiple threads (even besides the joke threads) and convos in threads about restrooms at any given time???

So what about restrooms is so fascinating to the denizens of RF?

I have reoccurring dreams about bathrooms. Usually one of two scenarios.

Either I'm publicly exposed while I'm trying to go or the toilet itself is some weird contraption I can't figure out how to use.

I looked up what it means to have reoccurring dreams about toilets. It means that you have some pent up emotions you can't, um release.

 

[Stevicus]

I have reoccurring dreams about bathrooms. Usually one of two scenarios.

Either I'm publicly exposed while I'm trying to go or the toilet itself is some weird contraption I can't figure out how to use.

I looked up what it means to have reoccurring dreams about toilets. It means that you have some pent up emotions you can't, um release.

I occasionally get dreams like that, and then I wake up and have to go to the bathroom.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

...and with whose in them and whose doing what?

I never realized that people think about public toilets so much. It's so bizarre to me, and I don't understand it! Why do we need multiple threads (even besides the joke threads) and convos in threads about restrooms at any given time???

So what about restrooms is so fascinating to the denizens of RF?

This denizen of RF isn't fascinated with restrooms at all. I want them to be two things: available at need, and clean. Otherwise, don't care.

You know, sometimes, if you're a man, you find yourself standing in front of a urinal, your junk held carefully in hand aimed appropriately, and a poor dad shopping without his wife comes in with small daughter in tow. Well, he has to go! What else is he gonna do? Leave her outside by herself? Why this would upset a guy seems a bit strange to me?

 

[Revoltingest]

Groundskeeper @Revoltingest ... Where are you when we need you?

That is the one toilet at RF that I don't clean.
It's @lewisnotmiller' private lavatory.
He has an electronic lock & booby traps
to keep it private. I've not yet seen any
boobies there though.

 

[icehorse]

There are a few people who are genuinely disgusted by indirectly contacting people who are different from them, either by using the same toilets or simply by passing by them, and they're often catered to in order to help spearhead these issues.

Yes, there are probably a few people like that. But that's a red herring.

The ACTUAL issue is that transactivists are - wittingly or not - undoing safe spaces for all women. By claiming that "a transwoman is a woman", all safe spaces for women become available to everyone.

Whether you know it or not, if you're siding with the trans-activists, you're taking a massively misogynistic stance

 

[anna.]

Yes, there are probably a few people like that. But that's a red herring.

The ACTUAL issue is that transactivists are - wittingly or not - undoing safe spaces for all women. By claiming that "a transwoman is a woman", all safe spaces for women become available to everyone.

Whether you know it or not, if you're siding with the trans-activists, you're taking a massively misogynistic stance

Believe it or not, I'm a woman, traveling about in a large city on a daily basis and I never, never think about whether the bathroom is a safe space. I spend more time hoping the stall door gap is less than 2 inches wide. It's embarrassing, how far the U.S. is behind (sorry) Europe when it comes to decent bathroom stall doors.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

You're not supposed to use it, its just for decoration!

Oh....so now someone tells me.

 

[Quintessence]

Believe it or not, I'm a woman, traveling about in a large city on a daily basis and I never, never think about whether the bathroom is a safe space.

Neither do I.

Must be doing something wrong. I should be loosing my $#@% the moment I walk into the bathroom.

 

[Ella S.]

Yes, there are probably a few people like that. But that's a red herring.

The ACTUAL issue is that transactivists are - wittingly or not - undoing safe spaces for all women. By claiming that "a transwoman is a woman", all safe spaces for women become available to everyone.

Whether you know it or not, if you're siding with the trans-activists, you're taking a massively misogynistic stance

This is totally false, because, first of all, trans men exist. Including ones who have transitioned. So if you're concerned about anatomical men being in women's restrooms, that's going to be inevitable either way.

Secondly, trans women are more likely to be victims than perpetrators.

Thirdly, since when have female bathrooms been a safe space for women? I went to high school. I wouldn't call those bathrooms safe spaces.

Fourthly, even if they are safe spaces for women, shouldn't that include trans women? Given the fact that, in some areas, they're massively more likely to be the victims of assault than cis women? You want to put them in a bathroom with a bunch of cis men? That's transmisogyny on your part, not internalized misogyny on mine.

Fifthly, it's not a "claim" that trans women are women. It's a scientific fact, backed by psychology and sociology. You're the one who's denying the science in order to accuse trans women of being closet sex offenders, which is both ignorant and transphobic.

I doubt you really care, though. I'm sure plenty of people have tried to have this conversation with you. I don't think what you're replying to is a red herring at all. I suspect you're concern trolling and just want to attack trans people. If I'm wrong about that, then prove it to me.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm sure plenty of people have tried to have this conversation with you.

Yup.