Bidet Toilet Seats

Gender and public toilets

Separation by sex is characteristic of public toilets to the extent that pictograms of a man or a woman are used to indicate where the respective toilets are. These pictograms are sometimes (e.g., in California) enclosed within standard geometric forms to reinforce this information, with a circle representing a women's toilet and a triangle representing a men's facility. Pictograms depicting men and women in traditional dress (men in pants, women in skirts) have been criticized for perpetuating gender stereotypes; however, there may be no practical alternatives. Standard gender symbols are rarely used.

Sex-separated public toilets are a source of difficulty for some people. For example, people with children of the opposite sex must choose between bringing the child into a toilet not designated for the child's gender, or entering a toilet not designated for one's own. Men caring for babies often find that only the women's washroom has been fitted with a change table. People with disabilities who need assistance to use the restroom have an additional problem if their helper is the opposite sex.

Sex-separated public toilets are often difficult to negotiate for transgendered or androgynous people, who are often subject to embarrassment, harassment, or even assault or arrest by others offended by the presence of a person they interpret as being of the other gender (whether due to their outward presentation or their genital status). Transgendered people have been arrested for using not only bathrooms that correspond to their gender of identification, but also ones that correspond to the sex they were born with.
men's public restroom symbol
men's public restroom symbol

women's public restroom symbol
women's public restroom symbol
See also: SVG symbols of restroom symbols

Many existing public toilets are gender-neutral. Additionally, some public places (such as facilities targeted to the transgendered or LGBT communities, and a few universities and offices) provide individual washrooms that are not gender-specified, specifically in order to respond to the concerns of gender-variant people; but this remains very rare and often controversial. [2] Various courts have ruled on whether transgendered people have the right to use the washroom of their gender of identification. [3]

A significant number of facilities have additional gender-neutral public toilets for a different reason — they are marked not for being for females or males, but as being accessible to persons with disabilities, and are adequately equipped to allow a person using a wheelchair and/or with mobility concerns to use them.

Another recent development in public toilets is the "family restroom". Family restrooms are unisex but unlike other unisex bathrooms that allow only one user at a time, the family restroom contains multiple stalls designed for maximum privacy and communal washing area for use by both genders. The family restroom is designed so that a parent with a young child of the opposite gender can bring the child into the restroom with them without the concerns associated with single-gender restrooms. Family restrooms have started appearing in newly-built sports stadiums, amusement parks, shopping malls, and major museums.

Toilets in private homes are almost never separated by sex. However, the size of a home or facility bears on the availability of options. Small facilities are limited by their space to the toilet options they can offer; it is more common to find a higher number of choices in a large facility. The same is true for homes; in more affluent households in the USA, where the homes are usually larger, bathrooms are also often more spacious than average, and more numerous. In such homes, bathrooms (especially master bathrooms) are increasingly being designed with a small adjoining room exclusively for the toilet, as well as separate washing basins. This makes it easier for couples who share a bathroom to maintain their desired level of privacy and personal space. In Australia, it has long been the case that the toilet is in a separate room from the bathroom. However, a refinement not seen often in Australia is to provide a small washbasin in the same room so that users need not emerge with unwashed hands.









Toilets in public transport

There are usually toilets in airliners, regional rail trains, and often in long-distance buses and ferries, but not in metros, school buses, trams, and other buses. Many newer trains have a waste reservoir, but, in older trains and still in some newer ones, the contents simply fall on the tracks, hence the notice which appears in many train toilets: "Please do not flush while the train is standing at a station".

Lavatories on aircraft consist of a sink, a waste bin, and a toilet. On many newer aircraft the toilet does not flush with water; rather, suction removes the waste into a collection bin below cabin level. This type is generically known as a vacuum lavatory. Older aircraft use a lavatory tank below the toilet (normally hidden by a hinged "flapper valve" at the bottom of the toilet bowl) and a pump to filter and recirculate lavatory fluid to facilitate flushing.












"High-tech" toilets

Advanced technology is being integrated into toilets with more functions, especially in Japan - see Toilets in Japan. The biggest maker of these toilets is TOTO. Such toilets can cost anywhere from US$2,000 to $5,000. The features are operated by control pads (sometimes with bilingual labels), and even hand-held remote control devices. Some of these features are

* Automatic-flushing mechanisms, operated by a photocell or other sensor. Typically these flush a toilet when the user stands up, or flush a urinal when the user steps away.
* Water jets, or "bottom washers" like a bidet, as an alternative to toilet paper
* The "Portable Washlet", Toto's portable hand-held bottom washer
* Blow dryers, to dry the body after use of water jets
* Artificial flush sounds, to mask noises such as body functions
* Urine and stool analysis, for medical monitoring. Matsushita's "Smart Toilet" checks blood pressure, temperature, and blood sugar.
* Digital clock, to monitor time spent in the bathroom
* Automatic lid operation, to open and close the lid
* Heated seats (Some of these toilets have been known to catch on fire)[citation needed]
* Deodorizing fans
* Automated paper toilet-seat-cover replacers, which automatically replace a paper toilet-seat cover with the push of a button.




















"Lo-tech" toilets

According to The Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 by the World Health Organization, 40% of the global population does not have access to excreta disposal facilities, mostly in Asia and Africa. There are efforts to design toilets that are easy to build and maintain with simple materials, that are also hygienic. The World Toilet Organization has created some designs. See Outhouse.











Toilets for people with disabilities

Further information: Accessible toilets

Toilets for people with disabilities have a number of alterations to help people with a disability, most notably for people who use wheelchairs. These toilets may include lowered fixtures such as sinks and water fountains; adequate space and grab bars for maneuvering. In the United States, most new construction for public use must be built to ADA standards for accessibility.











Grey water
In some areas with water shortage issues, in order to conserve levels of potable water, some installations use grey water for toilets. Grey water is waste water produced from processes such as washing dishes, laundry and bathing.




History
Toilets appeared as early as 2500 BC. The people of the Harappan civilization in Pakistan and north-western India had water-flushing toilets in each house that were linked with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. Around the 15th century BC, toilets started to appear in Minoan Crete; Egypt in the time of the Pharoahs, Persia, and ancient China.[citation needed] In Roman civilization, toilets were sometimes part of public bath houses.

Roman toilets, like the ones pictured here, are commonly thought to be used in the sitting position. But sitting toilets only came into general use in the mid-19th century.[8] A strong case has been made for the squatting hypothesis.[9]