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<p>Are there many female students who would prefer coed bathrooms over single-sex ones? This would surprise me, but maybe I’m out of touch.</p>
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<p>I’m with you. I can’t imagine any females ever preferring to deal with guys who won’t put the toilet seat back down…</p>
<p>My #2 went to a tiny LAC that was co-ed on the floor. I discovered on move-in day the bathrooms were co-ed. This after driving 600 miles. This was back in 2005 and I was horrified since #1 went to a Catholic college.
She was okay with it and did fine. She didn’t mind it, if they had voted single sex then they might have had to walk farther for the bathroom. Her dorm and floor were really small, they got to know each other well and there was a lot of personal respect.</p>
<p>That said, check out Catholic colleges if you want single sex bathrooms. While many dorms are co-ed (you can still find some single sex dorms) they are generally co-ed by floor or there are doors dividing the mens and womens living sections.</p>
<p>again, a college should offer the choice to the students on the coed bathrooms.</p>
<p>I cannot believe that there are colleges out there that only have coed bathrooms.</p>
<p>OP…I think most American students would not want co-ed bathrooms. My boys wouldn’t like it. In fact one of my sons refuses to try on clothes at Hollister, a popular store here, because girls could be in the dressing room next to them. Please don’t get the idea that all Americans have no modesty. I’ve been on many campus tours and have never seen co-ed bathrooms. Most of the dorms I’ve seen have been boys on one floor, girls on another, so it’s not really an issue. Trying to avoid girls altogether isn’t necessary.</p>
<p>University of Richmond has a men’s campus and a women’s campus. That might work for you.</p>
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back in my day … the one or two on cmapus residences that had coed bathrooms were setup that way as more of a egalitarian political statement (my words) … given there were probably about 50 on campus living sites if 1 or 2 wanted to go this route was great for the kids who preferred it that way and left plenty of options for those who did not.</p>
<p>There are a lot of things new freshmen need to get used to in college other than co-ed bathrooms. Some don’t want to share a room, period. They are so modest the thought of possibly undressing in front of a roommate is horrifying.
Some kids will only shower in the middle of the afternoon (when everyone is in class) or the middle of the night, even in a single sex bathroom.
Most kids learn to adjust to their surroundings.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s LAC her dorm had only about 42 students. They voted every semester on the bathrooms by floor, the floors were co-ed on the floor (meaning a guy’s room would be next to a girl’s room). I used those bathrooms, they were not any dirtier than the single sex bathrooms in my oldest’s college.
Most colleges have a variety of living arrangements and will seek to accomadate kids with specific desires.</p>
<p>It’s relatively common for college students to share a house or apartment off campus and have guys and girls living in the same house. Normally they would have communal bathrooms and this is really no different.</p>
<p>Basajaun, no Purdue does not have communal showers. I live in a fraternity house and most houses have communal showers.</p>
<p>Really, what is the point of co-ed bathrooms? Bathrooms are where people need some privacy and it is hard enough sharing them with the same sex. I can remember when I was a teenager staying over my girlfriends house -she had an older brother whom I had a crush on , so I would walk down the street to the McDonalds to use their bathroom, rather than “going” in the house where he was. I don’t think OP’s discomfort is unusual.</p>
<p>It is actually not a big deal at all. Here at Cal we have Coed bathrooms and after a while you begin to forget that they’re different than other bathrooms.</p>
<p>I really wouldn’t worry about it too much, it really isn’t that awkward after you get used to it.</p>
<p>This is a turn off for a number of students. Just because a student ‘gets used to it’ does not mean that it is what they would prefer. They simply felt the schools education was a greater value than the living situation was a drawback. I have a student who was not sheltered by any means. We have always talked about all issues openly, however not having sisters he hasn’t grown up sharing a bathroom with girls. He has no problem with co-ed dorms (actually would prefer it, lol), however given his choice does not want to have co-ed bathrooms. That doesn’t make him sheltered, reserved, or awkward.</p>
<p>I still don’t get how sharing a bathroom with siblings is supposed to be “like” sharing a dorm co-ed bathroom. My boy/girl twins share a bathroom – which means that yes, they may be standing a few feet apart from one another at different sinks while brushing their teeth or washing their faces, but for the more intimate activities of going to the bathroom or showering, only one of them is in the bathroom at a time. Furthermore, a home bathroom typically doesn’t have rows of toilets with thin partitions or rows of showers.</p>
<p>I see no issue with coed bathrooms. Seriously, it’s not like I peep over stall doors and I doubt most others do. How on earth could you tell who’s in the stall next to you unless you end up washing your hands next to each other. </p>
<p>Also, think of the bathroom as a canary in a coalmine. If most students are comfortable with the bathroom arrangement and you are not, then you might not fit in with that student body. Your values/lifestyles might not mesh and you could see yourself wanting to transfer
The school in question is VASSAR too. it’s not exactly conservative by any stretch of the imagination. It’d be silly to call them to try to change it. A typical Vassar student probably doesn’t mind the arrangement at all</p>
<p>EDIT: Forgot to add. I’m a female who would prefer coed bathrooms. I would somehow feel safer knowing there were guys and not just girls if someone would try anything “funny”. Really, I don’t even see where modesty plays into this whole thing. You can be just as modest in a coed bathroom as a single sex one, I mean, unless we’re talking about people’s feet under a stall. How blasphemous!</p>
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<p>Excellent summation. Co-ed bathrooms as a political statement is so over. We now know that men and women can achieve at the same level in every measure; we don’t need to take away peoples’ privacy and dignity to prove it anymore.</p>
<p>Vassar dorms only have co-ed bathrooms. Even in the all women’s dorm, the bathrooms are co-ed because there are no designated bathrooms for the men who come in. The bathrooms in the academic buildings and administrative buildings are all single sex.</p>
<p>The reason the bathrooms are co-ed is that all the dorms were built when the school was single sex - only one bathroom was put on each hall. When the school went co-ed, the students initially had the men’s and women’s rooms on separate floors, but within months the students were annoyed by going up and down stairs, and voted to change to co-ed. It’s never gone back.</p>
<p>The bathrooms have no urinals. The toilets and showers have doors (and the showers have a little area to change your clothes outside of the shower).</p>
<p>I am female, and I WANTED coed bathrooms. We’re all living side by side, why should it bother me if i pee next to someone of the opposite sex? it’s not like they are looking inside of the stall. It makes no difference to me what gender you are.</p>
<p>Anyway, if it matters to you, don’t go to vassar. plenty of schools and students are fine with it. we’re all grown ups. we all have bodies. clearly it works for some people. if it doesn’t work for you guys, don’t do it. But i would also open your mind up a little bit and think about why it is you are so weirded out by the whole idea.</p>
<p>Co-ed bathrooms seem like an invention of people who are bending over backwards to show people how hip and blase’ they are, rather than any practical reason. </p>
<p>To the people who say it isn’t a big deal who they pee next to: if it’s no big deal one way or another, then why do you defend the co-ed bathrooms so vigorously? If it were really no big deal, you’d say, “Look, it’s no big deal to me…so if some other people are uncomfortable with it, then let’s do whatever makes them feel comfortable.”</p>
<p>Or they could be, you know, cheaper or more convenient. Why bother separating by gender if the people don’t care, or even want co-ed bathrooms?</p>
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WHAT?!?!! I never heard of this? Explain this to me, please.</p>
<p>I guess I can understand (but still not agree with) having co-ed bathrooms out of ostensible necessity, like when residents would otherwise need to trek upstairs or down two hallways to get to their assigned bathroom, but other than for this reason, I don’t understand why someone would want them:</p>
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<p>Why?</p>
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<p>Why would they want them?</p>
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<p>Huh?</p>