High technology that even in principle can benefit only half the population, and in practice maybe one-tenth of it... well, what I said.

Edited to add:

Public toilets in London are, or were, a byword for men having anonymous sex with each other. Doubtless that's why Westminster, in its wisdom, wants these things to be (a) small and (b) retractable.

[ November 02, 2002: Message edited by: 'lance ]

T (age 6, the oldest) decided he needed to pee, and whipping out his young trusty *ahem,* proceeded to do so against a nearby fence. M (age 4, youngest) decided she should do this too. She flashed down her panties. Proudly, with admirable arc, she stood beside T and peed in lively fashion against the fence.

Well. If M could do it, so could I, right? Being irredeemably stupid even then at age 5, I similarly downed panties and dribbled fully (and woe, unstoppably) into both my shoes.

I thought it very odd, to be honest. Why would women need such a thing? Obviously, women have been peeing outside for many thousands of years before the invention of toilets, so why the need for an apparatus?

But of course this is still yet another (little) consumer product created to deal with socially-imposed modesty.