memes

As we dont have the gaps in my country my guess is it a US interpretation of Jeremy Bentham's panopticon as applied to the shitter.

I expect in the USA people, particularly the out groups, are believed to be inherently criminal/immoral and need to be observed to make sure they aren't doing anything undesirable.

As the US public toilet is primarily a place for moral judgement and not elimation of waste you then get the crazies questioning if people's gender and equipment meets moral standards for use of the facilities based on casual assessment of their appearance.

1. Cheaper
2. So they can be sure you're not secksing or drugging

As an American, experiencing European toilet stalls was one of the first tangible experiences where I was like “woah we are definitely doing it wrong”. Thanks, uh…Europe.

The only reasonable reason I've heard is it makes it easier to clean/prevent mold growth. Like y'all don't need to worry about drug users at the office.

maybe you can't make the doors fit the stalls properly because you don't use the metric system.

Even worse are the urinals without dividers.

For all the puritanical shame Americans have of their sexual organs, we sure are lax when it comes to giving a little privacy when taking a shit and sometimes even just pissing in a trough.

Occasionally I hear people argue it's so you can catch IV drug users without bursting in. Personally I think it's that capitalism cares not for your happiness and it's fractionally cheaper to have shitty doors, and so that's what people do