That's an attention getting headline if I ever saw one. So the P-Mate is becomming popular in Belgium. Any chance it will catch on here? http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com/todaysstories/standsept25.htm From the Sports Business News Stand and Deliver - A New Gadget Promises Female Fans Instant Relief: Don't you hate it when this happens? Your female companion at a big concert or sporting event needs to use the facilities. "Back in a minute," she says - only to be gone for half an hour, returning peeved off and frustrated at having missed so much of the game or show. "How come there are a hundred johns for guys," she asks, only half rhetorically, "and only three for women?" You stifle the obvious answer--"Well, duh-uh, it's a freaking ball park, dearie"--and sympathize as best you can. "Yeah, honey, they sure ought to put more women's washrooms in these places…." As most SBN readers will know, it isn't that simple. Stadium costs must be recouped somehow. Bathroom allocation will be based on projected usage. The fact that some events will attract more women than others is just "one of those things" to bottom-line-oriented facilities managers. Even so, the day may soon come when the more enlightened among them offer their female customers an alternative: introducing the "P-Mate"! According to a report from Reuters, the P-Mate is a cone-shaped device made of disposable, water-resistant cardboard, which permits a female facilities-user to stand and deliver alongside the guys. It roughly resembles a popcorn container, and was invented by Moon Zijp, a conceptual artist living in Amsterdam. Some 100,000 of the funnel-like doodads have been sold in the last six months in Belgium and the Netherlands, mostly to music festival fans who face huge line-ups for toilets that are often filthy and flooded. Ms Zijp got her original inspiration traveling in Indonesia. While her men friends could pee standing up, Ms Zijp found that "I had to go into the bushes, and it was difficult because of snakes and spiky things. Or the toilet was basically a hole in the ground, and I peed on my shoes every time." As we all know, disgust is the mother of invention. So Ms Zijp experimented with glossy magazine covers as raw materials, and hand-folded the first few thousand of the gadgets. Eventually she switched to a machine that can cut, fold and glue about 50,000 P-Mates each day. So far the product is available only at Body Shop stores in the Benelux countries, or via the Internet (at www.plastuit.nl), and they cost about $2 apiece, or $3.20 for a five-pack of the "pocket-sized" version. (Presumably the target market is not heavily purse-oriented.) Ever curious about the future of the sports business, SBN can't help wondering if the P-Mate will catch on in North America. This might permit stadium builders to assign a certain number of washrooms as "dual-gender", thus allowing them to stream the fans - so to speak - more quickly from their seats to the urinals to the beer concessions and back again. And then, of course, imagine the cost savings implied by reducing the number of sex-specific washroom facilities that need to be included in stadium designs. Still, there must be some SBN readers who will react by saying either: "Hey, that's not my buddy, that's me you're talking about--bring it on!" … or, "The day my wife stands beside me at the urinal during the seventh-inning stretch is the day I put a big-screen TV in the den, never to emerge again!" Time will tell if men and women will ever stand side by side, united in their resolve to avoid missing a single kick-off, or pitch, or face-off at a big-ticket pro sports event. [Based on a Reuter's story by Heleen Van Geest and Karen Iley, which appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on September 22, 2000; contributed by SBN staffer R. C. Noyes.] ------------------ Stay Cool...
Well, no offense to either gender, but the day men and women start sharing public restrooms is the day I start buying Depends. On a more serious note though, wouldn't this just wreak havoc with sexual harrassment issues? Seems like you'd be inviting problems.
I can't see this EVER happening in the states -- but I've been wrong before. I'm with rascal bring on the Depends. ------------------ - hoopjunkie www.GotstaGetsPaid.com
Not going to happen. No girlfriend of mine would be using the Men's restroom. Personally I think it's best that we don't expose women to exactly how filthy our restrooms are. The longer we keep that secret, the longer they'll want to stick around. ------------------ Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me...you.
Actually, I've heard that female restrooms are far, far dirtier than the average men's room, especially inside the stalls. Some magazine did a study. ------------------ My dream job is to be a Houston Rockets towel-boy.
Good thing all our new stadiums are equipped with many, MANY more women's restrooms (including the new arena). That is becoming a trend in new stadiums, thankfully. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
Actually, I'm glad we don't have to deal with this problem. It sounds like they don't exactly have luxury restrooms all around. Note the paragraph: So Jeff, you are saying the new arena will have better facilities? ------------------ Stay Cool...
Turbo: You know I did!!! dc: According to the report from the Rockets, this arena will have a TON more women's restrooms. Anything would be better than the CC. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
It's actually state law that there has to be more women's facilities than men's in any new buildings where the public congregates. I believe the law was passed after a woman got fed up with waiting in line for the women's room at the Alamodome and used the men's rest room (and was arrested if memory serves). After that, the Legislature passed what is known as the Potty Parity Law which requires there to be more women's facilities than men's (the legal ratio is 2 women's facilities for every men's facility). Any facility built or significantly remodeled after January 1, 1994 has to comply with this law. ------------------ Houston Sports Board DFW Sports Board
