<p>ill be a freshman this fall at a small lac. my residence hall, which is divided into 4 individual buildings, has some buildings which have single sex bathrooms, while others have co-ed restrooms. im not sure which building im in yet (i wont know until i arrive on campus) but im thinking i would prefer single sex bathrooms.</p>
<p>if im put in a building which has co ed bathrooms though, can modesty be afforded? what have all you other college students experienced in this regard? does your hall feature single sex or co-ed bathrooms? what were those respective situations like?</p>
<p>Students typically wear a robe from their rooms, toilets are in stalls and showers have a small anteroom with a curtain, so you have privacy. Some students may give up this privacy and allow themselves to be seen, so you look away, or not, depending. With the general acceptance of homosexuality, strict gender segregation is not as meaningful (or significant, or isolating) as it once was.</p>
<p>I had co-ed bathrooms for two years of undergraduate. It just wasn't a big deal. No one walked around naked, and no one ever saw anything. It was a little awkward for the first couple of days, but then everyone got used to it. It definitely freaked out our parents, though.</p>
<p>jaf1991, as a parent, you should realize that your values aren't necessarily those shared by the students actually attending the college. And if that's a serious issue, then you should consider the nature of the college your kid attends.</p>
<p>Having lived with co-ed bathrooms this year...it's no big deal. People got over it after about a week.</p>
<p>^^ well then obviously the solution is to not go to a school where co-ed bathrooms are the only option. of course, these schools do not exist, because every school will have a single-sex option because of deference to students' religious beliefs, personal issues, and physical disabilities. </p>
<p>really, there are a lot of schools that do and do not have co-ed bathrooms ... and those that do do so for a reason, as do those who don't.</p>
<p>jaf1991: I don’t see how the money you plunk down effects single-sex vs. gender neutral bathrooms. It’s not like the schools have gender neutral bathrooms because they can’t afford enough bathrooms per floor for single sex ones or something. It’s so that students of differing gender identities and sexual orientations (whose parents are also plunking down a lot of money) can also have the option of having a bathroom situation with which they are comfortable. As rightnotleft said, there are very few to no schools where there is not a single-sex option as well, at least in some dorms (and watchmen, if you’re really worried, have you considered asking the housing people to put you in the single sex bathroom dorms? Or is it too late to do that?).</p>
<p>Anyway, to the OP: as others have said, it’s really no big deal. At first it’s a little surprising to see someone of the opposite sex in your bathroom, but I, at least, found adjusting quite easy. And nobody is walking around naked, as others have said. From talking to my guy friends and from my own experiences, I actually found that the gender neutral bathrooms are cleaner than the single sex bathrooms—of either sex. I’m not entirely sure why.</p>
<p>we supposedly had single sex bathrooms in our dorm, but whenever we were partying or whenever our shower broke, we could use the female bathroom and they could use ours. seriously, it completely is not a big deal, in a good or bad way.</p>
<p>I went on a trip with my youth group one time and we stayed in a place where there was only one big, co-ed bathroom. There were shower stalls and toilet stalls and a bunch of sinks along the wall. It was a little awkward getting out of the shower and seeing boys in the bathroom brushing their teeth but I got over it pretty quickly and so did everyone else. Granted it wasn't college but I would think that if high school youth group kids can handle it without it being a big deal then it would be even less of a problem in college.</p>
<p>people don't run around naked in a single sex bathroom. there are really no issues with a co ed bathroom. if it's that big of a deal talk to the RAs and get them made to be single sex.</p>
<p>If it is so important to have co-ed bathrooms, then why don't we have them everywhere? If it is not that bit of a deal, then why don't we see them in airports, restaurants, dept stores, etc. Have to agree with Jaf1991 on this one. College campuses seem to be some of the few places where co-ed bathroms are the acceptable norm-why? Why is it not acceptable in all places across our country? You live in a dorm for 3 or 4 years with co-ed bathrroms and then enter into the real world with single-sex bathrooms?</p>
<p>coed bathrooms are only in dorms. they do not exist in the normal buildings on campus (at least at my school). the only reason to have coed bathrooms is for convenience. you are living with these people for a year. you don't have single sex bathrooms in your house. if you live in an apartment with someone of another gender you aren't going to make the one bathroom single sex are you? when you live in the same hall as people of the other gender you see them walking around in towels, in boxers, and in other situations that aren't a whole lot different than what they'll be wearing before and after their showers. it's really not that big of a deal.</p>
<p>As I suspected, my D was horrified when I mentioned co-ed bathrooms (the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree!). Actually, at our house, my D and I share a bathroom and my H uses another so they are sort of single sex, but that aside, the difference, of course, between what goes on at home and what goes on in a co-ed bathroom, is that at home the bathrooms are designed to be used by a single person at a time. I'm assuming that the co-ed bathrooms are not?</p>
<p>So a guy is in the shower at the same time as a girl. They are separate stalls and no one can see into them (it's not like guys run around naked in college bathrooms if girls aren't there). Whether a person of the other gender sees you running around in a towel inside the bathroom or as you walk in the hall towards your room does it really make a difference?</p>
<p>FWIW my hall had a girls bathroom and a coed bathroom after some girls complained about both of them being coed. The bathrooms were on different ends of the hall and lazy girls used the coed bathroom because it was closer to their rooms. </p>
<p>For someone like jaf's daughter, she'd be best off in a single sex hall/floor because it might be mortifying to walk around in a robe or towel with boys about.</p>
<p>Well i mean we have enough couples taking showers together in single sex bathrooms... =_= dun wanna know what happens in these bathrooms, haha jk.
and honestly I just wouldn't want to share a bathroom with a guy because guy's bathroom tend to get.. really gross. But then again these have janitors so I guess that won't be that big of an issue.</p>
<p>
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If it is so important to have co-ed bathrooms, then why don't we have them everywhere? If it is not that bit of a deal, then why don't we see them in airports, restaurants, dept stores, etc.
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<p>How is it surprising that a country that won’t even allow gay marriages in most states hasn’t latched on to the idea of gender neutral bathrooms, which are much lower of the queer-rights list? I mean, if it were up to me, there WOULD be gender neutral options at these places. It’s not a shock that gender neutral bathrooms are especially prevalent on college campuses that are known to be liberal and very gay/queer friendly—I looked at a bunch of “hippy” schools, as it were, and every single one had gender neutral bathrooms. As it happens, hetersexual kids found them a non-issue, so they now exist in every dorm, though some dorms have single-sex bathrooms automatically as well (those that do not take a vote; if someone is uncomfortable with it, they turn one or two of the bathrooms on teh hall single sex).</p>
<p>[qute] he only reason to have coed bathrooms is for convenience.
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Not at my school. Quite a number of buildings, especially newer ones, have gender neutral bathrooms. For example, in our student center, one floor has single sex, the next has two gender neutral bathrooms. As I said, if it were up to me, that’s how all places would be; one day I bet at least some public buildings will have situations like that. I hope so.</p>
<p>college is a place where students live on their own, independently, and for the first time, are almost completely free to make their own decisions. They may start drinking and partying, having sex, driving where ever they want whenever they want, and come into contact with tens or hundreds or thousands of other people, some of whom may be quite the characters. They'll be exposed to more different lifestyles than they've probably seen before. They may have easy access to a variety of drugs or substances. Some may choose to use them, others may not.</p>
<p>And there are some people making a big deal over who's allowed in the bathrooms?</p>
<p>Like a number of posters have said above me, it's not a big deal. You get over it after a couple days.</p>
<p>Well I am old-fashioned and I believe in modesty for modesty's sake so I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. I do feel very sad that people "get over it" because I don't think that should be put in a situation where they should have to. And that's all I have to say on the subject.</p>