Restroom equality? Danish firm helps with that.

[Fairportfan]

Finally, a urinal for girls

Few people would deny that one of the great advantages of being a man is the ability to pee standing up. Such versatility makes the process quick, efficient and convenient, especially considering that several urinals can be fitted inside any given restroom.

But that doesn’t mean the opposite sex has to take this inherent inequality sitting down (alright, pun intended). After all, urinals were created to cater to the different ways men go about their business, all the while women have been forced to make due with one receptacle, which they often end up waiting in much longer lines for. So leave it to the Danish, the progressive thinkers they are, to address a long-overdue social injustice by designing a urinal that accommodates women and girls.

UiWe, a Copenhagen-based firm, recently unveiled the Pollee, a groundbreaking new concept that’s similar to what you’d typically see in the men’s room except it’s designed to ergonomically jut out just enough to offer females essentially the same functionality. To put it quite frankly, the device should — at long last — enable women to relieve themselves like a man.

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[Mark N]

But i think that privacy will still be a problem with using this (at least in the US).

[Fairportfan]

But i think that privacy will still be a problem with using this (at least in the US).

Yeah - but they seem to be pitching it (at least initially) for the European market.

[MerchManDan]

It should be easy enough to alter the design to allow for partitions to be installed. Doing so may counteract the space-saving qualities, though.

[shadowinthelight]

I read about this some months ago. None of us could see it being successful. A man at a urinal only has to open his fly or pull down the front of his pants enough let it out and go. A woman would have to expose herself much more to be able to use one of these things to avoid an accidental mess. I seriously doubt that even in the more relaxed Europe many women would want to put themselves on display while urinating. If it gets broken down into individual stalls then there really is no advantage over traditional toilets, especially considering women often need to flush a little paper used for cleanup. Maybe one of the ladies here would like to weigh in?

In a tangentially related story, I just got back from walking around Garden Ridge where they had a large, hilariously awesome looking shelf shaped like an old fashioned outhouse complete with a door magnetic latches. It cost $250 though.

[Fairportfan]

Final graf of the story linked (written by a woman):

Whether they'll catch on is anyone's guess — although I wouldn't expect the long waits outside the ladies' room to disappear anytime soon. But at the very least, they'll have have a pleasant alternative to those dreaded stench shacks otherwise known as porta-potties.

These are the female equivalent of the trough-type multi-position male urinals that were in the Portakabin loos at Cropredy when i was there in 1990 and 92.

[Julie]

Well, it looks like the article (and the company who made this thing) already addressed the "exposure" concerns since there are three versions available...one with walls for full privacy, one with half walls for lower-half privacy, and one with no walls for folks who don't care.

I will admit that I'm a bit puzzled as to how these things would really offer any time savings or convenience (which is really why many women grumble about how it's not fair that men can pee standing up). Unless a woman is wearing a skirt/dress and going commando, she'll still have to disrobe a bit in order not to get urine all over her clothes...and yes, women still need to wipe.

Also, as FPF pointed out, it looks like these are being marketed as alternatives to porta-potties which are gross. However, there are already very nice alternatives to the smelly blue shacks which include actual toilets, sinks with running water, and frequently amenities like lotions, combs, mouthwash, and in the ladies side feminine products (the one in particular that I linked to is what my boss used at her engagement party out in east Texas...the left side door is the men's room, and the two right doors are ladies' rooms). As such, I don't really see the value in creating a female urinal...unless it's intended to compete with the porta-potty for being less expensive than the "fancy" portable restrooms.

[DinkyInky]

Yeah then there are the gross and entitled individuals who would use and abuse them during ahem, "those special times".

I' ve had to muck out the stalls in various jobs, and it is very unpleasant.

The more entitled they believe themselves to be, the greater the offense...kamsahamnida aniyo.

[Atomic]

For what it's worth, a (now dead) site called Restrooms of the Future (archive) had a section on how to pee standing up without tools or assistance. The basic instructions are listed on the archived page link. I've known several women who have used this method, successfully, including my daughters. It's not for everybody, depending on your personal structure, but it is do-able.

[MerchManDan]

Heh. I recall listening to one of the local university radio stations some years ago; the program was about women's issues, and the hosts were discussing ways for women to pee standing up. That's probably the website they were talking about. I had to chuckle because they were pretending to be concerned about repercussions for using the word "labia" on the air.