40 Establishments That Wouldn’t Settle For Traditional Bathroom Signs

When we go out to visit a new restaurant or store, we usually take a moment to check out the decor, the customers and staff, and everything else as a form of evaluation. It’s not anything formal; just a personal assessment to see if that place pleases us or not. The bathroom is certainly not left out of this “evaluation,” and it’s not unusual for the decoration of the bathroom to match the restaurant’s entire concept. Have you ever visited a restaurant that put up an unusual sign on the door? Sometimes, the restaurant makes poor choices when choosing the design of these signs. In this article, we’re going to show you 40 examples of unusual bathroom signs. While some of them follow the concept of the establishment, some of them are borderline offensive!

Don’t bring squirrels into this!

Some bathroom signs are simply indecipherable, which is certainly not the case with the one below. The meaning is pretty clear. And once you check out this next picture, you will certainly wish that you didn’t understand what it represents.

Instead of using the words “Men” and “Women”, this restaurant chose to go with “Nuts” and “No Nuts”. While one squirrel is holding a nut and the other one is holding face powder, you can definitely tell what they meant by those names on the signs.

Are mothers the only ones supposed to change diapers?

At first sight, you will certainly not notice what is so unusual about these next bathroom signs. It looks like a pair of regular bathroom signs to indicate the ladies’ and gentlemen’s bathrooms. If anything, these signs look pretty cool in terms of artistic concept and style.

The one thing that disappointed us in these signs is the fact that the baby sign is directly under the women’s sign. We can see that both bathrooms are adapted for people with disabilities — so why aren’t both bathrooms adapted to also work as a changing station? Fathers are also perfectly capable of changing diapers!

Seems accurate!

Most of us have already seen that famous photo of human evolution which starts with the ape until it reaches man. Inspired by this famous illustration, this establishment decided to describe the evolution of its customers in this creative bathroom sign.

This was by far one of the kindest bathroom descriptions we’ve ever seen. Well, comparing males to insects might not be so polite, but all it takes is a little humor to have fun with the situation. Now, the comparison between women and butterflies is certainly nice.

Not the food comparison.

As you might have been able to tell, some bathroom signs are pretty tactless. In most cases, the establishment should have settled for regular signs instead of using these random ones. On top of being random, some of these signs are quite unsettling as well, like this one.

If anyone brings a child to this place, we wish them good luck explaining why in the world the signs say those words instead of ‘men’ and ‘women’. It must certainly be embarrassing, and this sign just shows that restaurants should always keep even their youngest clients in mind when coming up with the decor.

Mirror, mirror on the wall…

We all know the stereotype that women take longer than men to get ready and always need to touch up their makeup wherever they go. But men also fall prey to stereotypes, especially when it comes to feelings and vanity.

This establishment decided to take the stereotype to the next level and thought it would be quirky not to offer its customers a basic bathroom item: a mirror. Men do need a mirror — both for personal reasons and for hygiene reasons. And any establishment not offering this to their customers is a bit rude and disrespectful.

It’s game time!

One of the most traditional and beloved sports in the US is football. From early childhood, kids are introduced to the sport. Usually, boys begin practicing football itself while girls try to join the cheerleading team, which is a sport all on its own.

With this passion in mind, this restaurant decided to exalt American culture and distinguish bathrooms through the most beloved sport in the country. Obviously, the woman doesn’t necessarily need to be the cheerleader and the man the football player, but the establishment stuck to the theme anyway!

This ain’t my first rodeo!

Some things just don’t make sense, like this next bathroom sign we’re going to show you. If we were at this restaurant, we would certainly spend a couple of minutes trying to understand what exactly is the relation between cowboys and angels.

The ideal signs would say ‘cowboys’ and ‘cowgirls,’ instead of comparing women to angels. We get that whoever put up this sign was trying to be flattering but it didn’t really work. Maybe next time they can go for something that actually makes sense!

Be careful, girls!

Some establishments make people feel offended without the need for an employee to open their mouth or a customer to make an unnecessary comment. And that was exactly the case of this restaurant that decided to offend the women who frequented the establishment via their restroom sign.

When a woman goes to the bathroom, she expects to have privacy and respect, without ever having to worry if someone is being a peeping Tom or not. And this type of sign insinuating that a man may be watching her only makes them feel more insecure and uncomfortable to go to the restaurant.

What’s your height?

It’s not common knowledge, but there are studies that show that women are actually shorter than men. With that information in mind, this restaurant decided to use height as a way of signaling the women’s bathroom and the men’s bathroom.

The first thing you notice when you get to the bathroom is the height difference between the doors and then the sign identifying the bathrooms. This is actually a pretty funny and creative way of signaling the bathrooms. Now, this restaurant just needs to hope that a tall woman won’t stop by!

They’re straightforward.

Usually, when we go to the bathroom of some establishment, the description on the door is just “women’s” or “men’s.” Sometimes, it might even be some other design that indicates the female and the male anatomy. But this restaurant decided to be different.

To say that these signs are aesthetically pleasing would be a lie. In fact, these signs are quite uncomfortable even to look at. But we have got to admit that it doesn’t get any more unique and straightforward than this.

So women only wear this type of clothes?

This restaurant thought it would be cool to refer to the women’s bathroom as “dresses.” Whoever came up with this idea must have thought that women only wear dresses and that any other piece of clothing is considered “men’s clothing.”

The establishment was a little unfortunate in their choice of words because women can definitely wear clothes other than dresses. Everyone can wear whatever makes them feel comfortable and happy, whether it’s a skirt or a dress, or a pair of pants. This restaurant should certainly get those signs replaced!

Let’s set sail!

We all love stories, especially when we were kids. Stories not only help us sleep, but also create amazing worlds in our minds. And some of the most traditional stories are those of pirates, and every single one of them mentions mermaids.

This pirate-themed restaurant stayed true to its theme in every single way, including its bathroom signs. We are sure that the female patrons will love to be compared to beautiful mermaids, while the men will feel pretty good about being the brave pirates!

This is insane!

This next sign is pretty creative, but it’s also ridiculous at the same time. You’ll understand what we mean as soon as you take a look at the photo. We can tell that these bathrooms are located in a pizzeria, and we can also tell that they meant no harm when coming up with these signs.

It’s pretty cute that they used these adorable slices of pizza to represent the bathrooms, but they should have designed the female pizza a bit differently. The only difference between the two signs is that one slice of pizza has arms while the other doesn’t — and we know that that’s definitely not what differentiates men and women!

Yep, this sign says it all!

This next one is the kind of sign that is always a pleasure to read. Despite being simple, it was something well thought out and aims to please and amuse all types of audiences. This pizzeria made a wordplay with the word “right” and the fact that the women’s bathroom is to the right.

Surely you’ve seen this popular phrase in more than one place, and they work to indicate different things, not just the bathroom. While it kind of reinforces a certain stereotype, most people take this one sign pretty lightly and laugh a lot because of it!

Is this a dress code?

Gone are the days when women were only allowed to wear skirts or dresses. It just feels so normal nowadays. In fact, those days are so far behind us that it’s kind of hard to imagine a time when women were prohibited from wearing pants!

Perhaps this restaurant wanted to try a different way to identify the women’s and men’s bathrooms — but their idea was pretty shortsighted. We bet that most customers are going to think that they’re supposed to choose a bathroom based on what they’re wearing, which means that girl might end up using the guys’ room!

Make it make sense!

Some restaurants use bathroom signs as an opportunity to reinforce old stereotypes that are just not as widely accepted as they once were. For instance, if you go to a sports bar, you might see a sign like this next one, which implies that men are athletes, and women are just pretty bodies.

What is the point of choosing these signs when they could have used female hockey players to indicate the ladies’ restroom? Honestly, this is quite offensive and it’s the kind of bathroom sign that no woman wants to see ever again!

Breakfast in the ocean.

Restaurants, cafes, bars, or any other type of establishment that is located near the beach naturally try to associate their theme with the ocean, so that their customers feel that they are having a complete experience. With that in mind, this cafe decided to come up with these bathroom signs.

The establishment knew how to provide its customers with a very good atmosphere. That is a very beautiful design, after all. However, what really gets our attention here is that the café compared women to mermaids and men to sharks, which is pretty funny!

It’s time for fun!

It is an absolute truth that both men and women can play any sport they want, although sometimes society might think otherwise. And it seems like this restaurant was not so different when they decided to paint the signs indicating the women’s and men’s restrooms.

While we have to give them kudos for not painting the women’s bathroom sign pink, they still followed a certain stereotype. Because this is a handmade sign, the restaurant staff could have easily drawn a surfboard for the girl as well instead of implying that boys go surfing while girls jump rope.

Who talks the most?

If we were to ask who is the more talkative between males and females, most people would answer that it’s the woman. Not that this is a bad thing — it is a characteristic of women, mainly because they are more communicative. And that’s what drove this restaurant to create these signs.

This establishment then decided to let its customers decide which would be the women’s bathroom and which would be the men’s. As there is no signage on the door, people certainly had to stop and think a little, but the decision was certainly not very difficult.

Yin and Yang.

This next sign is pretty tricky to understand. The concept of yin and yang comes from Chinese philosophy, and they are two opposing and complementary energies. Yin means darkness, and it’s represented by the color black. Yang is light and is represented by the color white.

While the entire concept is pretty cool, these bathroom signs are really confusing. Sure, we understand what yin and yang mean. But what does this have to do with the bathrooms? We wonder how clients are supposed to know which one represents females and which one represents males!

What are you thinking about?

If we were to ask anyone what activities define men and women, most people’s first answer would be sports and shopping, respectively. While there are women who like sports and men who like shopping, it seems like this restaurant completely disregarded that:

If you look closely, you will see that the stick figures are actually different. The one representing males doesn’t have a mouth and its body is more round, while the female has a slightly different shape that possibly represents a dress. That seems enough to tell the signs apart, so why would the restaurant add those thought balloons?

No university needs these!

The word “university” comes from Latin and is associated with the universe. The entire concept of the world means that this is the place where people go to expand their knowledge. However, sometimes these institutions can contradict themselves with their own meaning, like the one below.

It’s pretty crazy that the staff of an educational institution would think that it’s okay to associate certain sexist items with each gender. And these kids might have been jokingly discussing the designs on the doors, but the criticism under their sarcasm is real.

Why are men like this?

This restaurant came up with the idea of making fun of the fact that men never seem to aim for the toilet and when they finally do, it’s because they want to show off. Part of this is true and perhaps the restaurant put up these signs as a form of irony.

While these signs are interesting, we can’t help but wonder about the kind of situations that happened if they needed to put up these signs. We kind of understand the one on the left and the one in the middle — but we definitely want to hear the story behind the one on the far right!

Less than bright owners.

Prejudice exists everywhere, both implicitly and explicitly, and although no one in this establishment ever said that women are stupid, that’s exactly what these signs meant. When someone says men are brilliant and women are beautiful, they are limiting both genders to a single characteristic.

In that case, it’s best to do things the traditional way and just write “women’s bathroom” and “men’s bathroom” so as not to offend anyone. Now, the question that is plaguing our minds is: did the owners do this on purpose, or did they just not think about the concept they were choosing for their establishment?

A funny school bathroom.

Schools always try to be as clear and educational as possible, but the hardest part is getting the children’s attention and for that, they usually appeal to very large and colorful objects that manage to catch their attention and keep them focused.

This school, for example, decided to indicate the bathroom to its students through two giant signs with drawings on them. The girls’ one has a giant girl pointing the way with a Hello Kitty sitting on the toilet. The boys’ one is very similar, but with Pepe. In the end, these two signs are pretty funny!

Sometimes, less is more.

Having a giant sign is certainly very useful and would help anyone to find the bathroom. No customer would have fear of making mistakes and the sign would be enough to indicate the bathroom — with no need for color divisions, as was done in this next establishment. Because that’s exactly where the error starts.

In addition to being exaggerated, the idea of indicating directions through colors, linking pink to women and blue to men, spoiled the concept a little. It’s just reinforcing old stereotypes. Well, until the mid-1900s. Before then, pink was actually for boys!

Time to go to the bathroom.

It’s always sad when we see something like this next sign. As we said a few times before, both the father and the mother should be responsible for raising their children — and that includes sharing simple tasks like taking them to the bathroom. It is not fair that only the mother is responsible for this task.

In addition to that, nowadays there are a lot of same-sex couples that have kids. What if a child is at this restaurant with their two fathers — how are they supposed to change their kid’s diapers if there’s no changing station in the men’s room?

This one is actually pretty.

Even if some women don’t like flowers, it’s not unusual for brands to associate women with different flowers. While this might not always be flattering, sometimes the establishment manages to make this link without being offensive, as this next place managed to.

We don’t even need to tell you which one is the men’s bathroom and which one is the women’s, right? The men are represented by the deer on the left, while the women are represented by the one on the right. This drawing is not offensive at all — in fact, it’s actually a pretty drawing.

Using underwear.

This next restaurant has a vintage theme, so they naturally decorated the entire place using vintage designs and pieces of decoration. And that included the restrooms. In addition to using a “toilette” sign written in an old-style font, they chose to identify the men’s and the women’s bathrooms in a peculiar way.

Maybe some customers will feel a little embarrassed when they see the underwear on display. But we got to admit that this restaurant had a clever idea when they came up with these bathroom signs. It’s quite interesting to see how underwear has changed and evolved over time!

Do kids not have fathers?

Everyone knows that the one who usually takes the children to the bathroom or changes the babies’ diapers is the mother. In fact, you probably noticed how, most of the time, the men’s bathroom doesn’t even have a diaper changer or a smaller toilet for the father to take the kid to the bathroom.

Once again, restaurants and other commercial establishments choose to reinforce old stereotypes that should be long gone by now. Men are also capable of taking their kids to the restroom! And, as we said before, sometimes the kid has two fathers.

The kind of design you should avoid.

Once you take a look at the next photo, you’ll probably agree that the person who created these toilet doors failed miserably. Not only are they stereotyping males and females based on color tones, but they are also doing another horrible thing. And that thing is implying that women are/should be obsessed over their weight!

Why is it that men do epic stuff in the bathroom while women should be happy that they’re losing weight? Well, we all know that women can have the body that they want and don’t have to worry about their weight. And what if a guy wants to be happy about losing a few pounds as well?

Whale and “fewhale”!

These next bathroom signs are certainly random. Even though the concept and the design are pretty cool, the elements don’t really match. If you take a closer look at these signs, you’ll notice that the women’s bathroom has a mermaid’s tail — which fits the beach theme — but the men’s bathroom has a…mustache?

Sure, some men have a mustache. But if they are trying to follow a beach theme, and they are calling men “whales”, they could have simply designed a whale’s tail and placed it above the men’s bathroom sign, right? It would certainly make more sense.

Please, be respectful!

Let’s be honest: when we go to a public restroom, we expect it to be clean. And when it’s not, it’s certainly a little frustrating. But it is not enough for the establishment to clean the bathroom, the customer also has to help them keep it clean. This restaurant decided to ask its customers to be mindful.

From a certain point of view, this sign was a little rude — after all, mothers definitely don’t have to clean after their adult children’s mess. However, the sign was sincere and straight to the point, telling the customers that the bathroom had already been cleaned and the establishment was counting on their help to keep it that way.

Our best friends!

Talking about dogs is a very relative subject because each person has their favorite breed. Whether it’s a personality type, or just whatever suits your needs, dog lovers have their preferences. For instance, some people live in small spaces, so they opt for a small dog, too. But using dogs in bathroom signs is quite peculiar.

Indeed, some dog breeds are associated with women, such as Beagle, Yorkshire, and Basset. As for men, it’s usually the English Bulldog, the Maltese, and the Australian Shepherd. But looking at this like it’s an absolute truth is not very cool and even if they had good intentions, it’s not good to reinforce stereotypes in public places!

What people do in the bathroom stays in the bathroom!

We are pretty sure that no customer had a hard time finding the bathrooms with these giant signs. The hard part was looking at these drawings on the door, as they are not very pleasing to the eye. But the bigger problem is the stereotype, both involving women and men.

This one was pretty classic: women allegedly use the bathroom to touch up their makeup instead of doing their business, while looking good doesn’t matter to men. And we all know that this is not true — lots of men care about their appearance just as much as some women do!

Leave my physique alone!

Nobody likes to be defined by their body, no matter the circumstance. It’s just not a nice thing to do — mainly because people have different body types and that needs to be respected. Contrary to these principles, this establishment decided to identify the bathrooms by making fun of their customers’ bodies.

These signs are pretty tactless, especially because people who don’t fit these body standards can feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in the environment. We get that it’s a joke, but maybe they should have thought twice before actually putting up these signs.

Bathroom etiquette.

We all know how to behave in a public restroom, although some establishments have problems with disrespectful customers. However, this particular restaurant seemed to be having more issues than usual, and to try and fix this, they left a message.

While this message may sound a little too cryptic, we can only hope that it will work. After all, establishments usually hire women to be the cleaners, so other women should try to be kind to their fellow females and not be disgusting in the bathroom!

Boys and girls in a nutshell!

This establishment decided to indicate the bathrooms through the definition of boy and girl. But as you will notice, they are not the actual definitions of the nouns. In fact, they’re problematic made-up definitions. And adults should certainly not try to reinforce these stereotypes on children.

Some boys are quite sassy and some girls love playing with dirt. When you tell a kid that they should act a certain way, you’re basically trapping them in a box — and children are pretty sensitive and actually take these things seriously. See why these signs are such a big fail?

Outdated rules!

This toilet in Japan definitely went too far in implying that only women should take their children to the toilet and change their young children’s diapers. Especially considering that both parents must play this role, certainly not just the mother.

First of all, the establishment should not try to determine who should change a kid’s diapers. If the father wants to do it, he should feel more than welcome to take his baby to the men’s bathroom and change his diapers.

Let’s be more creative, guys!

School education is kind of complicated because we must always keep in mind that the main role of the school is to teach students, not educate them. Parents are the ones that need to educate their kids, but it’s frustrating when we see stereotypes being perpetuated in schools:

To indicate the boys’ bathroom, the school darker sign that had sports balls painted on it. Now, the girls’ bathroom sign is a pink plaque with cupcakes and milkshakes all over it. It’s not that hard to push these negative stereotypes so we hope this school changes that sign for something more inclusive!