Millions 'hit by toilet phobia'
If I take the piss or poo-poo this story I'll probably offend someone.
And I probably shouldn't, anyway. I just wonder whether a headline like this is just a hysteric reaction to a normal and common problem, or whether it's an excuse to overlook a greater problem.
I'll ignore children and the various issues around potty training and teenage self-consciousness, because they're different. Or maybe not. Stories abound of appalling toilet facilities at schools, schools that refuse to supply loo paper, or girls schools with inadequate disposal facilities. If you want to screw someone up for life, start young.
Comedy sketches and blog entries rebound with stories of situational toilet shyness. I guess almost everyone has this occasionally. I know many people who get anxious, even subconsciously, at the thought that there might not be facilities when they most need them - in a long film, stuck in a traffic jam or on an Intercity train. I also know of people with specific medical conditions, including men with prostate trouble and women with pelvic floor muscles weakened by childbirth, who have legitimate concerns about being caught short. I have encountered people who believe themselves to have small bladders. I overheard a teenager saying her doctor had confirmed this; she seemed mature and wise in describing how she plans her life to get round this eg not drinking Coca Cola on a bus; her tone of voice was a mixture of resigned acceptance and an element of amused self-deprecation.
I don't think the precautions taken by any of these people amount to a phobia. It is an exasperation at the lack of facilities - often a poorly articulated exasperation, or one not followed by action. There is a genuine lack of public loos, largely because of the combination of vandalism, drug activity and cottaging and the associated expense. We discussed public loos in Labour Group. It was suggested we should introduce Superloos into the Borough. The discussion was frustratingly stalled by someone opining that they were awful because they open automatically after five minutes. Which I can understand as being potentially embarrassing, but probably less a design fault and more a control over said nefarious activities*.
Many public buildings have wholly inadequate toilet facilities. West End theatres are disgraceful and my experience in the commercial sector helps me understand why many women would choose to avoid these places. I know of pubs where the toilet facilities are so inadequate or disgusting it is unsurprising that people avoid them. Can you imagine a Ladies loo without dispensing or disposal facilities, or most importantly, a mirror!
It annoys me though that suddenly this anxiety is dressed up as a phobia. If it is a spur to persuading Local Government and Big Business to get their act together,fine. But it's more likely to be used as an excuse to brush away the rational and legitimate concerns of those that just want an acceptable standard of toilet provision. A couple of the reasons cited are OCD and Agoraphobia, which I know can be life-destroying conditions. But I don't think that 'toilet phobia' is an adequate way to describe this; any treatment should be of the entire condition, and specific symptoms should be addressed as part of an holistic approach.
* I don't regard private consensual cottaging between adults as nefarious, but I recall a situation where a teenage boy of my acquaintance refused to pee in the Gents at a railway station mid-morning because of the highly visible activity between two presumably consenting men. His companions were female so there was no scope for strength in numbers
