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Slightly OT but as I started the thread I guess there are enhanced rights. I was a driver for Contiki in the early 70’s in Europe. Small bus of 14 young people camping.
As we were nearing a destination where ‘squat toilets’ were in the camping grounds I mentioned this to the group.The next day after visiting an amenities block a couple of the girls were talking about how tricky it was to stop their feet getting wet.
Me, "How do you mean?"
Them, "You know, the squat toilets."
Me, "There are no squat toilets here. That begins tomorrow."
One girl to the other, “I told you they looked like laundry tubs.”
I have some Dutch friends in France who have a urinal as well as an ordinary loo in their bathroom.
There are still squat/footpad loos in Turkey. In some places these are to be preferred; forgive me recounting something utterly gross, but I went into an ordinary, gender mixed loo in a bar in Turkey, where someone had wanked on the seat. And no, I didn’t notice.
On a lighter note, remember the Pissoirs in France in '70s ? They were hilaroious!
I used one when traveling to Cuba last year. As @Joan mentioned it’s called a she wee (or in my case a PStyle- that may be a brand name?). We were a group of 5 ladies, and it was given more as a joke because a friend heard that Cuba has a shortage of TP or something. We were advised to practice with it first. Lemme tell you I’m glad I did. Peeing standing up is harder than I thought!
I also had the “pleasure” of using what may be referred to as a squat toilet (my travel partner at the time called it a Turkish toilet) while in France. Basically, painted footprints on either side of a hole in the floor. So glad I only had to pee…
This reminded me of when I learned my partner pees sitting down, and had to laugh. The “master suite” in his house doesn’t have a door to the bathroom (just come curvy glass block walls. Don’t ask. It was built in the 80’s). Anyway, I walked in on him sitting on the toilet and immediately started go give him grief for not using the downstairs bathroom (one with a door) to poo at bedtime. He responds with “relax, I’m taking a pee”. Being in my 50’s, and twice married, i was shocked to discover this was a thing for guys. He looks at me so serious and says “have YOU ever tried to pee standing up on a ship?!” He was (well, is I guess. "Once a Marine always a Marine) a Marine.
All the boys and men in my family sit or they clean the loo!
Where I come from (Nigeria) we women learn to pee standing! Usually with a baby on the back and a massive load of stuff on the head!
@jaquo You’re not alone. Randy Newman has song that references a man sitting down to urinate, but in his song it is used as a sign of being too old and tired to stand for the duration. But while visiting an old friend this fall I commented on how clean the bathroom was that I was sharing with her teenage son and she said, essentially, that he had been taught since a young age to sit when urinating when home, as a courtesy to other family members. I had no idea.
And all so elegant. I ran trips up and down Africa in the 70’s. Cairo to Nairobi via Sudan and Ethiopia and Marrakech to Nairobi via west Africa including Nigeria, Kano anyway, and an indelibly imprinted impression on my soul is of the elegance of African women as they went about their daily toil.
