When I was little, my mom would always tell me to sit on my hands to pee in a public restroom. But it seems like I might rather have the pee on my thighs than ON MY HANDS!!!

Also, when your feet don't touch the floor it is really hard to a) squat or b) hold yourself up by your hands like my mom wanted.

Basically now I look, wipe, and sit unless I am in some skanky craphole place, in which case I will a) hold it or b) pee in a secluded area outside.

Yeah! What was with the hands thing??

Sophia's method is mine. Holding it is often a very good choice.

I'll often use a seat cover or toilet paper, but I still sit all the way down.

So my mom's horror story hasn't caused a rash (heeheeehee) of conversions to squatting, huh?

If you can squat and aim (or wield the tissue paper) I figure it's fine.

my mother got scabies from a toilet seat that was in a public venue.

Well, that's odd. I wouldn't have thought it was a good medium for much of anything, temperature-wise. But I can see how it would be most upsetting. Still, unless someone else has evidence to the contrary, I'm going to guess it's a vanishingly rare occurrence.

When you are short, it is really hard to squat. the toilet at the theatre where i work is some sort of freaky tall toilet where my feet don't touch the ground sitting on it normally!. And I am not that short (5'2"). Also, that particular bathroom is a single person, and you can tell it is cleaned/frequented by men because the waistbasket is like a 5 minute walk from the toilet, so if you have to change your tampon you have to wrap it, set it down, insert the new one, pick it up, throw it out and then wash your hands. Which requires crossing the bathroom like 4 times. Every time I am in there I move the wastebasket near to the toilet, but it always gets moved to by the door.

it always gets moved to by the door.

For the people who use paper towels to open the door, I guess.

::very glad to have urinals as an option::