The Toilet Seat Issue

I never understood the problem that people (generally women) have with the toilet seat being up. I don’t mean the lid that covers the toilet from splashes when flushing… I mean the actual seat. Now, in my life I have been lucky enough to have little contact with one of these people who believe that it is my responsibility to prepare the toilet for them to do their business. However, I started to try to understand why a woman would feel that the toilet is her personal place and as a man it is my responsibility to make sure that it feels that way when she steps into the room. I have even asked women about this strange subject throughout my life. I have gotten some interesting responses, and I have to tell you… I am very against this idea.

So, let me start by saying that the reasons that I am against this has nothing to do with the struggle of power between the two genders. I am very adamant about equality, and would never allow someone to discriminate against someone else based on their gender… Female, or Male. My reasons are a bit more realistic; so let’s jump in.

The first reason is that whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, this is really just a form of control. As much as I am all for someone feeling special, there is a difference between good control, and bad control. For example: my sister controls all the finances in her house. This is not a dominating position… This is because she is better at handling things like finances. That is good form of control and she does it for the right reasons. This toilet seat issue is a bad form of control. I have a hard time believing that I would be better suited to lift the toilet seat than any other person. It is little more than making someone else do your work for you. So what does that make you? Lazy: Perhaps. Manipulative: Definitely. A Jerk: Well, you see where I am going.

I was actually told that one of the threats of not putting the toilet seat down is when the woman enters late at night to pee. Stumbling through the dark she will plop down on the unseated toilet, fall through, and land in the water. To this, my only response was to bust out laughing. Let me ask you, if YOU fell through the toilet, how could you possibly blame someone else? Women don’t want to be known as dumb, and over the years many have shaken off those cliques that have put them in a bad light but you mean to tell me that it never occurred to these late night stumblers to turn on the light as they entered the room? And you are going to blame men for that? There is just no way around that… No one is to blame other than the person who failed to A) Turn on the light, and B) Check the toilet before sitting on it.

My sister said that she (who is not one of these people who believes in this rule) thinks it is because the woman feels that if she needs to clean the toilet, then the man need to use it her way. To this, I totally agree. That being said, I will clean the oven, car, clocks, and bank accounts… We will eat what I want, do things when I want, go where I want (and while in the car listen to what I want) and I will buy what I want. That’s how this works… Right?

I have 2 potential solutions here, should I ever meet one of these women.

1) I will put the toilet seat down when I am done, if you put it up when you are done. It’s only fair.

2) I will also not turn on the light when I stumble in at night to pee… And when I come in the next morning to find that the floor mats are wet and smell bad, like you, I will take no responsibility. Since there is no way that I am in control of myself or what happens around me.

Or, secret option #3) since we are playing these controlling stereotypical roles. You will never once find the toilet seat up. I will even go in there after friends do to make sure it is down… So long as there is never a day that I don’t come home to a spotless house and a fantastic dinner on the table. Deal?

Need a reminder about control? Click here to read one of my posts about my favorite kind of control.