edit: I am a man and the only man in this scenario
This happened some time ago. I was driving and stopped on a gas station. probably for coffee and had to go pee. I saw a long queue of around fifteen to twenty exclusively 30-something girls, definitely bit older than me. They probably were a sports team, since there was a hired couch bus waiting outside and they were mostly wearing sweats. There were separate stalls for men and women (one each), so I went for the men’s room. It turned out locked, so I stood just outside it. One of the girls in the queue said that the back of the queue is “back there”. I replied “sure, but I’m going to the men’s room”, understandably assuming they were queueing for the ladies room. To which she said “yeah but there’s one queue for both”. I am familiar with the concept of shared queues, but mostly from supermarkets or post office, where you would queue for several checkouts and just go to the first one that is free. Never encountered shared queues for gender-separated toilets, so I said “but the toilets are separate, I’m going to the men’s room and you can queue for the ladies room” and simply went in without any more protest from them when the men’s room emptied (and it was another girl in there).
Were I the asshole?
I am not going to be convinced to change my answer, I am sorry. In rural regions of the United States you would be considered very rude. Good news is, according to the reaction to my answer, elsewhere in the world you would not be considered rude.
oh perhaps I should have mentioned originally that this wasn’t in a rural area at all, so it’s not like I could go on a tree
here’s a though experiment. what if suddenly a bus load of men pulled over and a similar number of man to the women already queueing wanted to use the men’s room simultaneously: should they queue separately for the men’s room or all queue after the women? I’m honestly interested in your take on that
The men would venture forth to find other places to pee. The expectation in the culture is that men tolerate the intrusion and hold it or find new and exciting unmarked places to pee.
this wasn’t a rural area, no trees or exciting unmarked places to pee which wouldn’t raise a risk of public urination fine. anyway, assume they all need to poop. what then?
I don’t know the high density population rules. As for your hypothetical: they still secede the bathrooms to the women. At first I was bewildered “how could this even be a aita question” but now that I am the crazed man saying “in the south women have greater access to public restrooms, its true!” I find it kind of funny.
though I do somehow feel convinced we are beyond gendered bathrooms
Lol, I thought it was a funny play on words since I was describing the ways of the redneck. All well 🤷♂️
Worry not, I got it: secession of toilets. My point about us (lowercase) as a society being beyond gendered toilets was a parallel though (: