The great toilet seat debate

I thought I'd start this topic and get some opinions.

We men have been told for years, sometimes rather tersely, that we are to put the toilet seat down before we leave the bathroom. What no woman has ever been able to explain to me is why they think this is proper. To me this sounds as ridiculous as a man getting upset because he found the seat down.

It seems that women pass this tradition on to their daughters, but never explain to them why they should insist, only that men are rude if they don't set it down for them. I've read a comment several years ago that women don't want to touch the seat. That answer makes no sense as much more contact is involved once the seat is down. Anyone have an opinion or explanation of this baffling mindset?

women rule the world...

my dad passed that down to me without explaination

I don't know for sure, but women get especially mad if they go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (it's dark and turning on the light hurts your eyes) and they sit down and "fall in'' the toilet. Face it, if you are in a hurry and need to sit down, you might not see that the seat is up. Yuck.
I got a very strong lecture when I was a kid about that one. From my mother. After she had "fallen in".

I'm sure that they'd rather put the seat up afterwards, and not sit on a wet seat.

That way they'd always expect it up.

My first wife complained, she's gone.

Present wife says these women "should get a life"

More important things to worry about.

As it is, I have PIR battery lights in each toilet anyway, helps with aiming.

(No, I don't aim at the light !!)

At one of the "&*&^&*" Military outposts I visited regularly (deep in the Amazon basin) the Officer's latrine featured a Porcelain Throne. Just the Throne. No seat up/down problem. No seat. No lid. No tank.
To flush, dip a bucket into a 55 gal drum of rain water and dump into Throne. Effluent went outside and ran down the hill toward the enlisted quarters. (Yes, all armies are the same).

Another proud possesion was a pressure cook pot, just the thing to tenderize that Sunday dinner of armidillo stew.

Older Army guys will remember the "P... Tubes" a 4" drain pipe stuck into the ground at a 45 degree angle (I'm sure it went into a drain field of gravel or something -- I never checked). Was not surrounded by a privacy fence. This was not the co-ed Army.

I got one of those pass-along emails once that had a list of men's rules for women. My favorite one:

"You're a big girl now; put the seat down yourself."

abvidledUK said:

Present wife says these women "should get a life"

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Definitely a well-adjusted gal !...at least on this point.

I had a roomie who would get up in the middle of the night and straggle to the bathroom without turning any lights on, then complain about 'falling' into the toilet with the lid up, as if it was our fault (the guys). I'm pretty sure she figured how to stop falling into the toilet.

Not all women are going to like this one:

Just face it, we want it up, they want it down... There is no winning this argument. My advice, be a good boy and put it down when you're done. Saves you from a lot of nagging...

All ladies turn away now please...

And then there is the possibility of using this toiletseat-down-obsession. Always put the seat down until she is used to it. When you need her to do something (works best with returning issues) start forgetting to put the seat down. Slowly build up the number of times you "forget" to put it down. After a while she will start nagging again, at this moment tell her that you will pay extra attention to the toiletseats position if she will .... whatever you want her to do...

If I ever had the chance to build a new house the first thing I would have put in my bathroom would be a urinal. A self flushing one would be nice. I have always wondered why people (men at least) do not have them in their homes.

Keep the seat AND the lid down. It's bad enough when you go over to someone's house and their dog plants a big, sloppy, wet kiss on you...just keep the seat AND the lid down, please!

LifeNRA said:

If I ever had the chance to build a new house the first thing I would have put in my bathroom would be a urinal. A self flushing one would be nice. I have always wondered why people (men at least) do not have them in their homes.

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Ahh, EXACTLY!!!!

Since I always sit down to go (both #1 and #2), I keep the seat down all the time and nobody is bothered by it.
And when I move to my new place in a couple of days, I'll have my own bathroom, and the seat will always be down.

LifeNRA said:

If I ever had the chance to build a new house the first thing I would have put in my bathroom would be a urinal. A self flushing one would be nice. I have always wondered why people (men at least) do not have them in their homes.

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My thoughts exactly! My parents had 5 boys and now that we're having our own boys (go go genetics) a self flushing urinal would be the best appliance in the house!

There is an easier solution!

Continually urinate on the seat, but apologize profusely when she complains. Soon she'll learn to lift it when she finishes, and put it back down when she needs it!

No, I don't have the guts to try it, but a friend swears it works!

Bill

Some interesting opinions so far. I wonder if the women who object because they didn't bother to turn on the lights, also complain if they find the seat up during daylight hours.

To add another angle; when I was a child I was told by my mother to always put the lid down because we had kittens in the house that could fall in. Later when they became full grown cats it was to keep them from drinking out of the bowl. This all made sense and I always kept the lid down for the sake of the pets as this was blue chemical water. Years later with no pets around I decided it was time to "reprogram" myself as there was no need to continue the practice. This eventually led me to the debate about why men are supposed to put the seat down. Like I said, no woman has yet to come up with a logical reason why. To avoid confrontation I simply put down the seat, and lid down too, which seems to quell the potty princesses I encounter.

I do have a theory of why women get into this mindset: Those women who grew up sharing the bathroom with a brother(s) don't care one way or another as they have learned how to adapt to any seat position at an early age. The women who have grown up with their own bathroom, or only had a sister(s) to share it with, are accustomed to always finding the seat set for them. I grew up sharing the bathroom with one sister and she never became a potty princess. She never once complained about the seat, and I never complained about the nylons hanging from the shower rod or everything being covered in a fine layer of body powder. She did have, and still does, this odd habit of letting the seat drop which results in a rather loud slamming sound that can be heard throughout whatever house she is in; which leads me to believe this is all learned behavior which carries over into adulthood.

I work on the theory that like happiness we are all responsible for the state of our own toilet seats. I put the seat back down when I remember, but I'm absent minded & forget on occasion. IMO the best compromise is to leave the seat & cover down, but the women who complain about this are not interested in this compromise. They want convenience & control.

Edited to add: There's a worse type. The ones that want a guy to sit down to go. I'd trade her in before I'd agree to that kind of manipulation & control.

Sub_Umbra said:

Keep the seat AND the lid down. It's bad enough when you go over to someone's house and their dog plants a big, sloppy, wet kiss on you...just keep the seat AND the lid down, please!

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I agree totally with Sub - it's a matter of housekeeping.

Do you leave your kitchen cupboards or drawers open?