[AmericanInTokyo]

This whole damn thing might be solved, to some extent, in the future, IF THE U.S.A. WOULD ADOPT JAPANESE-STYLE PUBLIC TOILET CONSTRUCTION.

What IS IT with American public toilets anyways that have this huge open space between stalls under the dividers, some up very high, maybe even to one-foot high, and you can see the feet and hear the business of the other person next to you doing their business, and facilitates such nonsense as the gay "tap code"?

Not to mention these huge cracks in the stall door, sometimes as wide as two inches, where you can look in on someone and they vice-versa. Ever heard of knocking to see if it is being used??

In Japan, toilet stalls are constructed with dividers 100% clear down to the floor, and in many cases right up to the ceiling, completely enclosed, with complete privacy. The stall doors and jambs also have no gaps between them, so you cannot see in side either.

The only way a rope-sucker is going to get the specific attention of the fellow gay in the next stall is going to be through calling out his filthy desire, which none of those perverts will do for fear of an arrest, or worse yet for them, the prompt delivery of a knuckle sandwich to them by any normal person.

Also, make toilet stalls even more narrow and smaller so only one person can get inside. (Americans on the average will have to lose a lot of weight to be comfortable).

I think all of this to some extent may well put a stop to George Michael-type "cruising" in toilets, on the other hand, watch the American heroin addicts enjoy all that new found "privacy".

Of course the drawback to Japanese restrooms is that, for the urinals at least, often many of them are in clear view from the street!! (At least you can see a stall wall. See, it is clear down to the floor and nearly up to the ceiling! But if you run out of toilet paper and need a break, sorry, out of luck!)

[freedomdefender]

I remember visiting Germany when I was in Jr. High, and going into the men’s room - where you’d see elderly cleaning ladies cleaning and mopping, oblivious to the men and they were oblivious to the cleaning ladies. For a suburban American kid, it was a weird experience.

[Tired of Taxes]

The difference between American vs. Japanese restrooms might be explained by cost. It’s probably cheaper to buy stalls with partial dividers. If I owned a business, I would want to install the type you described - with dividers from the floor to the ceiling and without gaps in the doors - but it might be too expensive.

I’ll tell you, I don’t like sending my young sons into public men’s rooms to use urinals that are open for everyone to see. Urinals should be enclosed, too. (Between the germs and this weird stuff going on, I worry about sending them in there at all, as do many other parents.)

Personally, I prefer the “family” restrooms. The whole family goes in and locks the door to outsiders. There’s a toilet, a sink, a diaper changing station, in one private room.

P.S. We don’t seem to have the same problems in the women’s rooms, at least as far as I’ve noticed, anyway.

[mamelukesabre]

The stall walls stop short of the floor to make it easier to clean and mop the floor. Public restroom toilets do not touch the floor for the same reason. They are mounted on the wall instead.

What I don’t understand is why we have undercover cops trolling restrooms for gays. I’m a straight guy and i would never think of calling the cops if some homo tapped his foot at me in a restroom. I’d just ignore it. If the idiot got too persistent, he’d have to answer for it with his fists, provided a few choice swear words did not back him down right dam quick.

Nothing about this story makes a lick of sense to me.

[expatguy]

I think Americans are more interested in constructing Muslim toilets and “foot basins” at the moment.

[dangus]

I think the partial stall walls are to allow scents to escape out the top, allow fluids (hopefully more to do with cleaning than “misses” out the bottom, and keep Elaine from having to carry “an emergency supply” whenever she goes out.

At the public university I intended, the gays just drilled holes through the wall.