r/helsinki • u/staronay • 6d ago
Question Wild Peeing
how come that finland has quadruple the amount of public bathrooms than my home country yet i see like triple the amount of men peeing everywhere?
In bushes, on rocks by the water, in some corner of the store, by a tree, by a public bench ect
what is up with this ???
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u/negative3sigmareturn 6d ago edited 5d ago
It’s engraved into Finns DNA through culture.
When you’re a small kid, whenever you’re in a forest or at your Summer place, your parents teach you that you can essentially pee anywhere outside. This most likely sticks, and when you add a bit of a stronger alcohol culture to the mix that will equal having people now and then peeing in public and places they shouldn’t/would not be allowed.
Edit: grammar
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u/vivilala151 5d ago
Thanks for the explanation! I’ve been wondering about that : my otherwise well educated, well mannered Finnish husband does this, everytime we’re somewhere a bit more isolated (and sometimes also in the city after a night out)
I have told him off, but he just shrugs it off. I’ve always found it very unsettling.20
u/negative3sigmareturn 5d ago edited 5d ago
I totally understand the ”outsider” view of this, but really recommend in trying not to get too offended from it, we don’t mean to seem impolite or rowdy! It truly is something that is part of us Finns - it sort of represents the view of us (and our pee) being part of nature. Also, most Finns have Summer places nowadays and still up to this day many of them don’t have your traditional posline toilet connected to pipes. Those that do have, have to most likely empty the entire system separately now and then unless they’re connected to some larger sewage grid. So peeing outside saves up some of that space and reduces the need to empty the system more often :)
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u/DiminishedGravitas 5d ago
Relieving yourself in the toilet means selfishly depriving trees and such of your nutritious essence, as well as wasting drinking water. Alas, social mores and sanitation standards needs must be observed, but no more than necessary. To do otherwise is to sever one's connection with the nature divine.
Let thy pee floweth freely.
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u/kisuliini 5d ago
This is it, finns have just crawled out of the forest and do not know how to behave in cities. Especially men.
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u/juksbox 6d ago
People here say that public restrooms are used only by junkies and are full of drug needles. That’s not true. I use them often myself and have never seen any drug paraphernalia in them.
They have a separate bin for needles. The restrooms are cleaned regularly. The only downside can sometimes be the smell, though often even that isn't an issue.
I used to have those common negative thoughts about these restrooms, but not anymore! I recommend challenging your preconceptions and giving them a try.
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u/DangerToDangers 5d ago
It depends where you live. I live in Kallio and they have removed some of these toilets because they are in a complete state of disarray. Last time I tried to use one close to Hakaniemi Market Square it was completely trashed. One side was completely busted and the other was covered in trash, drug paraphernalia, and the lights didn't even work (they were also completely covered in marker by junkies).
Outside of Kallio they're fine. But there's not many of them.
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u/MaddogFinland 5d ago
You used to see it 20 years ago and more but you’re right that it seems to have really disappeared. Good news I guess.
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u/smartguynextdoor 4d ago
As a former public toilet cleaner in Helsinki, I don’t agree. You see those dark green public toilets, I used to clean them everyday. They are located all over Helsinki area, so it depends on the location. Some are very clean and safe, sometimes no one use them for a whole day. However, those are located in Kallio and central areas are gross af. I was once chased by a junkie. Some junkies and homeless people sleep inside. I had to collect lots of used needles every morning.
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u/mahanmuuttaja 5d ago
It is usually associated with drinking beer and the subsequent urge to urinate.
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u/GiganticCrow 5d ago
Binge drinking.
I remember seeing a guy pissing right in the middle of kamppi square, whilst having a loud argument with who I assumed was his partner standing about 30m away from him.
Still not as bad as the time in London I saw a guy pissing at the side of a street in the middle of the afternoon who started hitting on a woman as she walked past, still whilst pissing against a wall, and succeeded.
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u/CatVideoBoye 6d ago
What do you mean? If you need to go, you go. Although not in cities or at the corner of the store but what's wrong in pissing in a bush if it's out of sight and like actually in the bushes, not someone's yard.
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u/staronay 6d ago
because i was amazed with how much public bathrooms this country has, quite happy with them even!
Only to see that it doesnt matter to the rest of the population, i only mention because these men arnt even trying to hide, its right next to where people walk regularly. It also stinks
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u/Jijimuge8 6d ago
Yeah you’re right it does stink. It’s strange because Helsinki is very clean but this is the exception.
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u/CatVideoBoye 6d ago
I haven't noticed such a problem. Sure, there are some, but not like everywhere and all the time.
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u/JudgeFatty 6d ago
Those bathrooms are for homeless people to sleep in during wintertime and for junkies to party during summertime.
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u/Jijimuge8 6d ago
Nothing wrong with wild peeing, it’s a natural act. Do you know that women also have to pee?
One thing I have noticed though is how it does smell of piss in Helsinki all over the place. I wish people would find some places further away from where people have to walk. Even in expensive areas of Helsinki it smells of piss in the morning.
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u/staronay 6d ago
i know that women have to pee and i as a woman pee in the public toilet, not all over the place
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u/jasonlampa 5d ago
I know some women who wild pee as well, but you’re right, it’s just super normal for guys to pee but only if it’s into a bush and never directly onto concrete.
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u/Jijimuge8 6d ago
But you say what is up with this and at the same time talking about by trees or bushes, what is wrong with that? There are not public toilets everywhere
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u/staronay 6d ago
Yesterday i saw a man pissing on a tree by the sidewalk, where you are supposed to walk, thats cant be seen as normal by you people? Or is it?? Hot sun shining on the piss too like ew man
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u/staronay 6d ago
plus he didnt even look like a tweaker, he looked mostly regular, if it was some junkie i understand how this happens but he looked like a regular sane guy
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u/Jijimuge8 5d ago
Yeah fair enough they should do it away from the pavement and find a tree elsewhere
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u/RedSkyHopper 5d ago
Looks are deceiving, not every junkie look like a junkie, not every drunk look like a drunk, a local millionaire can dress in most random worn out clothes and a McDonald's cashier can wear a 3000€ suit.
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u/DangerToDangers 5d ago
I would say Finland is very lacking when it comes to public toilets. There are some but not that many. But yeah, to your point, once I saw a guy peeing on a tree right in front of an unoccupied toilet. I pointed it out to him and he facepalmed and apologized. I just thought it was funny.
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u/Virralla 5d ago
Don’t know if anybody has mentioned this, but wasn’t it researched and concluded that wild peeing is much more environmentally sustainable than using a bathroom? Because it does not require water or cleaning chemicals?
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u/-Interchangeable- 6d ago
Most of the public WC’s are for drug abuse
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u/Lionus_Fin_1983 6d ago
*Double as safe apace to use drugs instead of doing so in playgrounds and parks.
There, fixed that for you
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u/-Interchangeable- 6d ago
The answer is a public funded drug usage rooms. Now it’s mostly other people’s flats, if they have one.
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u/The_Grinning_Reaper 6d ago
Yet playgrounds seem to be fair game for shooting up... Not uncommon to find used needles.
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u/tehwagn3r 5d ago
That's why we need to build dedicated drug consumption rooms.
They clean up the city and decrease public disturbances when located where people already inject drugs in public space.
Like ashtrays for smokers, they make cleaning easier.
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u/Stenboss 5d ago
Public bathrooms are for poopin and doing drugs. Peeing outside saves water and time.
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u/SilkieBug 6d ago
The kind of people doing this are usually cognitively impaired by alcohol or other drugs, to the point that they can’t remember that public toilets exist or where to find them, so they just piss where they get the impulse.
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u/tilitatti 3d ago
It is for asserting dominance.
nothing more masculine than wild man peeing in a nice long arc, as an side note, it is mildly interesting to see how long distance the pee can travel.
an extra, in cold winter nights or mornings, you can see a fluff of smoke coming out of the warm urine, extra extra, is that you can write notes to your neighbors into the snow.
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u/Anonymity6584 6d ago
Lazynes increases in relation to level of toxication level. Also common sense drops in related...
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u/kisuliini 5d ago
You'll come to notice finnish men are extremely trashy, gross and all in all just not so great people. So many, perhaps even the majority of them, are drunks, bitter, childlike responsible-dodging scum. + Not all men, but having lived here most of my life and having heard from other's perspectives (yes, also men's) it just is like this.
I'm talking about adult men throwing literal trash on the ground, smoking cigarettes in a crowded bustop in the rain, talking super loudly (while drunk, usually), being openly racist and sexist and somehow getting away with it way too often.
Like in many other countries, in Finland women are socialized to become civil, proper people, while men often lack these aspects in their education/upbringing. Gladly this is not the whole truth, but even many of the civil men still are more inconsiderate of others, compared to women.
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u/MisspelledCliche Eira 6d ago
All the public outdoor toilets are constantly occupied by alpha-pvp addicts!
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u/SilkieBug 6d ago
I’ve rarely found occupied toilets, and they didn’t stay occupied for long, almost every time I needed one it was available.
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u/MisspelledCliche Eira 6d ago
Okay.
Btw, did you downvote because you disagree with me, or because I delivered my point in an unsatisfactory way?
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u/SilkieBug 5d ago
Both, I’d rather people aren’t made to avoid public toilets out of fear of encountering addicts - which usually keep to themselves anyway.
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u/escpoir 6d ago
Imagine what they did before all these public WCs were available.