The issue of gender neutral toilets has now taken on the national agenda and we are slowly experiencing the introduction of this practice in Malta. This means that both males and females will shortly be using the same toilets. The Malta Independent reported that Paola will be the first locality to have its first official gender neutral public toilets in Malta. Once again, the town of my childhood is making history!
The truth is that the issue of gender neutral toilets was started to accommodate fringe groups, in particular, the transgender category. It is necessary here to clarify that transgender is a new phenomenon linked to the advancement of science. The separation of male and female became problematic in particular for this category of persons as it started to be unclear which toilets they should use in public. Thus, to settle this controversy, a Solomonic decision was taken and the concept of a gender neutral toilet started to surface in public debate. Hence, thanks to this concept, public toilets can now be used without difficulty, not only by males and females, but also by transgender individuals.
In private life, the average family makes use of the same toilet and bathroom and this irrespective of gender. Perhaps, only the rich can enjoy the luxury of separate toilets at home. I experienced visiting a house or hôtel particulaire in Paris owned by a millionaire. It had exclusive personal toilets and visitors were not allowed to use them. Therefore, why was there need, in the past, to create public toilets specifically designed for males and females?
Going back in history, in ancient Rome, large urinal pots were placed in certain street corners. Not only did they serve as urinals but they had a second role. The pots were collected at night by fullers and the urine used as a form of bleach. The stale urine was called wash. In due course, Emperor Vespasiano decreed taxing the fullers, thus explaining why public toilets in Rome became known as Vespasiani. In more recent modern times, public toilets were called Vespasiennes in Paris where they existed until roughly 1980 when they were replaced by sanisettes.
The real motive for creating separate public toilets had nothing to do with sexuality but was predominantly linked to health issues. Until the 18th century, both males and females carried out most of their needs in public. Even when they did it in private, the waste was disposed of in public. Those who could afford it, made use of the famous slop-jar or chamber pot.
Whitmore graphically shows that in the early 19th century human waste in Malta was literally thrown out onto the streets or alleys. Ganado recounts in his book Rajt Malta Tinbidel, how an adult cheesecake seller, at the turn of the 20th century, did his business on the granaries at Floriana in full view of everybody. The scandal was not the fact that he relieved himself in the full view of everybody but for wiping himself with the kitchen cloth that he was using to carry the hot tray of cheesecakes!
Women wore long skirts, so that they could relieve themselves in a standing position. Special pots were made in Elizabethan England for women. Queen Elizabeth I had assistants, who went behind her, carrying pottery vases for whenever nature called. The poor just did their needs by standing over the soil.
I once asked my father, who was born in 1925 at Paola, an area that was one of the first to have a drainage system installed in Malta about the drainage system on the island. While Paola was in a unique situation in that it had sewer connection, the adjacent village of Tarxien at the time lacked such services. In fact, it was only served with a drainage system after World War II.
The Merciecas, my father’s family, hailed from Tarxien and in his childhood days, he used to spend a lot of time in his uncles’ and aunts’ big farmhouse in Old Temples Street, Tarxien. In those days, it had no street address and was known as part of Strada Santa Maria, in reference to the main thoroughfare that linked Tarxien to Paola. This old house with a central courtyard had no drainage system and when children wanted to relieve themselves, they were sent into the stables, at the back of the farmhouse. Adults made use of the slop-jar or chamber pot. For individuals and guests, it was not embarrassing to ask for the pot during a house visit. In connection with this, I will recount an episode which goes to show how normal it was for individuals to make such a request, in particular, when visiting houses without the modern facilities we know today.
As I mentioned this old family farmhouse was destroyed during the war. After the war, it was transformed and converted into three separate housing units thanks to the original large size of the property. One of the units was kept by my father’s aunts and uncles as their residence. One of these uncles, Grezzju Mercieca, was involved in building and funding the M.U.S.E.U.M. or Society ‘school’ of Christian Doctrine at Tarxien.
At the laying of its first stone, the founder of the Society, Dun Ġorġ Preca was present and I can recall being told about a party that followed the cornerstone blessing ceremony. Afterwards, Dun Ġorġ went over to the Mercieca’s residence and on entering the sitting room and seeing the beautiful spread laid out to celebrate the occasion, he turned to Liberata, Grezzju’s sister, and said: “Liberat ħaġa waħda jonqsok” or “One thing is missing”.
I am told Liberata turned pale, put her hands in the fprm of prayer, and shyly asked the principal guest, “X’jonqos Sinjur?” or “What is missing, Sir?”. Immediately Dun Ġorġ Preca replied in front of all the guests, “Fejn hu l-vaż?” “Where is the chamber pot?”
This may appear bizarre today particularly as the remark came from someone now honoured on our altars. For the people of the time, it was normal, particularly if they were individuals like Dun Ġorġ, who grew up in a country where there were no toilets. Asking the owner of the house for a chamber pot, was like asking today for the toilet or bathroom. Back then, I don’t think that these requests held any form of gender constraints. A male, in this case a priest, was asking for the pot to the woman who was responsible for running the household.
I am explaining this to emphasize that toilets in Malta were introduced in line with rest of the civilized world for health reasons and not because of any gender consideration. Over the years, males and females ended up doing their needs differently. The introduction of toilets created the need for females to do all their needs in a seated position while males kept a standing position for at least one particular situation unlike in the past when they either squatted or stood.
The truth is that wherever these gender neutral toilets have been introduced, problems with health and hygiene are starting to reappear. Already, public toilets that are not gender neutral, are not the most pristine places to visit on earth. The chances of these public toilets becoming even less salubrious is destined to increase. This is due to the different biological but also cultural ways that humans relieve themselves.
Personally, if one looks at the evolution of the systems of urinating and defecating over centuries, I am convinced that due to natural differences and cultural constraints, the use of the same public conveniences by individuals of the different sex will only be re-introducing issues of health and hygiene.
For this reason, gender neutral toilets are destined to fail in the long run. As always, politicians will take time to admit their mistake.
The gender neutral toilets are already notorious for being dirty abroad, in particular those used by a big number of indiviuduals but no one wants to seriously question the implications for political correctness until infectious diseases, which are already resurfacing, will return in full force and then, all these idiotic novelties will have to be scrapped to safeguard the health of the population.