Illustration: Eliot Wyatt. It's a busy Saturday evening in my local pub. After three vodka sodas with fresh lime and a splash of cranberry yes, I'm gay , the familiar tingle of my bladder greets me. After heading to the men's toilets, my fears are confirmed: they're mobbed. Not only is the cubicle engaged, but the dreaded queue for urinals is, unlike me, in full flow. For a man who doesn't like peeing at urinals, these circumstances present two choices.

The Atlantic Crossword

COMMENTS (45)
Every time I use the bathroom at one of my grandchildren's school events, I flash back to my own childhood. Coming face-to-face with the communal trough urinal and door-less toilet stalls triggers my feelings of juvenile embarrassment. In case a man has never used one of these urinals, eHow offers up advice on "How to Use a Trough Urinal. Communal bathing and spas have been around for thousands of years, but the concept of modesty is a relatively recent one for Western culture. Many indigenous people would play sports without any covering, and athletes in ancient Greece also competed naked. Taboos against nakedness grew in Europe in the 18th century. Women began to wear more layers of clothing and protected their modesty and avoided the gaze of men at the beach by entering the water through elaborate bathing machines.
A fear of urinals isn't often discussed, but it's more common than you'd think.
I just witnessed a man using an iPad mini during his visit to the urinal. Uhh …. We couldn't find this Tweet. In the gents. Man comes in to use the urinal, carrying an iPad. Two minutes later I see him come out of the gents, wiping the iPad. Source: Wordpress. Just dropped my iPad in a urinal.
I don't know any other doctor's wives. I get to experience the joys of his culture, which I never would have known otherwise. No hatred, bigotry, assholery, misogyny, misandry, transphobia, homophobia, racism or otherwise disrespectful commentary.