I have a tiny bladder. It’s plagued me all my life. After just two beers, I have to pee every five minutes. Back and forth to the bathroom. Doing the pee-pee dance in line. “I’ll be right back,” to my friends over and over. It drives me crazy.
But it’s a whole lot better than peeing in the street. Oddly (to me anyway), public peeing is actually a pretty common problem. From Czech Republic to Germany to India, many people think nothing of dropping trou and relieving themselves – and not always for lack of toilets.
Not everyone is on board with the idea of peeing in the streets, however. And communities have some pretty creative ideas to discourage the practice.
The UK outlet Metro shows how frustrated citizens are trying to shame public pee-ers into locating a toilet. The sign threatens to record those who pee in public, then post the show to YouTube for all to see. No word on whether anyone’s potty break has gone viral yet.
In Czech Republic, this is how you threat people, so they don't do bad things... pic.twitter.com/fk0MyBuqQf
— Marek Sotak (@sotak) August 19, 2014Sick of drunken visitors peeing on walls, a community organization in the German city of Hamburg’s party district, St. Pauli, has taken a slightly more subtle approach. Bored Panda shows how the organization coated walls around the neighborhood with superhydrophobic coatings – some marked, some not. Coated walls repel liquid, so those looking to relieve themselves get a splashy surprise.
Sounds like a brilliant way to discourage public peeing to me. And since some, but not all, of the coated walls are marked, peeing in public can result in a rather nasty surprise. As one resident puts it, “It’s pee back time.”
In India, there actually is a problem with lack of access to toilets – more than half a billion residents still don’t have basic sanitation. But the common sight of men peeing in the street is also cultural. A BBC story demonstrates that it’s often cultural norms, not lack of access, that turn almost any street into a makeshift restroom. When the author asked a man he saw peeing in the street why he hadn’t waited to get home, the man replied, “This is India sir... this is what we do.”
Still, many in India are trying to shift this tradition. The BBC author, on his way home spotted a wall covered with images of gods, a strong deterrent to wall peeing for a deeply religious community.
Another BBC story tells of a public shaming strategy in western Indian state of Rajasthan, where a group of residents gather to bang on drums, blow a whistle and shout at those they spot peeing outside.
It’s one thing to try to deter drunk (or lazy) people from relieving themselves wherever they like. It’s quite another to consider what it would be like not to even have the option of a safe, clean toilet to use when nature calls. That would be enough to convince me and my tiny bladder to stop drinking beer altogether.
If you want to help make sure everyone can pee in private, sign the petition now to help ensure everyone gets access to clean water and sanitation in 2015!