Toilet Seat - Up, Down or Does It Matter?

Does it matter if the toilet seat be up or down? To lots of women in the United States, it is a big deal. They demand that the men; whether they are their sons, brothers, fathers, friends, co-workers, etc. put the toilet seat down after they use it. At the Central BPL, the staff women and men restrooms are separated, but it's a common practice that we use each other restrooms when the other is in use - an obvious coed kind of thing without being said. The male staffers would get some angry notes from the women asked them to put the seat down or be neater and clean up after themselves. The men would write back and so it goes - a little and nasty word-war between the sexes. I wonder sometimes if the women who use the men's room would lift the seat back up afterward. It's only fair if you'd expect the men to put it down for you when they use yours.



A woman sits when she urinates. The seat is down.



A man stands when he urinates. The seat is up.

At home, I am the only female living with three males and I do not make such a big deal about the toilet seat. When I use it, I put it down and when I'm done, I put it back up. I don't require my sons and husband to put it down for me just because I'm a female. When my sons were little, the toilet seat was always up and it remains a common practice even though they are much older now. I don't want them to touch the seat because I worry that they might forget to wash their hands, then pick up the food and get sick. My sons' health is more important than the toilet seat in a down position. Moreover, as an adult I should look before I sit. When using a public restroom I would do the same because some women hover and urinate on the seat. I get so used to putting the seat up/down, it now becomes automatic.

Why make such a big fuss over a trivial and petty thing. These women need to "grow up" and as Hrand Saxenian, a Harvard Business School professor once stressed that the emotional maturity is "the ability to express one's own feelings and convictions balanced with consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others." To me life is much too precious to waste time complaining and fighting over toilet seats.