There is a sideshow trajectory in male restrooms and these carnivalesque urinals really hit the target. Urinals are rarely a topic of discussion or academic writing, but there is much to be revealed about human nature in this newest trend in men’s restrooms. Carnivalesque restrooms for men have become popular in Europe, UK, Australia, Japan and the USA, especially in trendy commercial establishments. The popularity of carnivalesque male restrooms thrives in affluent commercial venues that celebrate status and exclusivity. With the surge of global capitalism, also rises an amplified promotion of personal desire and hunger for self-gratification, even at the most basic levels of satisfaction, like urination (Bernier-Cast 21).

Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin coined the term “carnivalesque” in the early 20th century. It evolved from the word carnival, referring to the popular festivals that swept across Europe since Medieval times (Bernier-Cast 21). Carnival spirit grows out of a culture of laughter, where seriousness is abandoned for humor or even chaos. It is a radical humor that is liberation from the accepted norms of society. Carnival celebrates our base as humans:  birth, death, sexuality, ingestion and evacuation are things we all have in common.

During carnival, rules, restrictions, inhibitions of polite society are suspended to reveal the darker, hidden side of our nature and can be freely expressed. The emphasis being on “living outside of one’s self” when a “second truth” is demonstrated openly (Lachmann 124). The bizarre is on full display; sacrilegious parodies of the sacred are embraced, as well as the “irrational, inane, violent, sexual and vulgar” (Bernier-Cast 23). The breech of accepted social behavior is celebrated during carnival, making carnivalesque the perfect adjective to describe this trend in men’s public restrooms.

Now, more than a century after the first public urinals were installed, specialty men’s rooms have taken on the carnivalesque mentality.  The popularity of carnivalesque male restrooms thrives in affluent, commercial venues that celebrate status and exclusivity. Posh hotels and casinos morph the basic need to pee into a performance art experience and they relish in the novelty.

Let us explore several examples of men’s restroom and urinal designs that embody variety of different aspects of carnivalesque mentality. Each scenario, experience and performance caters to the passions of indulgence and self-gratification. Entry into these men’s rooms marks a departure from the ordinary world and sheds light onto the attraction of revealing the darker side of our human nature.

The famous Kisses urinals, made in the Netherlands by Bathroom Mania, crosses a moral line following the carnivalesque philosophy. These banks of female, glossy red lipped, open-mouthed urinals tap the grotesque aspects of carnivalesque and are found in men’s rooms worldwide. Men perversely urinate into the mouths of these huge mouthed working girls. First response may be a laugh and a shake of the head, however, in 2010 a coalition of women’s groups successfully petitioned to have Kisses removed from a Canadian restaurant on the grounds that they promoted aggression, sadism and violence against women (Bernier-Cast 31).

The Sofitel Luxury Hotel in Queensland, Australia plays on voyeurism where projections of virtual women judge, photograph and inspect the men at the urinals. One virtual woman holds a tape measure appearing to size up the penises in front of her. This surveillance and mock recording is all part of the carnivalesque atmosphere (Bernier-Cast 32). An attraction to women who belittle, criticize and put down men is a psychological disorder of some sort, but a carnivalesque game, nonetheless.

As often as urinals can be humorous, they can also be denigrating, which is another facet of carnivalesque attitude. The Century 21 Museum Hotel in Lexington, Kentucky promotes the sensation of being watched, by placing their waterfall urinals in front of a two-way mirror, which allows the user to see into the public spaces. To add to this voyeuristic pleasure, peeking eyes are projected within the mirror. One visitor expressed that he loved the sensory pleasure of urinating on the people on the other side of the mirror. He compared it to “shadowboxing…acting out his aggression with no ill effects to the unsuspecting patrons on the other side of the mirror (Bernier-Cast 32). This passive violence performance solidifies the carnivalesque spirit by mocking decent behavior and creating an alternative reality.

One man’s personal account upon entering a hotel’s stylish all white men’s room was described as a sanctuary. He had been outnumbered in a conference room with 300 women when nature called. Feeling “limp and useless in this new world order” of women, he escaped to the temple of the men’s room. He reminisced of the “ceramic alter” and being “proud, standing there, hitting the mark” before “pulling the phallic handle” to flush felt like a “kind of urinal orgasm. What a delight” (Rubel 3)! His sacrilegious comparison of a urinal to a religious alter is rooted in the carnivalesque mentality and his pseudo orgasm played along. However, this haven was not deliberately carnivalesque. He seemed to be inspired by a dilemma in his own mind, breaking out of an uncomfortable situation. No one knows how long he stayed in there, but human nature revealed its tendency toward the carnivalesque.

Mikhail Bakhtin proposed that carnivalesque acts become agents of long lasting social change by rallying a rebellious spirit in a population. So are these carnivalesque restrooms for men simply platitudes offered to half the population as a promise of social change or are they true beacons of radical reform? Some theorists of the late 20^th century, like Umberto Eco and Terry Eagleton, challenge Mikhail Bakhtin’s carnivalesque ideas about creating social change through these provocative urinals. They propose that this liberation is not a rebellion, but a game allowed by authorities in charge to make one feel like they are defiant and free to express their personal desires, when in fact nothing has changed once they zip up and exit the stage of the restroom (Bernier-Cast 33).

Bibliography:

Lachmann, R. “Bakhtin and Carnival – Culture as Counter-Culture.” Cultural Critique, no. 11, 1989, pp. 115–152. https://www-jstor-org.libproxy.uoregon.edu/stable/1354246?

Bernier-Cast, Karen. “Gargoyles, Kisses and Clowns: A Study of Carnivalesque Male Urinals and Restrooms.” Material Culture, vol. 43, no. 1, 2011, pp. 21–39.

Rubel, Christopher. “Porcelain Grace.” Ladyofthedeep.com, 14 Oct. 2018, ladyofthedeep.wixsite.com/christopherrubel/post/porcelain-grace.

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“Gargoyles, Kisses and Clowns: A Study of Carnivalesque Male Urinals and Restrooms” by Karen Bernier-Cast