This is an odd topic but I'm still curious enough to write a wall of text on it.

I was listening to the radio the other day and they got talking about some list of things people don't understand in America. One of them was why so many restrooms don't bother to put in simple dividers between urinals for ultra basic privacy. From there they started asking the questions I've always wanted to know the answer to. Why don't the walls go to the floor, or even just a bit further? What is with all the 1 inch gaps in the stall seams? Is there some law that says we can't give people the option to be a little discrete?

Skip for speed – (I'm always long-winded)
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I still remember walking by a stall in the 6 grade and just happening to see right through one of those seams to the kid inside. 20 something years later I can still see him sitting there looking up at me, and 20 something years later we still have the same gaps in stalls.

It's rather obvious that some people have never given it a second thought that there are people in the world that don't want waste disposal to be a communal event. It also seems like these are the people building everything. I have to guess it's them that place the one obligatory toilet in the highest traffic area of a room, say “nah, who needs to pay for dividers?”, and tear the stall door of the only toilet in room so the drinkers can get to it without a door getting in the way.

One of my favorites is the boy's sleeping quarters at a camp I went to as a kid where it was totally open as if someone went to great lengths to ensure it was that way. No stall doors, room was open on the main floor, communal showers. My old pastor told my mom it was the only time he had seen someone go a week without peeing.

Then there is the McDonald's on the highway on my way to work where the stall walls are so high that they are literally only a couple of inches lower than the toilet lid. It's quite uncomfortable to walk in and see guy's legs near the knee while they are doing something I really would rather not be a part of. You can also practically reach out and touch the guys peeing while you are washing your hands It's all a little too friendly for my tastes.

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The radio spoke of it in the context of the US, but after traveling to Japan years ago I am somewhat grateful for the privacy we do have. The urinal on the train to and from the airport literally had a large glass window where people waiting could see you. In a small restaurant they had a urinal basically just off the kitchen with people(women) walking around that was only partially obscured. Then there was a busy public park in Nara where I could count the number of guys taking a wiz in the restroom from 300 feet away just as easily as I could count the people outside.

This difference has always made me wonder what kind of privacy one finds in different countries, and how do different people feel about privacy? This being an international site, I figured it was as good a place to ask as any.

FYI it is a bit of a personal issue given I am one of these people
http://www.paruresis.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paruresis

im one of those guys that can't pee in the urinal if there are other people around no matter how strong the need to pee is. I mostly go for the toilet and close the door behind me.

Privacy is a pretty important thing in germany,its pretty much a personal right. But we dont go through extremes to get to it (i mean there are no million euro lawsuits or something) and we are much more open about sexuality. There are naked people all over our TV. Not in kinds program, but when you switch on the TV at 5 PM and are watching some boulevard TV, chances are high you see breasts. Urinals dont have walls at all (as far as i have seen).

Do Romanian doors hover 2 feet off of the floor, or are they normal doors?

I feel Your pain man. Even my friends look at me like i was bonkers when i talk about "some privacy", like it was some alien concept.
I don't think i've seen a pub around here with dividers, but thankfully i've stopped going there once they banned smoking.

Personally? I don't much care as far as urinals go, but prefer some measure of privacy when sitting (and I prefer sitting, even at home where it's only me). In nature, I go behind a bush or whatever mostly out of respect for others, not for my own sake. Toilet stalls here vary, with some places having completely closed closets and others having more space-saving stalls with thin (2-3 cm thick) walls and the door some 10-15 cm off the ground - the general area always being hidden from outside view though.

It really doesn't take much more to make me feel a lot more comfortable. Some privacy is usually sufficient. When it comes to the bar scene the trough is something I don't (nor feel any need to) understand.
http://www.plumbingsupply.com/griffinurinals.html

Don't want to sound out of line here, but the first think that came to my mind when i saw that was this:
http://images.travelpod.com/tw_slides/ta00/ddf/e84/kz-auschwitz-2-toilets-oswiecim.jpg
And yeah, i don't want to know what people who install troughs have on their minds. Wouldn't use one, that's for sure.

I'm not even sure what to mentally do with that.

Well, of course there is the KIWI BLOKE's guide to taking a leak:
http://bofh.ntk.net/KiwiBlokes/bloke-leak.php
and on taking a dump:
http://bofh.ntk.net/KiwiBlokes/bloke-dump.php

(thank you Simon Travaglia)

I have used a trough. But it wasn't in a bar, but at Wacken. Quick toilet inside the stage area (or right outside of them) which were much cleaner (and better smelling) than the chemical toilets.

My workplace in China had swing doors on the toilet stalls, which went up to your waist and you had to awkwardly kind of squat... but not too low or you'd be seen below the door, while having one foot on either side of the gutter that went through all the stalls. Of course, you had to avoid getting splashed by the randomly timed flush that let you get a prime view of what everybody else had been doing.

This was the ladies room though. I have no info on the urinals.

You wouldn't expect me linking to a philosopher here, right?
Guess again ;P.

I'm not shaking that guys hand.

I'm trying to picture this and this is what I've come up with.

When I started job for my current company we had an office in modern sky scraper and also toilets had this new design 3/4 booths “can you pass newspaper please”. Jeez I hated that! Thank god after 1 year we moved to less representative building with old fashioned toilets: fully build-up, solid walls and doors. There finally I can have my time without smelling and hearing every sound of my workmate and without being embarrassed by my own ‘special effects’.