this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025
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[–] shirro@aussie.zone 10 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

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.

[–] ssfckdt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 12 hours ago
  1. Cheaper
  2. So they can be sure you're not secksing or drugging
[–] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 27 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

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.

[–] bytesonbike@discuss.online 9 points 12 hours ago

Going to Tokyo and every toilet being a sing-along butt rinser made me realized western toilets are barbaric.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 10 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Except for the ones where you have to pay, I can do without that.

[–] uniquethrowagay@feddit.org 7 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

If it means I'm getting a clean toilet, I'd rather pay a Euro for that

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 4 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

It's never an either/or situation. Like, what, that Euro pays for someone to rush in after every use? Or is it a meaningless transaction meant to cause difficulty.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 4 points 15 hours ago

I remember some pretty nasty pay toilets in Germany, but it of course varies.

[–] Klowner@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

Hold up.. you mean to tell me that there were stalls available for pooping even though as an American I've been taught my whole life that those gaps exist so people don't do sex in them?!!?!?

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 80 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 7 points 21 hours ago

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

It would be delightful if this phrase started appearing on affected bathroom walls.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

No man, you don't get it, I was told that a foot is much better, because that's 12 inches and then 12 can be easily divided by 2,3,4,6

As if you couldn't just work with wood sizes of 12 or 24cms....

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

i would accept that if the rest followed.

it's 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, 1760 yards in a mile.

meanwhile everywhere else in the world we just add and remove zeroes as needed. (or move the decimal point)

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[–] HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Even worse are the urinals without dividers.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Ever used a trough?

It’s almost like that

[–] Klowner@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

Ugh, the county fair piss trough 🫩

[–] VirgilMastercard@reddthat.com 6 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

They should replace dividers with mirrors so we can look at other men's dicks while pissing

[–] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago
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[–] UnrepententProcrastinator@lemmy.ca 6 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I feel like you don't need that much intimacy when pissing but maybe that's just me.

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[–] eletes@sh.itjust.works 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 3 points 12 hours ago

You'd be surprised.

[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 81 points 1 day ago (3 children)

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.

[–] REDACTED@infosec.pub 2 points 3 hours ago

It also feels somewhat ironic that US hosts/makes the largest amount of porn

[–] Malfeasant@lemmy.world 49 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's because of the puritanical shame- without those gaps, people might (gasp) have sex in bathroom stalls instead of doing their business as god intended.

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[–] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 98 points 1 day ago (3 children)

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

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 5 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I think it's because bathrooms are cost, and so they got enshitified early to discourage costumers from using them.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

But where are the costumers supposed to change costume if not in a stall?

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 1 points 12 hours ago

That's a great point.

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 30 points 1 day ago (8 children)

No its not a profit saving thing. It makes no difference cost wise to save a few cms of wood. Its intentionally designed that way. Go to any other capitalist country than America and you won't see gaps.

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[–] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago (7 children)

The stalls at my work have zero gaps whatsoever and the door/walls (which are made of wood) go almost to the floor. There's fairly high quality locking handles that indicate whether or not it's occupied. It's amazing and I don't know of any other public restroom in my area like it.

[–] ssfckdt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 12 hours ago

I've worked a couple places where the stalls were like that. There are fixtures they can add to the gaps to cut them off.

Also, places that have all-gender group restrooms typically install gapless stalls because of obvious reasons.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Really? That's what I'd expect even in a run-down public toilet in a train station over here in Austria.

[–] ssfckdt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 12 hours ago

Y'all have standards. Rights, even.

[–] M137@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

-over here in insert anywhere but the US.

[–] dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de 13 points 1 day ago

It always baffles me that this is considered a luxury in the USA while in Germany (and I assume most of Europe) this is the absolute standard. Stalls where the door doesn't lock properly or where the indicator on the outside is faded so that you can't reliably determine if it's occupied are already considered signs of bad maintenance. Gaps that you can look through without pressing your face right against them would be a "nope, I'll never visit this place again" level scandal.

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[–] Eheran@lemmy.world 54 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Am I too non-USA to understand this?

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