On November 20, 2024, the topic of “Guangzhou planning to convert low-usage male toilets into unisex public toilets” sparked heated discussions. Netizens raised questions about how to educate children about the difference between males and females, and why not just directly change them into female toilets.
According to the report by the Guangzhou Daily, on November 18, the Guangzhou Municipal Urban Management and Comprehensive Law Enforcement Bureau solicited opinions on the “Guangzhou Sanitation Public Toilet Layout Planning (2024-2035)” on its official website.
The draft for opinions mentioned plans to renovate male toilets with low efficiency to alleviate the problem of long queues in female toilets.
The report stated that according to relevant department officials, Guangzhou will encourage conditionally qualified public toilets to be transformed into unisex public toilets; for public toilets with unreasonable male-to-female toilet ratios, low efficiency in male toilet usage, or requiring renovation, they should be encouraged to be transformed into unisex public toilets.
This move by Guangzhou immediately sparked controversy.
Netizens questioned: “Why not just convert them directly into female toilets? Isn’t unisex toilets allowing anyone to enter? What are they trying to achieve?” “Will there be separate toilets to protect minors?” “How to ensure privacy and hygiene safety?” “This will be very awkward. It will make people feel very unsafe when there are few people.” “Peeping will become even more blatant.”
“Isn’t this just ‘shared toilets for men and women’? Now it’s called ‘unisex,’ but it’s all a mess.” “I don’t understand what it means by unisex public toilets, can both men and women enter? Isn’t this the way the Western leftists have been advocating?” “How will I educate children about the difference between males and females?” “Starting to bring hidden things into the open.” “Is this the result of what you have been dreaming of day and night?”
“The old American version is being brought back by Trump, and now it’s being followed domestically.” “The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives personally intervenes to distinguish between males and females. Due to continuous pressure to be ‘politically correct,’ allowing men to enter women’s bathrooms, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives stated: ‘I want to make it clear. Men are men, women are women. Men cannot become women…'”