Picture this: You're on vacation in Paris, walking along the Seine, and you really have to pee. Your hotel is too far away, and none of the nearby cafes have public restrooms. What do you do?
Well, thanks to Paris' new sidewalk urinals, you now have the option to pee right on the street — provided you can pee standing up.
Yes, that red box is what you think it is, and yes, that man is doing what you think he's doing.
The City of Paris started installing these sidewalk urinals, called Uritrottoir, earlier this year. And they really give a whole new meaning to the idea of PUBLIC toilets.
The toilets don't just cut back on the number of people peeing in the streets — they also help plants grow. Each Uritrottoir has a little flower bed on top, and...let's just say that these plants get all the watering they need from passerby.
But not everyone is happy about the addition of these sidewalk urinals — some are downright pissed. Cuz, y'know, it's not the most pleasant sight to walk by on an afternoon stroll.
Some have also called the devices sexist, since you can only use them if you can pee standing up.
“They have been installed on a sexist proposition: men cannot control themselves (from the bladder point of view) and so all of society has to adapt,” feminist advocate Gwendoline Coipeault told Reuters. “The public space must be transformed to cause them minimum discomfort.”
