There’s a common bathroom argument that never fails to rile me up: The issue of whether you should leave the toilet seat up or down after you go (yes, I have a lot opinions on bathroom stuff).
Traditional gender “rules” imply that men leave the seat up because they pee with the seat up, while women leave the seat down for their own bathroom-going reasons. It’s caused many spirited debates in my life, online, and in TV shows and movies. Gender presentation and identity issues aside, I have a problem with this whole argument, and it’s that it’s entirely moot. You know why? Because we should all just shut the toilet lid completely after going to the bathroom. Forget the seat!
If there’s a lid on the toilet (more on that in a minute), then the best thing to do is to shut the lid before flushing. Not only does this shut the book on the seat argument (because closing the lid thereby folds down the seat), it also is more hygienic. Thanks to a lovely-sounding phenomenon called “toilet plume,” a flushing toilet easily spreads fecal matter to the surrounding area, which is particularly bad if you’re sick and using the toilet. Those germy particles can reach a height of 2.7 feet, and even if they’re not the kind of germs that’ll get you sick, they’re also not exactly what you want coating your toothbrush.
Beyond that (*takes off lab coat*), closing the toilet lid whenever it’s not in use is just a smart idea. An open body of water in the bathroom is just begging you to drop in your phone, keys, wallet, or any other toiletries you have hovering nearby. As a clumsy person whose toilet is snuggled right up next to a shelf, I’m always gently (or not so gently) reminding visitors to please shut the lid, lest they have to play a too-literal and not-fun real-life version of Go Fish for Terri’s hairbrush or Sarah’s phone.
This is all, of course, if there is a lid at all. Many public restrooms and some homes and private spaces don’t have a lid. If you live with other people and have no lid, have a conversation about toilet seat expectations before you get into a passive-aggressive war of up vs. down. Outside the home, what you do with the seat is up to you, but keep this in mind: defaulting to putting the seat down means fewer people have the possibility of unwittingly parking their butt right on the rim. And come on, who wants that?
by Terri Pous
http://www.thisoldtoilet.com
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