Ladybag vs. P-Mate

I'm not much of an adventurous peer pee-er (that is, one who pees). I like plumbing, or at the very least, an actual toilet seat. So since I haven't encountered or used either of these products, it's more like a mental would-you-rather type of game for me. Camping season is upon us, so this seems like a good time to pose the question. Which would you prefer?

Exhibit A: The Ladybag

Basically, a plastic bag filled with absorbent crystals. You pee in the bag, the crystals absorb the liquid, and then you can throw away your pee gel. I'm not sure what purpose is served by the four protrusions on the sides. (Want to play Germany or Florida with this one?)

Exhibit B: P-Mate

A funnely thing you hold up to your crotch to enable you to pee while standing. This seems like it would really broaden the horizons about where you can do your business.

Or does everyone else have some foolproof top-secret outdoorsy peeing style I am unaware of?? I don't think I've ever peed outside in my adult life. Is that sad?

"Tyrrannical Toilet Rules"

Real quick: An [unknown] boss in Norway has recently required his female staff to wear red bracelets during their periods to explain why they use the bathroom more frequently.

This seems to be the final straw in a broader series of invasive bathroom-policing policies:

66 per cent of managers made staff ask them for an electronic key card to gain access to the toilets so they could monitor breaks. 

Toilets in one in three companies were placed under video-surveillance, while other firms made staff sign a toilet 'visitors book', the report by the Parat union said.

Thanks to Jezebel and TheUndomestic.

Great post on menstrual cups

A friend of mine put up a great post yesterday on menstrual cups, including pros & cons as well as an instructional video: check it out!

Take a seat

The tricky thing about trying to maintain a blog like this is that many of my post ideas are precariously close to gratuitous TMI posts that I really shouldn't put out into the internet. I think this may be one of those posts.

Okay. So. Toilet seat covers. I don't get it. I don't use them, and I don't get why other people would. The way I see it, public toilets, on a case-by-case basis, fall into one of three categories for me:

1. perfectly fine, perfectly clean toilet--most toilets. I have no problem sitting there.

2. toilet seat with some sort of... um.... we'll say "blemish"--maybe 5-10% of public toilets. These are toilet seats with (a tiny bit of) pee on them, or maybe a rando square of toilet paper, but nothing shocking. I may or may not sit there, but I'm certainly not above hovering over it. It seems grosser to spend time covering up said blemishes with gross tissue paper that you're then going to have to touch again to throw away.

3. toilets/bathrooms where something ungodly has happened--I can only think of a handful of times I've encountered this. And every time, I escaped immediately. There are not enough toilet seat covers in the world that will keep me anywhere that's been smeared with poop. That's all... I really have to say... about that....

I just don't get it. It seems more unhygenic to try to use one, and really, what are you protecting yourself from? It's not like you're rubbing your vag all over the seat... it's just the back of your legs. For like 30 seconds. So wtf? Someone explain.

Related: the WORST IDEA EVER, via regretsy.com