The local chapter of the Left Party, a socialist and feminist political
party, in Sormland County Council, Sweden, is pushing to make standing
while peeing illegal for men using the county council’s public
restrooms.
Party officials are pushing to make public restrooms in the county council “sitting only.”
Supporters of the proposal say sitting while urinating is more hygienic and promotes sanitary restroom habit for male users.
It will help to eliminate the problem of puddles on the floor and spray stains on toilet seats.
They also argue that urinating while sitting will help to promote male
health because it allows men to empty their bladder more effectively.
Sitting while urinating according to advocates will reduce prostate problems among men.
As a compromise, the party has proposed that some toilets could, in the
interim, be designated exclusively for men who must remain standing
while peeing.
The Left Party’s Viggo Hansen, who made the proposal, said that
ultimately he wants office toilets in the council to be genderless and
would thus like to see only “sit-down” toilets in county council
offices.
He said that the move should not be seen as meddling in the bathroom habits of people.
He said: “That’s not what we’re doing. We want to give men the option of
going into a clean toilet.” But proposals across Europe to enforce
“sitting only” regulation in public toilets have been criticized.
Dr. John Gamel of Louisville University noted that the push to enact
legislation banning men from standing while peeing in restrooms is
spreading in Europe with feminists pushing similar legislation in
Germany, France and Holland.
“The liberated women of France and Germany and Holland have vowed to put
their men down – on the toilet. They carry placards showing a huge red X
scrawled across a man standing to urinate.
They shout: “Laissez tomber votre pantalon, et asseyez vous! (Drop your
trousers and sit)!”: “Behalte deine Tropfen fuer dich (Keep your drips
to yourself)!”; “Toch niet weer een vieze plas op MIJN badkamer vloer
(Not another filthy puddle on MY bathroom floor)!”
Gamel argues that legislation cannot force men to adopt more supposedly
sanitary habits while peeing. He told The Huffington Post that the spray
and spatter during “shake off” will not be prevented because “no man
will want to shake off” while sitting on the toilet to avoid sticking
the hand inside the toilet.
Gamel writes: “…most of the stray “sprinkles” that so enrage European
women occur not during the act of urination itself, but immediately
afterward, during a ritual men learn as part of their potty training.
The various maneuvers required to discharge the urine remaining in the
urethra.
A man who tucks away his penis without performing these maneuvers will
dribble half an ounce of urine into his underwear, causing an
embarrassing stain in the crotch of his trousers, or an even more
embarrassing streak down his trouser leg.
To avoid this debacle, every sentient male, after every urination,
carefully squeezes or “milks” his member to assure that no stray drops
remain within the urethra. “Unfortunately, some men pursue this goal
with excessive vigor, indulging in what can only be described as
“shaking off the last drop.”
It is precisely these movements – and not the free-falling stream itself
– that deposit most of the unwanted urine on lavatory floors throughout
the world.”
“As a result, forcing men to sit while emptying their bladders will
serve little purpose, since no man wants to shake himself off while
remaining seated on the toilet.”