Men v. women, with flushes and washed hands

BY NORB RUG

Special to Sunday Lifestyles

Isaw in the news recently that Lake Effect Ice cream in Lockport now has two gender-neutral bathrooms.

No more men’s room or women’s room. I congratulate them on their forward thinking. Since I put on our addition, my wife has declared that the upstairs bathroom was her bathroom and the one downstairs was my bathroom. But it goes further than that.

Apparently the upstairs bathroom is the women’s bathroom and “my” bathroom is for men.

I decided to look into why women want their own bathroom starting with mine. Men and women are often put into a situation where they have to share a bathroom with one another, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives, or roommates of the opposite sex just to mention a few of them.

According to a survey taken in 2005, criticism by one sex about the other is fairly commonplace.

Surveys show that men complain about women because they have too many hair products and cosmetics on the sink and their long hair clogs the drain. Women complain that men never replace the toilet paper, leave the sink a mess, leave hair or beard stubble in the sink, leave the toilet seat up and are just generally gross (the last complaint is according to my wife). We are both guilty on all counts.

I decided to delve into just what the sexes do when they are in the bathroom. I clearly know that our reasons for going to the bathroom are similar. I’m also cognizant that there’s much more going on than unzip, take care of business, zip up and flush. I like to ask questions, so I did. Just a hint though, security at Walmart frowns on you taking this type of survey in their store. If you wonder if someone washes their hands, you can ask them or even listen outside the door. I am told this is creepy. If you want to know what the two sexes do, you have to have a poll. Maybe, rather than my doing something disturbing, I can find something on the internet. As luck would have it, I did find some information on this topic. A European manufacturer of bathroom hygienic products conducted a study involving 100,000 people and asked them if they washed their hands after using the bathroom.

(Sure, and it was weird when I askd it.) The study discovered that only about 38 percent of men and 60 percent of women wash their hands after they use the restroom.

There is good news for germophobes, however.

It seems that having the presence of another person in a restroom persuades people to wash their hands even if they don’t usually do this or even to wash for longer. The American Society for Microbiology conducted an investigation in four major US cities and at six public attractions.

Observers went into public restrooms and discreetly observed if adults were washing their hands. The study revealed that 75 percent of men and 90 percent of women washed their hands when there was another person in the restroom.

Not everyone flushes their toilets at night for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with not wanting to disturb other people at night, but like every other bathroom habit, there appears to be a gender division. Women flush more than men at night.

Just because the toilet seat war was only at the top of 8 percent of women’s lists, this doesn’t imply that it doesn’t make a lot of women angry.

Men lift the toilet seat up for a valid reason. A bigger target is easier to hit. Women need to use the seat, so if it is in the up position it they have to handle or touch it before they use the facilities.

While there is some discussion regarding how much of a problem this actually is, there’s a scientifically shown reason why everybody should be closing the lid before flushing. Flushing the toilet atomizes the toilet water and it enters the air in the bathroom. If there is bacteria in the toilet, and there is always bacteria in the toilet, it enters the air. If your tooth brush is hanging in the bathroom, guess where this bacteria go. Your nice warm, damp, tooth brush. Closing the lid decreases the vaporizing effects of the flush.

Let’s say you are at a restaurant that has two, one person restrooms.

One is designated for your gender but that one is occupied. The other is assigned to which ever gender isn’t yours.

The door to that room is slightly ajar, and you can see it is empty. No one is around. Will you use it taking the chance that when you exit, someone will be there, condemning you as you leave?

ScienceBlogs did a survey that indicated women are more likely to use a men’s bathroom than the other way around. The attitudes change of course, if the bathrooms aren’t completely private. Most respondents said that they would be very hesitant to use a multiple stall restroom for the opposite gender.

So there you have it.

Bottom line (pun intended) is put the lid down before you flush and wash your hands.

Norb is an independent journalist and blogger from Lockport. Follow him at WhyWNY.home.blog

Norb Rug reports that studies show people in public restrooms wash their hands more often and for longer when there are other people in the restroom.

METRO CREATIVE