The Nordics Get Toilet Equality (Almost) Right
It’s hard to find a gender-segregated restroom in Scandinavia, but unisex facilities have their own drawbacks.
So binary.
Photographer: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images
As my family and I toured the Nordic countries over the New Year’s break, we noticed a very basic difference from most other places: Almost all the public restrooms, especially in Denmark and Sweden, are unisex. That eliminates some nasty problems that don’t really belong in the 21st century. It also creates new concerns.
Americans familiar with bathroom-law controversies will appreciate the Scandinavian practice. A Nordic toilet will sometimes have three signs on the door: figures that are male, female and both at once (a somewhat awkward image of a person wearing half a skirt). In Oslo, I saw a bathroom with pictures of a centaur and a mermaid under the caption, “Whatever you are, remember to wash your hands.” More often, however, there’s no gender-related sign at all. This arrangement removes the entire controversy over transgender access, which has caused an uproar in the U.S. in recent years. A person of any gender can use any bathroom.
