Men: How do you feel about urinals?

I try not to “feel about” them.

The worst are urinal troughs. You can find them in ball parks.

My usual feeling is relief that I have found one.

It’s like pissing in a helicopter seat.
Also, eyes forward staring at wall, or straight down at your own flow…NOWHERE else.

Very happy they exist. I have used them many times. Like @ucme , you basically ignore the guys on each side.

I piss on them

When I need one I need one so I’m happy and thankful to find one. I look straight ahead or down, never to the side.
A urinal has 3 positive attributes:
1) I don’t have to aim carefully. It all goes in the urinal not on the floor or seat.
2) I don’t need to worry about the initial stream spraying or coming out at an odd angle.
3) I don’t have to touch anything!

4) It uses less water than a toilet. But that is the least of my concerns when I need to pee.

I can take ‘em or leak ‘em.

What I find more off-putting than the social awkwardness is the splatter. When you’re approaching the urinals and you reach that magical angle where the light bounces just so off the floor, you inevitably see the splatter zone: the shiny pee-tina radiating out a couple of feet from ground zero at each urinal.

Aside from the bracing realization that you’re about to stand on multiple layers of piss, there’s the realization that this means you’re about to spray your own pant legs and shoes with your own atomized urine (well, not just yours, since it’s first splashing into the urinal and co-mingling with what’s already in there). That realization is confirmed whenever you have the misfortune of using a urinal while wearing shorts or sandals and can actually feel the spray.

Although I never served under arms, I fully grok the “bathroom scenes” that are presented – twice, with great effect – in Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. I highly recommend the book for its entire merit, but this particular question is exquisitely well addressed there as “before and after”.

Urinals – bathrooms in general and what goes on there – hold no mystery or fear for me. I don’t do things that make others uncomfortable, such as “look or talk”, etc., but when that kind of thing happens or seems like it might be happening, I am no more than normally aware.

What happens if you look to the side?

Also, why don’t you just use a stall?

I love urinals. I wish I had one in my bathroom at home.
Built and used right they are low-splash and they use very little water.
There’s no doubt that I can use the easy access of the fly on my pants.
There’s no question of lifting, lowering or sitting on a disgusting cold plastic ring covered in urine, fecal matter, and who knows_what_ kind if germs.

Advertisements get more and more sophisticated and entertaining.
Many have partitions.
Most are now hands free, and some are even helpful.
Design innovations promise to make them better and better in the future.
I love urinals. I wish I had one in my bathroom at home.

I miss the full height floor mount ones

And it really irritates me that many are mounted on the wall so low that, if so inclined, I could rest my junk on the top. In fact from looking at the amount of pee on the top I would hazard a guess that many do.

Other than that, I am glad they are around.

And the etiquette for using them is ingrained pretty early in life although there are always “them” who don’t follow the rules
@Dutchess_III you might want to review the rules, it will answer your question above

Reasons not to use a stall:
1. Having to raise the seat;
2. Wasting all that water on the flush (it’s worse now since so many public toilets are on auto-flush, so you can’t choose to neglect that);
3. Availability.

Looking to the side implies that you’re peeking at the next guy’s equipment, and why would a straight guy be interested in that? The implications follow from that, and a lot of guys still seem to worry about that, apparently.

Urinal awareness.
Score!
Who’s zoomin who?

This is ridiculous! I’m sorry, but those social rules are designed to protect privacy, right? It’s embarrassing to pee in front of other people, plus you might have people judging you by your package. We really aren’t supposed to see nakky people in public, either.

Why does our society insist you men have to go through that? Why not demand the stores spend a couple of bucks and at least throw partitions up between the urinals?

@CWOTUS I don’t think it’s just homosexuals who might glance. Men are constantly comparing and vying among themselves for dominance and for some really strange reason some parts of dominance seems to be all tied up with penis size. I don’t get it. So, it’s a sneak peek to see if the other guy is “dominant.” If he is, just punch his lights out. See.

I think men are genetically wired to enjoy a nice standing piss.

It’s immediate and it’s empowering. I mean, if a bear sneaks up on me, how inconvenient is it going to be? A little pee on my foot as compared to having my ankles bound by layers and layers of clothes.

@Dutchess_III, even if what you say about “peeking” is true – which I do not believe to be the case, but let that go for now – even if it’s true, then it would be impolite (or threatening) to be the peeker. So, don’t peek.

Again, why even throw you guys into such a situation, when partitions would solve virtually all of the uncomfortable societal problems?

I put a urinal in my shop when my son was 7 years old. I had him stand on his tippy toes, measured the distance from the floor to his crotch, and installed the urinal at that height. He was real proud that he could use a urinal ‘just like dad’. When we moved, I took the urinal with me to install in my new shop. I would put a urinal in our master bath, but the current layout just won’t accommodate one.

Public urinals can be challenging if one has a bashful bladder. When there was a long line of guys waiting for me to finish, it was real embarrassing to stand at a urinal and wait and wait and wait to go. I used to have to wait until my eyeballs were floating before I could relax sufficiently to get the stream going. For some reason, in my early forties I outgrew bashful bladder. Everybody pees; what’s the big deal?

Unfortunately, my now adult son has bashful bladder too. Even if I’m the only other person in my shop, he prefers to use the toilet where he’s out of sight.

I think I would instantly have a re-occurrence of bashful bladder if I were to encounter urinals that looked like this!

They’re good to have available and more efficient and commodious for pissing purposes than a toilet or a hole in the floor. I can’t remember ever being approached or thinking I was approached or peeked at in a restroom, but I definitely prefer the privacy of what I have at home. The head on the boat is a little cramped, but it beats the hell out of pissing in front of guests on deck or into a changing wind.

Five urinals you have to pee in before you die

^^What’s with the mirrors in the Norwegian one? Are there that many guys who need to see what their cocks look like on a daily basis? Maybe if they got their minds off their own genitals for awhile, they’d have the inclination for some else’s. Sounds like more fun to me. Combined with @cazzie’s tales, Norwegian dudes just dropped another notch in my book.~

@bossob Yow. Talk about justifiable performance anxiety.

As one of Fluther’s gay men, I’ll chime in.

I personally don’t check out other men’s equipment even in the restrooms in gay bars. I’ve been checked out at the urinal in gay bars, but it’s not a big deal.

I like standing to pee, so I like urinals. I want one at home.

I do not understand why bars often put ice in them. Do they think it keeps the smell down? It doesn’t.

@bossob My friend was doing a remodel in a police station and he salvaged a small trough style urinal, no more than 30” wide I would say, that he took and installed in the mud room in his house. As you walked through the back door immediately in front of you was this piece of history, this urinal.

He mounted it so he could use it as a sink with a mop sink style faucet above it and used it to wash up after a hard day out in the yard or to clean tools and car parts. He also mounted it low enough that it could still be used for his intended purpose if one had the desire or the need.

His wife was not overly thrilled when she realized that so he just had to be careful.

@bossob You installed a urinal at your shop and set it at the height for you son. You are my hero!
It used to take me a while to go. When I’d hit the bathroom with a bunch of guys after a meeting I was always last to leave. It was embarrassing.
My prostatectomy fixed that! I peed with so much force I could push the piss ice up the wall. I was so proud I wanted to show it off to all my friends! (But I didn’t.)

@Espiritus_Corvus I once renovated a condo unit for an architect and in his bathroom he insisted on having all the walls and ceiling mirrored. Cost a small fortune to have all that glass cut to fit and installed but he was willing to pay for it. Not sure what the big thrill was about being able to sit on the toilet and watch yourself use it from all angles but different strokes for different folks.
Maybe that was it, maybe he just liked to watch himself stroke it. He was kind of a jerkoff

@LuckyGuy

you ok?
you didn’t stroke out there did you?
Your post just kinda went to hell and then just trailed off!

@rojo I had to pee. Your friend’s wife is a saint! Are they still married?

@Dutchess_III Here’s a little test for you. Guys need to know this stuff. Urinal Test

Why Bars Put Ice in the Urinals

FYI, simply because I’ve never heard of the practice before.

@Hawaii_Jake

@rojo Yeah, wall and ceiling mirrors are common in bathrooms. But two magnified vanity mirrors at crotch level? The implications of insecurity and all sorts of shit is hillarious. Two. Magnified. Tweezers in the drawer. @cazzie’s gotta see this.

@Dutchess_III I think most men today have been “exposed” to other men by the virtue of having to shower with other men in the locker rooms starting in school so seeing other mens equipment is not as big a deal as you may think…at least for me it isn’t. Hell I remember the days as a little kid taking showers with my dad in the men’s locker room when we would go swim at the YMCA and then I was actually looking up at the other guys stuff. O_o

btw all guys peek.

I thought the ice was put there by patrons given drinks when they didn’t want them. Usually after a discussion like this:
“What are you drinking? I’m buying”
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks!”
“Come on man it’s my turn.”
“Nah I’m good. You get it next time.”
“Bartender get him another one!”
And that is when I go to the bathroom, drink in hand.
Nobody ever tells me to have another after I say no. Ever!

@Cruiser: You’re probably right. I have peeked in the past. I don’t anymore. I’ve seen enough, and I can see them all over the Internet for free and with less neck strain.

@Dutchess_III Idon’t even know exactly how long my cock is, why would I care about anyone elses? I don’t think many of us guys really have the “penis envy” syndrome.

@ibstubro for some reason pissing on ice is oddly satisfying. Can’t explain it.

If none of is a thang to begin with, as you all seem to be saying, why all the complicated etiquette? They make a a test, no less, to make sure you do it right.

The things are absolute salvation and for my entire lifetime I’ve thought that women are EXTREMELY disadvantaged at public events. I mean those lines of desperate women outside bathrooms, while men go rollin in & out in a minute or 2. It’s incredible that it took so long for society to face up to something so obvious.

My Y chromosome goes back to the vikings. The fact I’m swinging the same member now as many of them were back in the day is enough for me.

@stanleybmanly that’s about the only good thing about those urinal troughs in ballparks, get in, get out in less than a min flat.

Well, urinals don’t do women much good, @stanleybmanly.

There are options
One genuine male privilege is the ability to pee standing.

It’s not a huge deal, but it’s my preference to have my own toilet with walls.

I don’t think I’m “hung up” about it, but there is also something of a practical matter in that my penis flow control is somewhat unconscious and about comfort/safety/self-consciousness that is messed with a bit by being exposed near other exposed men.

@ARE_you_kidding_me That device would be really handy for filling automatic transmissions.

@LuckyGuy They are still married although they have since sold the house. Not sure if these two things are related.

When potential buyers would come though the home the men would invariably love the urinal/sink and rave about it to the realtors while the women would invariably dislike it.

Incidentally, the couple that bought the home were fighting over whether or not it was going to remain. My friend has often wondered who won that battle.

@Dutchess III That’s my point. I made it to old age before it became the practice to expand the the square footage dedicated to women’s rooms in public spaces.

So, are you like a hundred years old?

You have a point. I don’t spend a lot of time inspecting ladies’ rooms. But I suppose around 15–20 years ago I noticed that those lines were both shorter and less frequent in newer venues.

@all—wow! Okay!

Glad to know the “scary men’s bathrooms” are not so scary! I had always thought urinals were just super efficient, and I had always thought society put more of an emphasis on women being “private” than men, so I never thought it would be a big deal for men. But then a series of guys telling stories of uncomfortable urinal situations made me confused… I think it was more a matter of (as someone put it above) “bashful bladder”—and I think with the trough-stories, those guys were concerned that the enthusiastic drunks would hit pant legs instead of the trough…. but if it’s about them thinking they’re being checked out, they seriously need to get over themselves.

The lines for women’s bathrooms—yes, sitting down takes more time, but not that much more time. I think much of why women’s bathrooms have longer lines is our periods—usually means we have to visit the restroom more often for about a week, and the visit takes a little longer to get everything ‘good to go.’ ... Well, I guess climbing in and out of a stall takes more time, too. I didn’t even realize that women’s bathrooms were gradually getting expanded! Hurray!

This thread has, however, taught me something a little unsettling… all the splashing/missing that goes on? I’d heard jokes about “bad aim” before but I didn’t realize it was such a thing… I also didn’t realize that splash-back was a thing. Or the not-flushing thing. How does someone forget to flush when the handle is right in front of them?

I basically can’t miss—not unless I really try to—I never have to worry about splash-back, and I really don’t mind sitting. Since I’ve never stood, I don’t feel like I’m missing too much…

Thanks for all the different urinal images! And the random facts of ettiquette/technique. And the various advantages/disadvantages of the various set-ups. It’s a whole different world! (Or like thread from weeks ago that just popped into my mind again: it’s a whole nother world).

Huh. I hadn’t noticed @stanley. Of course, bars is where the lines were the worst, of course, and I haven’t been to a bar for a long g time so I don’t know if the lines have changed.

I do know that I still get hit with a line, say, at a gas station and often times the “men’s” room is empty. Hell, I just go in there.

@Soubresaut , @Dutchess_III
A few terms you may want to learn:

Urinalism
Writings, quotes, blurbs or jibberish found on or around urinal surfaces; of or pertaining to distinctive doctorine, theory, beliefs, systems or practice . Generally, but not always, composed by persons after alcohol consumption.
Urinalization
The mental process a man goes through when he enters a public restroom quickly heading directly towards his favorite urinal only to realize someone else is currently using it and must quickly make a decision on another urinal to use without upsetting the urinal etiquette balance.
Urinal Cookie
A turd, that someone has deposited in the urinal instead of the toilet. Also know as a Urinal Dump or Urinal Log.
Urinal Cuddler
noun: a person who takes the urinal next to you when thiers multiple urinals to choose from.
Urinal Goatee
Refers to the collection of pubic hair that often accumulates around the protruding base of a public urinal.
Urinal Lip
The result of pouting, when the lower lip protrudes out resembling that of a men’s urinal.
Urinal Miming
The act of standing at a public urinal with urinal shock & pretending to pee. This is done in order to avoid you looking weird to guys in the urinals next to you. Usually finished off with a fake snake shake & a loud, satisfied “ahhh”.
Urinal Panic
The act of failing to urinate when stood at a urinal in a busy men’s public toilet, despite really needing to. This is often followed by urinal miming
Urinal Parking
To park a car in such a way that you are not directly next to other vehicles. Similar to how males prefer to pee at urinals.

All my life I’ve been urinal parking, and I never knew!!

Please tell me the urinal cookie is a thing of myths and legends, kind of like a basilisk, not actually something you have to encounter??

@Soubresaut Although rare, sadly, no, it is not a myth.

Man, I just don’t get it. If there are such rigid restrictions and taboos around all of it….why didn’t they invent them with partitions? Not full stalls, just partitions, so you guys can just pee in peace. After all, it was probably a male who invented the whole system. There is room between existing urinals today to put them up. Why don’t they? Is it some rite of male passage bullshit?
Why is urinating in public a crime, when they force you to urinate in front of every person in the bathroom?

I don’t get it. At all. Another inexplicable guy thing, I guess.

Jesus Christ, @Dutchess_III… it’s not as if no one ever thought of partitions, stalls, walls and all of that. But not all men’s rooms are built to some ideal standard. And even those men and boys who are shy can’t very well carry around a portable partition with them when they might need that. You can only go with what’s there, so to speak.

Yeah, there are all kinds of “guy things”. Granted. But we can’t very well mock up walls that don’t exist when we’ve got to pee. When a man’s got to go, he’s got to go, not reinvent the public bathroom.

The scope and layout of restrooms vary. Some have partitions that are full height, usually about 2’ wide, some have smaller ones that cover from chest height down about 3’ and again they will be about 2’ wide, others have none but individual urinals, some have trench style urinals. I don’t think I have ever been in one that has actual individual stalls like toilets.
Another thing to consider is space requirements, you can put 3 or 4 urinals in the same space as two toilet stalls and sometimes it comes down to which is more important, privacy or convenience.

… or maintenance. The problem with partitions made out of painted steel is that after a period of years, the paint starts to wear thin after constant cleaning, and at that point the drops of highly acidic urine start to rust those walls.

That’s why I suggested partitions rather than full stalls. I mean, from what I’ve seen it just wouldn’t be all that difficult to throw up some sort of screen in the existing bathrooms.

Well, I suppose if you guys are peeing on the partitions, rather than in the urinal, the walls will start rusting from pee, @CWOTUS! I mean, women’s bathroom stall walls get cleaned often, and re-painted every once in a while. No big deal.

I once had to remove the brand new toilet partitions we had just installed, all per the architects plans and specifications, and order special parts to reinstall them. We had to order new panels that went, within inches, floor to ceiling, eliminate the individual brackets that fastened them to the wall and to each other and install full length aluminum angles, order custom hinges, again the full length of the partition, to attach the doors to the panels and then add a strip of aluminum at the door edge that closed against the panels on the strike side, all to block anyone from peeking into the stall. This was, I admit, highly unusual and I only did it once. This was only in the Womens room, the mens room we left as originally specified. Turned out there was an executive who worked there with a particular phobia about other women peeking and she had the pull to demand, and get, these modifications. Some people worry about stupid shit.

Doors @rojo? Why would you need doors? What about this? Oh, you were referring the the stalls, not the urinals.

That, @Dutchess_III, is what I would say is most common. At least in the restrooms I frequent.

Bars, well, it tends to vary but I would say most don’t bother with the screens or if they do they don’t replace them when they give out. They are subject to abuse, like the urine splatter eating them up or swelling the particle board as mentioned above or having those inebriated fall against them and drag them off the wall or just plain vandalism tearing them down.

I think men are pretty much immune to caring that much about privacy come pee time (at least around other men). And in a men’s room you want as few extraneous objects as possible, particularly surfaces to which graffiti will adhere or that will even fractionally increase the time or effort required for cleaning.

@stanleybmanly. Well, if that were the case then there wouldn’t have been 63 answers here! Somebody cares about something.

I’m gonna go ask a similar question for the women. Kind of a social experiment.

Ha ha! I took the test, scored 40/60.

It’s relieving. I have to say, I do not like feeling “vulnerable.” I hate using the trough-style urinals for this reason, or any that don’t fully cover the area without dividers.
I once watched a video on Facebook or something about so-called urinal etiquette, and it was funny to realize that I had followed this without even knowing it. The only exception is that if there are dividers, I’ll have no problem using a urinal between two occupied ones.

I think more households would be better off with urinals in addition to the standard toilet, And anyone with a string of boys would over time probably save a lake of water and a pile of money.

@stanleybmanly The toilet at my place has the probably unintentional ability to stop the flow of water by pushing down the flusher. I do this all the time when I pee and it has probably saved a lot on the water bill (that I don’t pay).

I’v never had too much of an issue using urinals, as long as no one else is bothering me. I have used trough urinals. Our county fair has them in their men’s restrooms. Those are a little different and old school. I’m not really into talking when I’m in the restroom, but I have had that happen too. Urinals are quicker, I will usually in general use them.

@stanleybmanly why not just teach the boys not to flush the toilet when they pee? Girls too, for that matter?