Peeing in your pants – the ideal public toilet accessory for women.
by Petz Scholtus, Barcelona, Spain on 09.26.05
Yes we women suffer! Why is it that the queue for the women’s toilet is always twice as long as the men’s? We are always crossing our legs in public places hoping to hold on till we get home or at least to a decent café. In more outward bound situations women generally have to air their backsides in all weathers while the men just unzip and away they go! Well the good news ladies is that Treehugger has become increasingly aware of products out there on the market, developed specifically to allow women to pee in comfort.
Yes it’s an age old problem that we girls continue to deal with, whether you are trained in the art of hovering over the dirty toilet seat (good for the thigh muscles!) or an expert in arranging toilet paper to cover the seat, or have developed such strong bladder control that you never need to go. For such a normal call of nature its never very simple process! Well there are some women out there who clearly just won’t stand for squatting anymore, they want to take their stand next to the men.
There seems to be two camps of urinating apparatus, the disposable and non-disposable. We want to find out not only which are the most effective but also the most environmentally friendly.
Of the non-disposable products we have found the Freshette and the Travelmate. The Freshette is funnel shaped with a retractable tube, it is designed for adventure, sports, travel and medical use. It is clearly reusable, but unfortunately the website does not tell us what material it is made from. The Freshette is definitely the most expensive of the products starting at $22.95. The Travelmate is also reusable, made from clear medical grade plastic, it is one of the more discreet products, easily inserted through your fly zip and washable under a tap. It won the Medical Design Excellence award in 2001 and it weighs in at $4.59.
The Whizzy and the P-mate are two paper funnel products which are disposable. The Whizzy was invented by an American women who suffers from debilitating arthritis and needed an aide to minimise the frequency of getting up and down. It comes in two sizes: travel size or extended size. It is the simplest design of the four products just utilizing a folded piece of paper shaped to fit between the legs and to create a channel. You can buy 10 Whizzys for $10.
The P-mate is an invention by a Dutch woman who when travelling in Indonesia found herself in increasingly compromising positions when going to the toilet. In Europe it is the most publicised of the four products having been promoted at various rock festivals in 2004, (including Glastonbury, U.K. and Pinkpop, Neds), where we all know the queues for unsanitary toilets are insufferable. You can buy 5 packs of 5 for £2.50.
In summary the cheapest option is the P-mate which on a plus point is made from a fully recyclable material, but on a downer is a use once only product. But in first place must come the Travelmate which is not much more expensive than the P-mate and as long as you don’t drop it down the toilet can be reused as often as necessary.
So whether you find yourself stuck on top of a rocky mountain, rocking out in a muddy field, or squatting in a dirty toilet we hope this survey has informed you of some new ways of making that call of nature a bit more comfortable. And just to let you know, the best thing about all these products for the users was their new found joy in being able to write their names in the snow just like the men! So stand up, take aim and get writing girls! ::Freshette :: the Travelmate ::the Whizzy ::the P-mate
[Leonora & Petz]
SEXIST! make a boys 1 we dnt wanna pie in public places either or line up 2 use the bathroom
a lady can learn to pee standing up without the use of a device. She just needs her fingers and to flex certain regional muscles. There is literature describing the method which I can't find online, due to the overpopulation of sites selling "pee standing up" accessories. I do have directions on paper though, if there's interest, I can post it.
Women can also train themselves to pee standing up:
www.restrooms.org/standing.html
Best practiced in the shower, I'd imagine.
I'm, personally, a boy, but my girlfriend has both a Freshette and a Travelmate. (Tip: If you are embarrassed about buying one of these things, have your boyfriend buy it.) She finds the Freshette much easier to use than the Travelmate, which is much smaller and has to be positioned Just Right. It works really well for her. It's made of some kind of pink plastic (probably PE or PP) with a clear plastic tube (vinyl?). Should last for years. She just rinses it after use with a little water.
The Woman’s Guide on How to Pee Standing tutorial that used to be up on restrooms.org changed my life! The technique certainly enhanced travels through long toilet-free stretches of Tibet. Highly recommend practicing in the bath or shower until you get the hang of it. The guide was originally provided by the Travelmate people and is now sadly removed from their site but still accessible through the waybackmachine.
if you decide to go the device route, the shenis must really be considered on aesthetic grounds alone.
the devices need to come with trouser zippers all the way down under the crotch, cos you can't angle the siphon out a fly - 1 girl ended up with backwash & pee soaked pants. Other solution is waterproof trousers of course, just pee down a leg. or wear a skirt when using device, not pants. The tibetan ladies wear aprons so bits dangle down in front & back to preserve modesty while going to loo.
When I read about these kinds of products for women, I do think they're kind of funny and ironic. Think about it: women have long complained that having a penis doesn't make one sex better than the other.
But what do they come up with as the solution to women's inequality in the bathroom? A plastic penis...
Check this out! The Daily Show's Samantha Bee talks to a trucker who says The Man won't let him throw his piss out the window. Click:
Public Enemy Number One -
That yellow liquid in half-empty plastic apple juice bottles on the side of the road? It ain't apple juice!
I was introduced to the P-Mate at a festival this year. Love it, easy to use and clean. plus i didnt have to carry around anything i had peed through. Would highly recommend it to all ladies.
Before we go buying and producing more products, maybe it's high time women learn and practice how to pee in public in a non-compromising way.
Here's how.
0. Don't wear pantyhose. Wear stocking instead.
1. Wear a dress or a skirt, or a longish kamise. Keep everything on at all times.
2. With feet flat and apart, squat down aiming but not touching your tuchas between your heels. You can adjust your skirt or dress so that no one can see anything, yet nothing is touching the ground.
3. Have your loo rol or your water ready.
4. With your right hand pull your knickers to the SIDE.
5. You pee - in a controlled way. Don't just let 'er rip. Pee in a controlled fashion. This is good for exercise for your kegel muscles, so don't complain. Don't splatter. Watch that the pee doesn't go on your feet by maintaining control.
6. When done, wipe with a wad of loo rol with your left hand or rinse with water and pat around with your left hand. Dry or don't.
7. Slide your knickers back over to the original position.
8. Gracefully stand up.
Just like learning to use the loo, this may take some practice.You can practice in your shower. If don't properly and in a relatively warm climate (where you're not likely to be pantyhose, you can do this without baring ANYTHING.
send to becky