Continuing my meander through the 50+ books published out of the MFA program in Creative Nonfiction at University of King’s College …

If you’re a parent, you know what it’s like to be out somewhere, anywhere, when your young child suddenly needs a toilet … and there are none to be found. This was the repeated experience Lezlie Lowe (class of 2016) had when she had young children, and it was what she chose to write about when she undertook her master’s degree in creative nonfiction.

An easy-flowing read replete with really good bathroom humour, No Place to Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs (Coach House Books, 2018) was an eye opener for me. I’ve raised three children, but I’d never thought of all the reasons people need public restrooms. The text on the back of the book mentions some of the people being failed by a global lack of attention to one of people’s most basic needs. People like “the homeless who, faced with no place to go sometimes must literally take to the streets,” a problem that became even more pronounced during the Covid pandemic. And “people with invisible disabilities, like Crohn’s disease, who stay home rather than risk soiling themselves on public transit.” 

That one got me. I have Crohn’s disease, which flared up right around the time I started the MFA program. It was embarrassing having to get up and go to the toilet several times during morning lectures and mentor groups, but at least we were in a building with toilets nearby. If I’d been at home … let’s just say I would have stayed at home all morning. 

But public restrooms fail a lot of people, like girls who need a bathroom right now when their period suddenly gushes through their pad or tampon. And trans people, who face bigotry every time they use a public restroom. Women are habitually underserved by bathroom stalls that are equal in number to men’s urinals. Several studies calling for “potty parity” argue that, considering clothing differences, menstruation, and anatomy, women’s washrooms should have twice as many stalls as men’s have urinals. 

Parents of children still in diapers become very aware of the need to find a clean and dry place to lay a child down for a change, especially if it’s a messy one. And don’t get me started on pay toilets. I thought these monstrosities were things of the past until I went to Scotland during the summer of 2024 and found myself without the appropriate coinage to answer nature’s call in a public mall. 

There are solutions, and Lowe writes about one of the best: “The Portland Loo is a vandalism-proof, twenty-four-hour flush-toilet enclosure. An anti-tech fix for on-street public bathrooms. The Loos are simple, oval-shaped rooms with a toilet. They’re spacious enough to fit strollers, wheelchairs, and even bikes. In contrast to the high-tech entrances, timers, and air-conditioning systems at work in conventional APTS [automatic public toilets] like those in Toronto and New York, Portland Loos are naturally lit and ventilated and completely off grid. They also happen to be an example of the successful use of crime prevention through environmental design—louvred sides allow people on the outside to see that there’s someone inside while maintaining privacy, and exterior handwashing sinks get people right out after they use them.” Best of all, they’re designed for everyone. Free to use, taxpayer supported. A true public service. 

It may just be the phenomenon that once you become aware of something, it seems to start popping up all around you all the time, but it seems to me that the tide toward more and better public toilets is slowly turning. And Lowe’s book might very well have had something to do with that. I can’t think of a better reason to be a writer. 

Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

“I never would have thought of that” books:

Craigdarroch Castle in 21 Treasures, by Moira Dann.

The Fruitful City: The Enduring Power of the Urban Food Forest, by Helena Moncrieff.

The Worst Songs in the World: The Terrible Truth about National Anthems, by David Pate.