Post of the thread!
I can't believe we are getting so distracted and emotional over this silly issue.
I've been using public bathrooms all of my life and I've been around more than half a century. I go in there, do my business, and get out. I pay no mind to who else is in there. In fact, it's an unwritten rule among men that eye contact is never made. Just do your thing and get out. And don't forget to at least pretend to wash your hands.
Sometimes women go into the men's room. Particularly at concerts, sporting events and county fairs where the line at the women's room is a mile long. When you have to go, you have to go. At least men can find a tree. But the men's room is never crowded as we all just want to get in and get out. I guess the women like to go there to socialize and apply makeup which is why it takes so long.
Now I confess to have gone into the women's room by mistake a few times. Sometimes when the call of nature gets strong, I don't pay too much attention to the signs. Especially as some public places have gotten too cute by half and put weird symbols or words on the doors instead of the standard "Men" and "Ladies" signage (examples below). When I'm trying to unload a couple of jumbo coffees or schooners of beer, I concede that I don't spend a lot of time trying to decipher.
So yes, I've found myself in a women's room on occasion. The first tipoff is - no urinals. The second tipoff is "Hey, it's really clean in here and it smells nice."
But it's not like in the movies where all the women are dressed in frilly underwear and proceed to clutch their midsections and shriek at the top of their lungs because a man is among them. No, it's not like that at all. Instead, it's me that's embarrassed and I have to slink out of there like a puppy with his tail between his legs.
But let's get back to no urinals. Now I've seen people over the past week make the argument that why would we want men "peeing next to little girls". Well as one who has seen the inside of a women's room, I have to say "not possible." Not possible because there are no urinals. You have to go into a private stall. Then you have no idea what sex the person next to you is because there are walls all around.
So does that mean I'm okay with men dressed as women going into a women's room? Not necessarily. But how would you know today? Most men, with a little work, could get themselves looking enough like a woman (consider Bruce Jenner) to get themselves into a women's room today with nobody even noticing. If you truly want to prevent men dressed as women from getting into a women's restroom, then you pretty much have to station somebody outside the door to validate the sex of whoever wants to enter. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the average woman will not be a fan of having herself "checked out" before she is allowed to enter a public restroom.
So in conclusion, we have allowed ourselves to get caught up in this emotional, mostly "non-issue", while Rome burns.
