urinal-etiquette

I first noticed this phenomenon when I was in middle school but didn’t fully attempt to analyze it until I was an adult. Regardless if it’s at the mall, grocery store, locker room, airport etc., why is it that 90% of men will quickly glance down towards another man’s crotch area at some point while in the men’s restroom?

I truly feel the majority of the time it’s not anything sexual. The quick glance can be done while one guy is leaving the urinal and another is approaching or one guy can be at the sink washing his hands while the other is entering the restroom and the quick glance down will happen. I believe men have always noticed other men doing it but I have never heard it discussed in open conversation amongst men.

This glance however is not done at the same frequency while actually at the urinals.

Whether if it’s at urinals with privacy walls, without privacy walls or at urinal troughs; men will usually piss and stare straight ahead in silence. A man may still size up another man (or men) from behind as he’s walking up to urinate. However usually the standard procedure is to size up, unzip, spit in the urinal and then piss in silence while staring straight ahead, looking down at your dick or up at the ceiling.

When I asked this question in a social media group, Cypher Avenue member and fellow blogger, RobFather X at Keepin’ It…REAL! said he feels the quick glance down is the equivalent of a dog smelling another dog’s butt.

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While we’re pissing in a public bathroom around other men, we’re somewhat in a vulnerable state. I think consciously or maybe subconsciously; men size each other up…it’s a competitive thing. Most times it’s harmless with no type of aggression behind it but it still happens. Is this glance a part of our instinctual mammalian brains quickly doing a threat assessment?

Have you witnessed the split second men’s restroom glance down? Have you noticed that maybe you have done it yourself? Why do you think it happens? What say you?

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