Bathroom stalls should not swing inward. Feat @annamlaughs
Summary
A straphanger delivers a passionate argument about bathroom stall doors: they should swing outward, not inward. The problem? When doors open into already cramped stalls, you're forced to squeeze around them, risking contact with toilet bowls and dirty walls that "never get clean." She frames it as a gender and disability issue, pointing out that "vagina owners" have to perform awkward maneuvers to avoid touching germy surfaces. Kareem agrees about the need for privacy, then pivots to his own bathroom gripe: urinals without proper dividers. The conversation takes a turn when he suggests doors should include a phone stand so people can watch TV while using the toilet. Her response? "I will not get it done." The broader point lands though: women and disabled people need seats at the urban planning table to fix these design failures.
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? Bathroom stalls should not swing inward.
I don't know, bro. They shouldn't swing. They should come out. They should come out. Yeah.
Why should they come out? When a stall is already small, it's already a tight space to get into. You swing the door inward. Now, you're fighting for space to get inside. Now, my clothes are touching the toilet bowl. If I pull my pants down, my butt is touching the stalls. And God knows when that door was cleaned or when those walls were clean. Sure, the floor gets white, but that stall door and that wall is never getting clean.
So, you want the door to go like this. Yeah. Just change the hinges so it opens the other way. This is like a gender and disability issue cuz if you're a man, you can open it inward, pull your pants down, and like—
Take a piss. But like if you're a vagina owner, you're not going to be able to do that because you have to like maneuver and tactically move around so that you don't touch anything and you don't get anybody else's germs on your body.
I have an issue. Sometimes the urinals don't have a wall, but you're pissing next to each other.
Yeah. And sometimes they have little walls,
but I don't know why they can't afford to just put big walls. It comes down to money, right? It comes down to finances,
but it can't cost that much to put a wall. Like, it's a little wall, right? I agree with you.
Okay. So, you're with me, too? Yes, I'm with you. I think men and women both deserve privacy. But I also want to say like I think women and disabled people should be involved in the process of designing different things. Like if women and disabled people were involved in like urban planning, if they were on these committees, like we would have better designs and better systems for our society.
You know what else you should do? You should put a little um a stand on the back of the door so I can put my phone cuz I don't like putting my phone on top of the toilet thing.
That's where you put it. I put it on the top of the toilet paper thing.
I don't want to know that. But so if I put it on on the door, I could watch TV.
I've never even considered that. Um I don't know if there's a demand for it. There's high demand.
There's a high demand. Okay. If you say so.
If you guys want a little stand on the door, leave a comment and she'll get it done. I will not get it done.