Using a Co-Ed Restroom

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I have a question in regards to public co-ed restrooms.

Is it morally acceptable to use a co-ed restroom? If so, what is the etiquette for using one. Specifically, I would like to know what the Church teaches about the issue.

Note: What I mean by “co-ed restrooms” here is not the single-stall type (which I would find permissible), but the multi-stall types that exist in some places.
 
where do you live? I have never seen one of these.

I doubt the Church has a teaching about something like this. I think the primary reason for these is that it is often cheaper to have one restroom instead of two. I don’t think there is any special etiquette required. All you need to do, is go in, do your business, and get out.
 
The Church does not have a teaching about every single aspect of our lives. Restroom policy is one of the areas the Church does not address. Just use common sense.
 
In desperate times, I’ve used the restroom of the Opposite Sex, but I posted a guard outside first. 😛
 
Usually, those “co-ed” or “family” restrooms are for the convenience of a mom with a couple of young children who needs the space, or a daddy with his little girl who “needs to go NOW,” or perhaps a woman or man assisting a spouse in a wheelchair or crutches, or needs other help. Simply a charitable convenience on the part of the building owner.
Absolutely nothing amiss, IMHO.
 
Actually in some countries…the many bathrooms are simply co-ed.

Each can use their own very sealed little “closet”…within the one big bathroom…

Such do exist.

(not in favor of em…but they do exist)
 
I once walked into a changing room for a public pool in France, and thought I had entered the wrong door. Then I realized that it was “co-ed”.

I just put a towel around myself and maintained “custody of the eyes” as an older nun friend of mine would call it. It was no big deal.

As for what other people do, that is their business. But I doubt that it was a big deal to them either.
 
The college residence where I lived while 5 years at the Australian National University had co-ed restrooms in the living areas. (4 co-ed restrooms per floor, with 4 stalls in each and 4 enclosed capsule-style shower cubicles in the adjoining room.) The admin block had 4 single-sex restrooms, 2 for males and 2 for females. The female restrooms had just one stall in each, no showers - not sure of the situation in the men’s restrooms!

You go in, you enter a stall, close the door behind you and lock it, do your business, exit the stall, wash your hands and get out. Every person, male and female must void waste. As long as everyone is being well-mannered and cleanly, and not trying to peek over or under the stall walls, there shouldn’t be a problem.
Likewise, if one needs to shower, you enter the capsule, lock the door behind you, shower, dry yourself, don clothes or a modest robe and return to your room.

The only problem I had with the arrangement was the tendency for some males to leave their stall door open when urinating. This is clearly unacceptable in a mixed sex environment. Men may be used to being able to see each other when urinating in public urinals, but it is not good etiquette in mixed environments. I highly doubt their mothers considered it appropriate behavior at home.
I also considered it inappropriate to hold conversations between stalls (as some females were wont to do,) particularly when that conversation was not appropriate to be heard by the opposite sex.

But surely people adhering to minimum standards of courtesy should ensure there is nothing improper whatsoever about the use of a co-ed bathroom.
 
I’m not sure why you’d find a single-stall restroom permissible, but not a multi-stall restroom. I am assuming you are worried about inadvertently seeing something you shouldn’t. However, if all people are acting with common decency, all you will see are both males and females washing their hands at the sinks. I can’t see a problem with this - it’s not a danger to you keeping custody of the eyes!

And I will second (or third!) what others have said - there is no “Catholic teaching” about this. If you are so concerned about your ability to retain modesty and/or chaste thoughts in a multi-stall restroom, then you are free to find a more suitable restroom should one be available.
 
Actually in some countries…the many bathrooms are simply co-ed.

Each can use their own very sealed little “closet”…within the one big bathroom…

Such do exist.

(not in favor of em…but they do exist)
I’ve had to use them in France and Greece. The one in Greece was particularly strange. There were two doors, one maked for men, the other for women. Both doors went into the same room.
 
I’ve had to use them in France and Greece. The one in Greece was particularly strange. There were two doors, one maked for men, the other for women. Both doors went into the same room.
Back in high school, friends from my school and a neighboring boys school spent a semester in Mexico. They mentioned this arrangement and how surprised they all were the first time. Different places, different conventions.
 
I used one in France, once, back in college. I went into one stall and my male friend into the ajoining one. Both of us found the sound effects pretty embarrassing 🙂

Weird, but definitely not a near occasion of sin!

When it was time to use the coed open shower, both of us decided to stay grungy.
 
Actually in some countries…the many bathrooms are simply co-ed.

Each can use their own very sealed little “closet”…within the one big bathroom…

Such do exist.

(not in favor of em…but they do exist)
I once walked into a changing room for a public pool in France, and thought I had entered the wrong door. Then I realized that it was “co-ed”.

I just put a towel around myself and maintained “custody of the eyes” as an older nun friend of mine would call it. It was no big deal.

As for what other people do, that is their business. But I doubt that it was a big deal to them either.
When I was young and living in Japan, it was easy to know who was new to the country. What we consider private was public. Sewers were still open. As others have stated, avert your eyes and don’t make a big deal about it.
 
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