This female urinal in the Dairy Queen off the Kings Highway exit of I-75 at Punta Gorda was quite the surprise when I happened across it earlier this year. This visit, I brought my camera with me. It’s not meant to be functional … anymore … but it was when installed.
The “She-inal” was created by Kathy Kidder Jones, who founded a company in Pensacola in the early 1990s to create and market her patented invention, where women are supposed to use the hose to stand while relieving themselves. Her idea got enough traction that these contraptions ended up in quite a few Dairy Queens around the country, and a few other places as well.
This is the only one I’ve happened across, and it’s now a modern museum piece. No, it’s not in any of my guidebooks.
Take aim, ladies!
From Adventurous Barbara:
Thanks for sharing this odd commode-ity! =) I need to hire whoever sold this to DQ! They are an incredible salesperson!
From Chelsea:
So…what am I missing here? A contraption like this could be useful, uh…in the wild, I guess, but in a place that already has bathrooms? What gives?
From Sandra Friend:
I’m puzzled too … I guess they figured they could fit more of them into a fast food restroom than normal toilets. This one’s just for show now, but when it was installed, it was in use!
From Jack Payne:
Kathy once worked for me in sales, and she was an incredible salesperson. The idea of this was actually a good one-how many women have had to line up at a sports arena waiting for the individual stalls to clear so they could go pee. With the she-inal, flow through the women’s room in these arenas would be much faster. At one point, in fact, the NO Superdome was interested in installing. So there, a little she-inal history from an old friend of the inventor.
From denice:
I would never use one of these. I’d pee all over myself. I can just see it now. Even though I’d rather now.