When Do We Get Co-ed Showers?

Question

There are many sci-fi stories that feature this: a shower or locker room occupied by both men and women, in various states of indecency. I'm sure it all began when someone wanted more nudity in their movie or something like that, but I've been thinking. These days, people are becoming more and more accepting of new ideas of gender and sexuality, many of which reject the male-female binary. It's plausible that some day, the idea of men/women bathrooms would seem just as crazy as the white/colored bathrooms we used to have. Even now, when I see two single-occupancy bathrooms, I realize that it would be almost twice as useful if they were general-use.

So, as far as I'm concerned, sharing bathrooms/locker rooms/showers is something that should happen; what I'm wondering is when it will happen. Are there any indications that this change is right around the corner, or suggestions that we will never move past our current state of modesty? Any places that might spearhead the effort, or vehemently oppose it?

Answer 1

Although some clubs and venues which target alternative lifestyles have already adopted shared bathrooms, it is unlikely that this heralds a universal change throughout our culture.

The issue is not solely one of modesty. Functionality also plays its part. Single gender areas serve many purposes beyond their biological and hygenic functions. They provide a sanctuary from undesired pursuit and a place of privacy for planning out a next move. These roles are left unfilled when bathrooms are shared.

As for spearheads, I think that sharing will start in military vessels where gender specific facilities are a waste of space which could otherwise be used for weapons and supplies.

And vehemently opposed, will be churches ...and hopefully, obesity clinics.

Answer 2

It seem to me more of a case of culture and attitudes towards sex more than anything else. There's a few ways you could have it happen.

1) Space born adaption. They've spent there whole life in space and room is at a premium.

2) Massive social upheaval. Some extreme event (like nuclear war) has caused massive change to cultural norms. Like the setting being a police state that watches its people 24/7.

3) Something happened to make normal sex taboo and/or disgusting. The best candidate would be everyone being test tube babies who's genes are tampered with as a matter of normality.

In all the above you really need at least a generation or two I think for it to become 'normal think'.

Answer 3

Why would people generally object to co-ed showers?

Most societies value faithfulness in monogamous relationships. Faithfulness helps to raise children, which helps to perpetuate the society. As a result, the society discourages the display of primary and secondary sexual characteristics in public. (Consider that it may be appropriate for males to bare their chest in situations where that would be inappropriate for females, e.g. on the beach.)

The display of sexual characteristics is less inappropriate in groups of the same gender. I guess this shows an assumption that they're not "tempting" each other.

So to create the culture you're describing, you have to explain why those constraints are gone. Are heterosexual families no longer the main way to raise children?

Answer 4

Except in the case of massive social upheaval, I think co-ed showers will never be the standard. As @Samuel said jokingly in a comment:

Probably when men stop excitedly asking.

This is quite a humorous comment, but there's a much more serious way to put it - separate bathrooms and showers will always be around as long as rape is still a thing. One rape is all it can take to bring a costly lawsuit down on the heads of whatever organization owns the building.

The only place for co-ed showers is one in which everyone using them feels safe. It's hard to imagine a society in which every single woman feels comfortable having men be able to see them naked without the woman being able to do much about it. Men can also be victims in situations like this - there are male victims of rape.

Co-ed showers can be put in place in limited locations, such as the "clubs and venues which target alternative lifestyles" that @HenryTaylor mentioned. The people that go there expect it, and choose to use them because they still feel safe there.

I wouldn't be surprised if society moves in the opposite direction that you're thinking - rather than having a single co-ed shower, we'll have more single-occupancy showers. It doesn't make as much sense from an efficiency standpoint, but what is there about legal issues that would make you think efficiency is anywhere on their minds? Also think about this question - how can the mother of a 6 year-old girl tell the difference between an honest transgendered person and a committed pedophile man? The best way for a facility to protect itself from lawsuits from both the mother protecting her child and a transgendered person wanting to use the bathroom they think is the right one for them would be to have single-occupancy and family bathrooms.

Even space constraints alone won't bring about co-ed showers - if you have enough room for two showers, there's no reason you can't have a divider between them that turns it into two bathrooms. So you've either got a single-occupancy bathroom, or enough room for more than one.

A dystopian government, like the one @MrDracoSpirit mentioned, might impose co-ed showers on certain groups of undesirables, but I would not count that as becoming a standard. That government would need to keep enough people happy to prevent a complete revolt, and those people would not be forced into co-ed showers. So rather than becoming a standard, co-ed showers would be seen as a sort of punishment.

@MrDracoSpirit's third point is something that would definitely make co-ed showers likely. If culture lost interest in sex, then rape would most likely stop being a thing. And that, as I said earlier, is something that would make co-ed showers reasonable.

Answer 5

This is a totally anecdotal, but interesting none the less. When the Youtube Space LA was build it had to be a forward thinking space, etc. etc. So instead of having the toilets separated by gender they indeed had non-segregated restrooms. Well, it was kept that way for awhile and what happened? Males made a huge mess half the time, females hated going to the restrooms due to this and they ended up segregating the different stalls as a 'fix' in the end. So at the very least I guess it's valid to conclude that: No, at the very least it's not around the corner for restrooms.