Years ago, a fellow costume designer gave me a female urination device called GoGirl. The pale purple funnel made of medical-grade silicone, ergonomically designed to conform to your body, was intended as a gag gift to poke fun at the filthy bathroom facilities provided for us at every filming location. The gadget allows you to pee in a standing position, neatly avoiding touching dirty toilet seats or accidentally dragging your clothes along an unclean bathroom floor.
I laughed when she gave it to me, but the truth is, I’ve kept it in my work bag ever since, ready to deploy whenever faced with a truly disgusting bathroom — and I’ve used it often. (Bathroom trailers, commonly known as “honey wagons,” are among the most disgusting spaces you’ll ever encounter.) Since Hollywood shut down in March, my GoGirl was languishing in my set bag, but now that touching unnecessary things outside of your house can be a huge source of stress (and many businesses have closed their bathroom facilities entirely), I’ve started taking it everywhere I go: on hikes, to the grocery, on a plane when I had to make an emergency trip to my family in Texas, and even to friends’ houses for porch hangs. (Yes, I did use it to pee in a pal’s bushes during the early days of the pandemic when it felt terrifying to even think of allowing anyone to go inside your house.)
At the risk of TMI, here’s how it works: You press the GoGirl firmly against your body using your thumb (at the shorter end) and middle finger (at the longer end) to hold it in place. You have to make sure there is a decent amount of pressure where the GoGirl meets your body, or you’ll be unpleasantly surprised. Once you feel like you have a good seal, go ahead and, well, go. (One small piece of advice: It’s best to practice at home a few times before you deploy it in the wild. I practiced in the shower, and it took two attempts to get the hang of it.)
Once you’re done, rinse it in the sink, wrap it in a paper towel, and stash it back in your bag. It air-dries in about two minutes, and after I’ve used it out in the world a few times, I clean it with a little dish soap in my sink at home. (The GoGirl also comes with a storage tube, but I think it’s a pain to squeeze it back into it, so I like to keep mine in one of these easy to wash, zip-top reusable pouches.)
Not having to worry about touching a toilet with any part of my body (or hovering over the seat while my thighs burn) has been a huge relief as I start to head out into the world for shopping runs and socially distant hangouts. If you have to go – when you’re on the go – you may as well use a GoGirl.
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