Glenda Simms, Contributor
WHILE IT is true that in Jamaica "there is never a dull day", some issues that are placed on the public agenda cause us to wonder why it takes such a long time for the authorities to deal with so many obviously glaring social problems. At this point we have put the spotlight on the issue of our citizens urinating and polluting our urban centres. The majority of those guilty of this "gross practice" are men who have come to take it for granted that it is their biological and human right to "flash it". In this process they urinate on the city streets, against the walls of historical and modern edifices, in the corners of markets, and against the corner stones of mosques, churches, convention tents and temples.
Desmond McKenzie, the Mayor of Kingston, has voiced great concern about these mainly "manly" activities, and has committed himself to deal decisively with the issue of "pissing in public". In tackling this issue, Mayor McKenzie is challenging a "male-centred awful practice" and this is very timely. If we are honest, we must admit that men and boys are the ones most often seen urinating in public. In fact, if we pay attention to the male of the species when he stops to 'relieve himself' we would have to come to the conclusion that men have a basis for believing that the Good Lord gave them a biological advantage over women. This advantage emanates from the fact that they are endowed with an external protrusion that can be quickly and conveniently retrieved to allow them to pee while walking, standing, or conversing with their friends at the urinal or on the street corner.
In addition men must feel a certain degree of "penis privilege" because they are rarely sanctioned when they pee in public. Oftentimes they alight from their SUVs along the highways and sprinkle the unsuspecting dandelions and Spanish needles that are trying hard to survive the other pollutants of our automated lifestyles.
UNLADYLIKE BEHAVIOUR
Women, on the other hand, are not as obvious in the arena of "public peeing". They are restricted in this area by both biology and public perception of what is appropriate for the female of the species. While it is true that from time to time some women join their men folk and pee in public spaces, they do so clumsily because they must squat and in most cases they either have to drop their pants or lift their skirts and expose their buttocks to all onlookers. This position is certainly not enjoyed by most women and men certainly would think that such women are "awful".
In other words, society looks down on women who expose their rear ends when nature calls and they are forced to urinate in public. For this reason the majority of women have been socialised to control their natural urges. Women usually make sure that they use the toilet before they leave home, and if they feel the urge while they are away from home, they have learnt to "hold their pee". This holding is not necessarily healthy and many women seek medical attention for conditions that are sometimes linked to the habit of urine retention over an extended period of time.
FILTHY TOILETS
A few years ago, I attended a conference convened by the United Nations Population Fund in Dakar, Bangladesh. While I was there, one of the local newspapers carried an article which pointed to the impact of the lack of public facilities on women. It was noted that pregnant women and rural women who had to come to the city for one reason or another had no toilet facilities to meet their needs. The few available spaces were taken over by the men who left them in a state of disrepair and disgusting filth. No woman could venture into such environments. Not only would she be at risk of being exposed to diseases but she would be at risk of mugging and
robberies in these places.
Public facilities in Dakar, Beijing and Kingston are amongst the filthiest places on earth. In these public centres, there is usually no water to flush the toilets or to wash the user's hands. More often than not, there is also no toilet paper or hand towel and soap is almost non-existent in these places. In fact, if the authorities supply these necessities in the morning, by midday they are all stolen.
But these are not the only challenges that governing authorities face when they seek to ensure that people have public facilities that will discourage them from polluting the social and geographical landscape of the urban centres.
Everyone who has travelled to Thailand and many other Asian countries quickly learn that Tiger Balm is a necessity when nature calls. Tiger Balm is the only product that can neutralise the unbearable and overpowering stench of human waste in the public facilities in these countries.
In many of these places the toilets are literally 'holes in the floors'. These holes are frequently hosed down because so many people 'miss the hole'. Additionally, the volume of usage in such densely populated societies creates very unpleasant public facilities.
There will always be a place for Tiger Balm in the public toilets of Asia.
LEARNING FROM NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE
Some of the best public facilities are in North America and in some European countries. In fact, in some Canadian cities and townships, gas station owners are subsidised by the governing authorities so that they can provide on their premises public washrooms that are well maintained and accessible to the travelling public.
Also along the major highways in the U.S. and Canada there are clean, comfortable and safe rest stops with well equipped public toilets for men and women.
In Paris, the public toilets for women are staffed with people who dispense sheets of toilet paper and keep the facilities clean.
Here in Jamaica there are businesses such as the Juicy Patty factory outlet in Clarendon which have excellent toilet facilities for their patrons.
It is clear that the solution to the common practice of men urinating in public does lie in higher fines for indecent exposure or the related by-laws. What is needed are well equipped, clean and organised facilities. In these, there would be hired personnel whose duties would include regular checks and clean up of waste paper, water spillages and other spillage caused by the lack of precision of the men who stand over the toilets but are incapable of peeing straight, and by the women who try to imitate the male by standing up while they try to pee in the toilet bowl.
In this technological and modern age we must find new ways to solve the problem of citizens peeing in public because they have no alternative. It might serve us well to consider how well equipped the "public loo" was in times long past.
In the November December 1997 edition of the UTNE Reader, writer Diane Favro informs us that in ancient Rome urban residents "openly acknowledged privies as among the best appointed, best situated, and most frequented places in the city for socialising."
EXPENSIVE FIXTURES
Apparently, these facilities were owned both by the state and the private sector and each interest competed to provide the most lavish and expensive fixtures. These public facilities of ancient Rome were described as adequate facilities that could house as many as 25 people at any one time, and they were the favourite hang-out for the middle and upper classes. It is also reported that "senators and businessmen gathered in the heated latrine above the shops of Caesar's forum".
The image of men in ancient Rome networking and brokering politics and other 'manly' endeavours in a latrine is not only laughable but should provide an opportunity for feminist historians to analyse why western civilisation is still facing so many social, economic and ideological challenges.
No doubt the only women who had access to these rooms of ancient Rome were either prostitutes who were brought in to provide sexual favours to the upstanding 'citizens' or female slaves who had the responsibility of scrubbing the toilets. Ancient Rome is history. When modern Jamaica puts proper public loos in the cities and townships one aspect of the human dignity needs of the working poor, street persons and students will be met.
Public toilets will not be for those of us in the middle and upper classes, nor for the politicians and businessmen. We daily use our status, authority, modes of dress, language styles and social currency to walk through the well-appointed lobbies of the hotels, convention centres and businesses and head straight for the toilets when we have the urge to use them.
Dr. Glenda Simms is the executive director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs
