Public toilets-a new concept

[RBSinTo]

This was taken yesterday in Kensington Market, here in Toronto, and while I've been coming here since I was born (my Grandparents lived here for many years and it is where my mother and her siblings were born and raised) I have never seen anything like this in over forty years of shooting.
I was on my way to meet a photobud in the Market when I noticed a mother squatting over the edge of the sidewalk, holding her young daughter who was peeing on the sidewalk and road, while the father rummaged through the stroller for a fresh diaper or underpants, and a woman who I assume was a grandmother simply stood by and nonchalantly watched. This is not what I ever understood the phrase "public toilet" to mean, but I guess I'm just a bit old-fashioned when it comes to these things, and just not up with the times. Had to be seen to be believed, so I grabbed this shot.
Nikon D3
zoom-Nikkor 24~70 2.8 AF-S G ED
f8 @ 1/125th ISO 200

[rpcrowe]

Not a new concept at all - as old as history in Asia... IMO, not exactly the norm for Canada though!

[pschlute]

Not a new concept at all - as old as history in Asia... IMO, not exactly the norm for Canada though!

Not just in Asia. i saw this at the end of my road in suburban Surrey, UK. But I take the view that if you need to go, well you need to go !

[RBSinTo]

Not just in Asia. i saw this at the end of my road in suburban Surrey, UK. But I take the view that if you need to go, well you need to go !

Peter,
I suppose its about standards of behavior in public places. Dogs also copulate and defecate on public streets, but we don't use that as a rationalization to permit ourselves to follow suit.
We're presumed to hold ourselves to higher standards.
As I go careening into my Golden Years I find myself blessed with the need to pee every two hours, day or night, but I've yet to urinate in a public place. I grit my teeth and hold it until I get to a loo. But that's just me.
Robert

[rpcrowe]

Peter,
I suppose its about standards of behavior in public places. Dogs also copulate and defecate on public streets, but we don't use that as a rationalization to permit ourselves to follow suit.
We're presumed to hold ourselves to higher standards.
As I go careening into my Golden Years I find myself blessed with the need to pee every two hours, day or night, but I've yet to urinate in a public place. I grit my teeth and hold it until I get to a loo. But that's just me.
Robert

So do I, I hold it as painful as it often gets. However that is our culture. In many places in Asia, kids urinating and defecating on the public streets are quite usual and don't get a second glance. Also you will see kids wearing bottoms that are open to facilitate such behavior.

Is it wrong- heck yes! Not just from a cultural point - we are different that way but, difference doesn't mean that one group is right and the other is wrong. It is wrong from a health and sanitation standard. Of course viewing the meat markets in many parts of the world, sanitation is not always considered a primary virtue.

Along both health and cultural lines, spitting on the streets in China was one thing that the Chinese government tried to eliminate or at least limit when the Olympics were held in Beijing. I don't think it worked all permanently as evidenced my my trip to Beijing and other areas of China several years after the Olympics were over.

[Manfred M]

While I have not seen this practice in North America, I'm certainly not surprised.

As Richard has mentioned, this happens all over Asia and I have definitely run into it in Europe a number of times as well.

[pschlute]

Peter,

As I go careening into my Golden Years I find myself blessed with the need to pee every two hours, day or night, but I've yet to urinate in a public place. I grit my teeth and hold it until I get to a loo. But that's just me.
Robert

Perhaps I should have elaborated. The incident I was referring to was a very young kid accompanied by her mother.

[rpcrowe]

I remember how shocked I was as a young sailor in Beirut Lebanon seeing a public male urinal which was just the wall of a building along a street exposed for all to see. It didn't take me long to get experienced and not surprised or shocked at anything

[Cogito]

. Had to be seen to be believed, so I grabbed this shot.

Gosh! In your golden years you still feel the urge to photograph little girls having a pee? What's the problem? Since many responders to this thread seem to be over 70, I'd be willing to bet that all responders have at some time
had a public pee. At what age"? I wouldn't care to comment.
The Toronto market has many, many other photographic views, perhaps you could concentrate on them?

[xpatUSA]

Gosh! In your golden years you still feel the urge to photograph little girls having a pee?

A bit of spin there and quite derogatory in it's implication ...

[Cogito]

No less derogatory than the posted image....
and I repeat -

The Toronto market has many, many other photographic views, perhaps you could concentrate on them?

[xpatUSA]

No less derogatory than the posted image....

Which leaves us with your "In your golden years, you still feel the urge to photograph little girls having a pee?" as opposed to his "I grabbed a shot".

The implication is quite clear ... whatever you claim otherwise.

I'll allow you the coveted Last Word - I'm done.

[Donald]

The sort of tone that this thread has descended into, with insults and insinuations flying around, is not what we want or expect on CiC.

The thread is now closed.