Comments on: OPINIONS ON LESS WEIGHTY MATTERS: The Great Toilet Seat Controversy

By: kim

kim — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:41:15 +0000

My bathroom has what is essentially a night-light: it’s the clock radio light. It’s enough light to see if the lid is down — because it has a cover on it that is considerably darker than the white toilet. I don’t know if it is enough light to see if the seat is up — But, in the dark, shouldn’t the guys sit to pee also?

By: Andrew Bard Schmookler

Andrew Bard Schmookler — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:48:13 +0000

Good to hear from you again, Lee. I hope you have been, and are, OK.

By: lee Ferrell

lee Ferrell — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:30:56 +0000

If we still lived like our ancestors, beyond all modern conveniences,, disposing of the body’s waste would be no problem. As it is, keeping the lid down is safer, for all small things. Throughout my life, I always leaned down to deposit my bladders content making it easier by far for who ever has to clean up. This comes from working in hospital as a ‘house-person”

Greetings all the NSB crew from a new “home”… (which isn’t really).

Namaste….

By: Hanu Man Ji

Hanu Man Ji — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:40:17 +0000

Andy,

This is by far your best essay yet.

By: Robin Pettit

Robin Pettit — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:04:02 +0000

My solution to women going to the bathroom at night is to install dimmer switches on all bathrooms so the lights can only just barely be on so as not to blind or damage the ability to see in the dark and yet have enough light to see the state of the toilet and it’s integral seat and lid. I’ve put them on the two bathrooms upstairs near the bedrooms so this can be done. Not sure if my wife partakes of the opportunity, but it is there.

By: Andrew Bard Schmookler

Andrew Bard Schmookler — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 04:10:40 +0000

I certainly would agree, Ken Mayers, that the proportions involved influence what justice demands. Greatest good for the greatest number! Majority rules! (And all that.) Married with five daughters, I would think that lowering the seat was only fair.

As it is, I am particularly mindful at night of the very problem your late wife cited, of the mishap in the dark. My own wife has the same concern, and while I will often leave both seat and cover down when she is asleep, I do not leave the seat up, believing that she ought not to have to be the least bit vigilant in a half-asleep state.

By: Ken Mayers

Ken Mayers — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:59:55 +0000

Elizabeth had me well trained on this issue. Her argument was that when she got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, she did not want to turn the light on — nor did she want to fall into the toilet in the dark. As one more bit of evidence on the persistence of habit, even though she died over four years ago, I still put the seat down! (Maybe it is a subconscious way of honoring her memory.)

But one more observation: the odds you mention in your piece change significantly with the gender balance in the household. I have a married friend with five daughters. You can imagine the pressures on him to conform.

By: Katrin

Katrin — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 01:50:30 +0000

Living with two boys, I actually prefer the toilet seat to be up. This way I can be sure that I won’t once again sit down on a peed upon toilet seat.

By: Andrew Bard Schmookler

Andrew Bard Schmookler — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:59:19 +0000

I appreciate, Livvie, all the ways you accommodate your husband. But why is it too much for people of both varieties to check out the seat situation before sitting or otherwise proceeding with the task at hand?

By: Olivia Mellan

Olivia Mellan — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:45:11 +0000

As one who has always felt strongly about this issue, I maintain that if by accident women sit down with the toilet seat up (I agree it might happen rarely!) that this is much more revolting that men half-asleep peeing with the seat down..

Anyway, I’m happy my husband has learned to accommodate me in this way – after all, I accommodate his needs in myriad other ways!

Livvie