Katie Roche's Blog

UK Toilet Consultation

Great news! The UK government is running a consultation on changing building regulations so that there must be single-sex toilets. Even better news, The British government has extended it’s deadline for the consultation on single-sex toilet provision in building regulations. See the GOV.UK website for more info. Now’s your chance to make your voice heard. To respond to the consultation, please email your comments to toilets@communities.gov.uk. The deadline is the 26th February 2021. So don’t wait to get your responses in.

It's very important to respond to this consultation. A lot of men (including "nonbinary" men) don’t get why women are so anxious about sharing toilets with men. When we raise our concerns, we’re called “Karens” or accused of “playing the victim” or “crying white tears”. Our valid safety concerns are swept away.

Now, the problem with mixed-sex toilets isn’t so much with sharing the toilets with transgender people. It’s sharing a toilet with men. All men and all women would be using the same facilities. And toilets are secluded, private places. They provide ample hiding places for sexual predators. Not every man is a sexual preditor. But there's enough preditory men about to make us worry.

Now, people who support mixed-sex toilets argue that a man could just go into the women’s toilet. To some extent, that’s true. But women’s toilets are successfully self-policing. If someone saw a man going into a woman’s toilet, they’d ask “why are you going in there?”. Also, why do so many women take a friend to the toilet with them? I suspect part of the reason is to keep each other safe. But many mixed sex toilets don’t accommodate for safety. They often have longer doors, which is necessary to preserve privacy. But the downside is that it makes it easier for someone to hide and jump out. Also, many have self-contained sinks. Which means there’s nowhere for another woman to wait while her friend is using the toilet.

Of course, I get it. You don’t have time to sit down and write a formal email to the government. However, using a mass of identical responses doesn’t work very well. These responses usually are ignored. So instead, here’s a handy template:

Introduction:

Who are you? In what capacity are you responding to the consultation? For most, it will be as a member of the public. But if you deal with women’s issues in your job, or if you represent an organization, you should say you are responding in this capacity.

Main

Why do you support gender-specific toilets? Here’s some ideas for what to say:

Safety

Do you feel safe using a gender-neutral toilet? Have you ever been sexually assaulted or harassed in mixed-sex toilets, or similar environments, such as changing rooms at a gym or swimming pool? Do you think mixed-sex toilets would make it more likely to happen again? How would you feel about using a mixed-sex toilet at night in a quiet venue? Would you feel more vulnerable to harassment in a mixed-sex toilet?

Children

Would you feel that your child is safe using a mixed-sex public toilet? Many schools are replacing their toilets with mixed-sex toilets. Does your child feel able to use the toilets? Have there been cases of bullying, harassment or other issues (for instance, boys commenting about a girl changing her sanitary towel)? Has the introduction of mixed-sex toilets reduced the number of single-sex toilets available to your child?

Religion

Does your religion prohibit or disapprove of you using mixed-sex toilets? Could the toilets increase the risk of your modesty being violated?

Disability

In some cases, mixed-sex toilets have resulted in the overall number of toilets in a building being reduced. How would that affect you? Do you have a medical condition that means you need the toilet more frequently or urgently? How would you cope if there were fewer toilets as a result of making toilets gender neutral?

Conclusion

Thank the reader for reading your response. Tell the reader that you will provide any further information if required. Remember to sign off.

So there we have it. Our template for the consultation. Remember, it goes to toilets@communities.gov.uk by the 26th February 2021. Got it? Great.

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