“Dirty Western culture”: a Russian village was outraged by a gender-neutral wooden toilet belonging to a local cultural center

“For 7 years they couldn’t deliver a normal one”

Residents of the village of Nikolsk in the Irkutsk region are demanding local authorities replace the gender-neutral wooden toilet belonging to the local cultural palace: “The President ridiculed the West for communal toilets. And our children go to the wooden toilet, which is not divided into men and women.”

In response they hear: there is no money in the budget for a new toilet.

We talked to opponents and supporters of the rickety closet.

Toilet battles broke out on social networks between residents of the village of Nikolsk over a wooden street toilet near the Palace of Culture. As it turned out, during the reconstruction of the cultural center there was not enough money for a warm toilet. They put together a street street from boards.

Village residents inundated the regional governor with complaints. Local officials are fighting back: when funds are allocated, then we will install a new one. Well, by God, what a toilet, there are more important things to do. Moreover, there were defenders at the wooden booth with a hole in the floor.

– As far as I know, about seven years ago local deputies contributed money to the budget for the construction of a warm toilet. But for some reason the head of the village built a boardwalk. The deputies seemed to have begun to demand a report, they were sent,” one of the villagers reports the background to the scandal. – The toilet has distortions, unevenness, large cracks have formed in it. In Siberia, frosts reach fifty degrees. Children go to the recreation center for clubs, training, rehearsals, then, sweating, they run outside to the toilet. Sometimes a circus comes to us, they hold field shooting competitions, and all the participants also relieve themselves on the street. A CCTV camera was installed above the toilet, apparently to prevent it from being stolen.

Another man is more concerned about gender inequality in this situation: “The worst thing is that the toilet is shared. For 7 years they couldn’t install a normal one! Sometimes there is a line of girls and boys standing around the toilet. The President ridiculed the West about shared toilets. We don’t want our children to live under dirty Western culture!”

The photos of the restroom are impressive. Judging by the pictures, the building is indeed on its way out.

But nevertheless, there were defenders of the outhouse in the village.

“The smart guys who are swearing at our leader are swearing! Yes, the toilet is a mess. But he was always there! We somehow ran outside and grew up to be normal people,” the man argues.

“Don’t exaggerate the problem, children avoid this toilet and prefer to wait until they get home. So let him stand, don’t ask for bread,” another villager justifies the presence of the building.

Representatives of the administration of the Irkutsk region reported in their defense on the social network page of the head of the region: “The arrangement of a toilet is a major overhaul and requires the development of appropriate design estimates, utilities, and an examination. There are currently no financial resources in the budget.”

But a former employee of the cultural center believes that it is not the toilet that worries her fellow countrymen. This is how people settle scores with the head of the village.

“At one time, indeed, a toilet was not installed in the building of the cultural center, because funds were not allocated,” explains the interlocutor. – But sooner or later the head will ensure that there is a toilet. It’s difficult to do such things in a settlement; it’s expensive. And a bunch of people who were unable to bypass the head in the elections are complaining about the situation, and are now throwing mud at him. That’s the whole story. They are gradually clinging to our chapter, sometimes the roads are not cleared, sometimes the benches were stolen from the bus stop. Now they are attached to the toilet. We do not pay attention to such claims.

When asked why modern dry toilets were not installed instead of a wooden toilet, the woman remarks: “What kind of dry toilets do you mean? A bucket with a lid? What’s the point? It’s essentially the same thing. Believe me, you write about this, but there will be no reaction. Perhaps the chapter for this is a little ah-ta-ta. The budget is not flexible, there is no money anyway.”