The City With Some Of The Oddest Public Restrooms In Europe
One of the most uncomfortable situations you can be in while exploring a new city is trying to find the nearest bathroom, and realizing there's nowhere to go. If you often find yourself in this situation, the city of Amsterdam has you covered — as long as you're an able-bodied cisgender man. Meet the "plaskrul," which literally translated means "pee curl." This spiral-shaped iron structure allows men to urinate in public with a minimal sense of privacy. These odd public European bathrooms are scattered all throughout Amsterdam, but are mainly located, perhaps unsurprisingly, in the city's red light district. TikTok user @noxolo5048 demonstrates how it's used.
@noxolo5048 If you saw a toilet like this on the street,would you use it?#interesting #tiktok #foryou #fyp #usa🇺🇸
While the bottom of the urinal is blocked off for privacy, the top is mesh so that passersby can see the urinal is in use. Inside, there is no water system, just a drain that leads right into the canal — which means there's nowhere for you to wash your hands (gross!). It's suspected these urinals are not cleaned regularly, so be even more sure to wash your hands as soon as you can.
These public urinals serve a purpose other than providing a place for men to relieve themselves in public. They're meant to discourage public urination, especially in the city's many canals. Public urination is illegal. Not only will offenders have to pay a fine that's anywhere from €90 to €140, they may also risk death: On average, 18 people die each year from falling into a canal, per The Times, with an estimated 10% of them doing so while peeing.
Is gender equality down the drain?
While it's fairly easy for able-bodied cisgender men to step off to the side of a public street and take care of business, as long as they're not weird about passing pedestrians knowing (and maybe watching) what they're doing, it's a lot more complicated for women. Because of how these urinals are constructed, it's pretty much impossible for women to use. As of 2020, there were 112 public restrooms in Amsterdam, and fewer than half of them were accessible to women or to people with ambulatory disabilities. And while city officials said they're working on expanding access, while removing some of these kruls, some say not enough has been done.
Many protests took place in the city for years, after a woman was fined €140 in 2015 for urinating in an alleyway. It was an act of desperation because she couldn't find a women's restroom — even though there was no shortage of men's urinals nearby. Thousands took to the streets of Amsterdam to demand what they called "urination equality," per The Guardian. Finally in April 2024, the city gave in to the demand, starting with mobile toilets in public parks and access to restrooms in government buildings, such as police stations and firehouses. After a 9-year battle, city officials finally announced that more public toilets accessible to women and people with disabilities would be available starting in late 2024.