In my first report on Netroots Nation 2016, while I was still there, I wrote about a variety of elements of the experience. At one point, I mentioned a gender neutral rest room I visited. A commenter in that diary remarked that I seemed quite fixated on the rest rooms. I replied that, at my age, a rest room stop is never far from my mind. But I thought I would write about those rooms again tonight.
Of course, we’ve all been to places where only one rest room was available to the public. Necessarily, that room had to accommodate everyone, just, usually (except when a very young one was accompanied by a parent or guardian) one person at a time. The host facility for Netroots Nation, however, had much larger rest rooms designated for usage by anyone, regardless of gender identity. It reminded me of an experience I had in the early to mid-1970’s in what was then a very divided Germany.
When I first went there, it was to visit a friend who was studying there for the year. He lived in a large grouping of dormitories on a hill overlooking the town. All of the dormitories there were coed, the first time I had ever seen such a thing. I had studied German with my friend in high school. Even then his German was much better than mine, but after 6 months of immersion, his German was just magnificent. I had taken a sleeping bag (also because we planned to travel for six weeks during semester break), but no pillow. His next door neighbor, a very nice looking young lady, asked if I would like a Kissen. Of course, a Kissen is a pillow (which I knew), but my buddy was quick to make sure I understood when he saw me grinning in response.
Two years later I went to the same town to live for a year, and I, too, lived in a coed dormitory. My next door neighbor was named Claudia. I found it to be a very relaxed, very natural atmosphere, and it took no time becoming completely comfortable with a living environment unlike any I had known before. Even the room with the showers was coed, and Germans were never very modest. But it was fine, and it became part of a truly magical year in my life.
Now, in our comparatively backward country, we found open rest rooms at our marvelous conference. And at least some of the rooms were designed to be gender neutral. They contained toilets only, in private stalls, no urinals. I thought it a fine idea, and very comfortable, in its own right, if novel.
But another thought came to me as I sat in one of those stalls. The toilets had perfectly ordinary seats!
(By way of disclaimer, I feel I must say that I do know that there are bigger problems facing our species and our country than the one I am about to mention.)
‘Okay, Ben, why would the facility have anything BUT ordinary toilet seats?!’
So glad you asked!
One of the (much smaller) issues between men and women is the issue of toilet seats, and whether those are left up or down. Women always leave them down, men often do not.
I do think there is a possibility with some promise in this discussion, and it is what I missed in the gender neutral rest rooms. Slow close toilet seats.
Why?
It is my theory that slow close toilet seats could go a long way toward bridging this (tiny) divide between the genders. I think that because I think many of my fellow gender mates aren’t wild about grabbing the toilet seat and putting it down. Dropping the seat is often noisy, and lowering it slowly means holding on to the filthy thing all the way down. (Yes, I know that raising it from the closed position means touching it just the same, but men aren’t always consistent, big surprise.)
Why would slow close toilet seats be any different?! Well, all one has to do is put a little tiny flip into the seat lid and the seat and the lid BOTH close very slowly and quietly. One can be two rooms away by the time it lands on the toilet, not that you could hear it even then. One flip, done.
I think it could help with the lowering toilet seat issue, and that such seats should always be in gender neutral rest rooms. Try them out for yourself, sometime, and let me know what you think!
I look forward to the day when the entire society unwinds from the terrible gender tensions we have grown up with.
On to tonight’s comments!
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From Black Olive:
I think everyone should read this comment from monkeybrainpolitics. See? Beautiful!
I liked this comment by wesmorgan1, in reply to kos, for the idea of an on-the-fly Top Comments! kos would like to be able to quick update the live blogs with terrific comments.
Highlighted by Lucy Montrose:
Is this comment by OleHippyChick on the difficulty that is Alan Grayson.
Highlighted by TomP:
Is this comment by dewtx, a passionate Navy veteran, with a special insight.
Highlighted by misslotus:
Is this comment by Nebraska68847Dem, channeling Ann Richards for us.
For Thursday, July 28, 2016, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on the subject.
1) That was effing hard for me to watch. You have n … by Otteray Scribe +202
2) Her amazing performance in that sham of a hearin … by ssmt +187
3) I’ll tell you what, I was a very fervent Bernie … by penguins4peace +181
4) Wearing the white of the suffragist movement, Hi … by noweasels +179
5) [image] by RoIn +169
6) The media doesn't care either. Trump lies repeat … by Baby Seal +153
7) He's a thug. A nazi thug. by delta88 +143
8) though sadly she’s got a lot of experience sitti … by RoIn +142
9) brought tears. My parents both lie in Arlington. … by southingtonian +138
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11) Waiting for next week’s polls to see how big a b … by Sky Net +135
12) This ugliness was on full display during gamerga … by Bobs Telecaster +133
13) [image] by Trix +129
14) I’ve said this before and will probably say this … by Greasy Grant +127
15) Thank you, I just posted to Facebook. Everyone w … by SanJoseLady +124
15) That's a very powerful speech. by crislevin +124
17) Damn, I’m proud of our candidate tonight. This w … by DaveinBremerton +121
18) As soon as Khizr Khan finished his speech, "regi … by igualdad +116
18) Our convention kicked ass. It featured amazing A … by teresahill +116
20) So with you! Here’s my motto (from earlier today … by noweasels +114
21) It simply does not get better. My heart is full … by raincrow +111
22) Giant applause for the DK staff and their awesom … by Short Bus +108
23) We do have enemies out there, and I love the men … by Adam B +107
24) Donald Trump does not tell jokes. He is joke. A … by Neuroscientist2 +103
24) C-span is your friend. Very little commentary du … by helenwheels +103
26) Thanks DKos staff, extraordinary work on the liv … by hulibow +101
27) How is this possible? Trump has all the best wor … by middleagedhousewife +98
27) Forward together! Stronger together! … by ExpatGirl +98
29) [embed] by David Nir +97
30) You are welcome. Thank you for sharing to Facebo … by Chxmi +96
30) Found the original source… by Trix +96
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2016-07-29, courtesy of jotter!