<p>Re: Coed bathrooms, I had the impression that this was first implemented at private schools that had been single sex schools. Many of these dorms had entryways rather than large floors and had one bathroom per floor. I was told at Williams that students can "vote" for single sex bathrooms, with half the population going up or down stairs, but invariably choose to share.</p>
<p>Anyone old enough to remember "The Harrad Experiment"? ;)</p>
<p>"Coed bathroom will probably lead to a decline in sexual interest by males in females as realities replace fantasies."</p>
<p>Evidence? (I've heard this before, but I have never seen any evidence whatsoever supporting this hypothesis, and have seen some supporting the opposite.)</p>
<p>(Frankly, I say let 'em have any kind of bathroom they like, as long as they don't puke all over it, or at least clean up after themelves.)</p>
<p>I personally would have been very uncomfortable sharing a room with a guy when I was a young adult. It's a modesty thing. I remember hating gym because of communal showers and the dreaded locker room- and that was with girls! I can understand having guy friends (I had quite a few guy friends in HS and college) but I wouldn't want to get dressed or undressed in front of them. From what I understand though, at the colleges that allow this, the students have to choose a particular roommate; they're not part of the random assigned roommate pool. </p>
<p>My kids colleges do not have co-ed batrooms. Son is in a suite situation with four guys (two rooms) sharing one bathroom that is only accessed through the rooms, not the hallway. My daughters is in a co-ed by wing dorm and shares her bathroom with about 6 girls.</p>
<p>It should be about choice. Most schools, I believe, have options for those feeling strongly one way or another. It appears not to be a big deal.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"Coed bathroom will probably lead to a decline in sexual interest by males in females as realities replace fantasies."</p>
<p>Evidence? (I've heard this before, but I have never seen any evidence whatsoever supporting this hypothesis, and have seen some supporting the opposite.)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Marriage....</p>
<p>The student house I lived in at college in the early 1970's had coed rooms and coed bathrooms. It was a theme house, not a regular dorm, but occasionally kids were assigned there who did not request it. Rooms were either divided doubles with one door to the hall, or quads with two sleeping rooms. Once I was in a double with a guy that I did not know before moving in. (I had to move back in from off campus suddenly after my apartment roommate was attacked in the apt. parking lot and left school for a time, and that was the only space available. I had, however, lived in the house for two years prior to that, so it was not a new idea.) It worked out fine. I hung a curtain so he could pass through my room while still giving me privacy.</p>
<p>I admit, I was a bit uncomfortable in the shower with only a curtain covering it; however, I never had any problems. Everyone respected others' privacy, so I got used to it.</p>
<p>
tsdad, rotf</p>
<p>Threw you a tater didn't they? Bet your eyes were big as pie plates when you saw that one. Way to drive it.</p>
<p>Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for the straight line. I couldn't wait to pounce.</p>
<p>Thanks, also, for reminding me of The Harrad Experiment. That's what I thought college was going to be like when I was 12!</p>
<p>" "Coed bathroom will probably lead to a decline in sexual interest by males in females as realities replace fantasies."</p>
<p>Evidence? (I've heard this before, but I have never seen any evidence whatsoever supporting this hypothesis, and have seen some supporting the opposite.)</p>
<p>Marriage....</p>
<p>Only after they've tried everything(one) else! (you're welcome! ;))</p>
<p>I think coed bathrooms and coed housing (that is, coed suites) are actually two separate issues. and I have to say that in my opinion men, whatever their other virtues and charms, are not necessarily people one wants to share a bathroom with under any circumstances at any age. </p>
<p>In any event, I did, however, find the article in the NY Times, May 11, 2002, that discusses Swarthmore's coed housing in the context of sensitivity to gay students. Here is how it opens:</p>
<p>"First came coeducational colleges, then dorms, then bathrooms. Now, on a few campuses, there are coeducational rooms.</p>
<p>Here at Swarthmore College, Courtney Caughey, a woman, and Woot Lervisit, a man, share the upstairs bedroom in Lodge 3. They say it is really no big deal. True, they change in the large walk-in closet. But otherwise, it is much like rooming with a friend of the same sex.</p>
<p>Some may leap to prurient conclusions about a policy allowing a young man and woman to share a dormitory room. But perhaps surprisingly, the policy here is less about sex than about sexual politics -- and the increasingly powerful presence of gay and lesbian groups on campus.</p>
<p>At Swarthmore, where coeducational rooming began in a few housing units last fall, and nearby Haverford College, where it started the previous year, the push came not from dating couples wanting to live together, but from gay groups that said it was ''heterosexist'' to require roommates to be of the same sex."</p>
<p>The policy may be less about sex...but the reality may in fact be quite different. </p>
<p>Courtney and Woot sound like a cute couple! ;)</p>
<p>I don't think anyone can deny that the taboo against unmarried people of different genders sharing the same room depends on the assumption that they are heterosexual (or at least that one of them is) and will view each other as potential sex partners (or at least that one of them will view the other than way), thus risking immoral behavior, embarassment, or some combination of them. Or perhaps risking that others will view the woman as unreliably pure. In any event, it is heterosexist.</p>
<p>Whether that was behind the change at Swarthmore is a matter of speculation. Some of the Yale colleges were allowing co-ed suites for juniors and seniors who formed co-ed groups back in the 70s, long before anyone had heard of heterosexism. I tend to think that student preferences and the inability to come up with any good reason why not were probably more powerful reasons for change here than exaggerated theoretical political correctness.</p>