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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A [Stall] of One's Own



by Saint Mark (bio)

Now, I don't know if this concerns only mormon men but it sure does apply to all modern men. I'm talking about urinals. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

It's a cleaner version of what I've experienced at baseball parks, drive-in movie theaters and rodeos but it's still as horrendous. Why do men have to relieve themselves side-by-side, with no barriers, like common farm animals?

Yes, sometimes we have our own personal urinal but it is in the sight of everyone else. Even sometimes we are forced to respond to nature's call in the middle of a city sidewalk. Here's an example in Amsterdam.

Who on earth would think that men should metaphorically lift up their leg like a house pet and pass water among pedestrians? Women may not have to ever come in contact with these public containers of incivility, but we men do. Every day. Outside of our own homes and in most businesses, men are affronted with the privacy of men's privates whenever we want to have a private moment. Do women deserve more privacy than men? Do we not deserve decency and a stall of our own?

Look at this sample of a woman's bathroom to get a sense of the inequality between a woman's private bathroom space and a man's.

And this is just one stall! (Actually this is not a woman's bathroom stall, but you get my point.) Why can't men have private spaces when they do the natural deed just as women do?

And for those who are unsympathetic to the modern man's plight, I submit this possible solution to equal the experience for the sexes: if men should not have private urinals with a door and walls, then maybe women shouldn't have them either. After all, isn't it gender discrimination to demand that men expose themselves while women do not have to? Check out this egalitarian solution in China:

And yes, this is a woman's bathroom. Notice there are no doors. Imagine if this were introduced into the States. How many women would protest and decry the lack of civility and decency of an establishment that presented such an open, public space for women to relieve themselves? Well, now that the urinal is on the other ... well, you get my point.

Urinals are for animals, not for men. We deserve civility, respect and privacy just as all women do. It's not that we're not proud of the body God has given us (some of us are more proud than others), but to uphold chastity and modesty we should not have to expose ourselves to our neighbors, literally.

But, maybe I'm the only man that feels this way. Cast your vote. Are you for or against urinals and let me know why. Maybe I'll view the porcelain in a different light.

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