Thinking about peeing

[beetiger]

I got Rhys a potty, since he's been really interesting in flushing the toilet whn I use it. I took off his diaper and put him on it; he promptly hopped off, stuck his head in it, and peed on the floor. Not sure what to make of that.

I've been thinking a lot about gender-neutral bathrooms these days. I was at a performance of the Vagina Monologues last weekend, and the bathroom situation was just silly -- lines down the hallway for the women's room, and no one in the men's room. I couldn't get any of the women to hop overto the other side, though I suggested it to several. Part of it is the cultural taboo, I think, but part of it is just...the urinals.

Urinals are weird. We don't have them in bathrooms at home. Women's rooms don't have them, and generally they don't have extra stalls to compensate. I would think that standing with your genitals exposed in a public area would be really odd. So, why?

I have to know.

[Poll #448516]

Comments

[hbergeronx.livejournal.com]

for those of us who have penises, urinals are by and far a little bit of genius. The penis, in general, is more sanitary than the face or hands, and urine is generally sterile. Add "autoflush", and I don't see why you would even need to wash your hands. People are going to say "ew" at that, but whatever. It's irrational. You wash your hands and touch the same faucet that someone with poopyhands has just touched to turn it on, and whatnot- are you any more clean? Not bloody likely.

As for the looking thing, you *should* look to see where you're going, at least- no one likes to have to attend a bowl where someone's aim could have been better. It's unnatural that if someone approches you at such close a distance, you don't at least glance to see they're not aiming at *you*. At least in sports bars, they have the smarts to post the back of the newspaper above the urinal so that the glassy eyed stare isn't so disturbingly autistic.

[cktraveler.livejournal.com]

Cecil Adams' The Straight Dope: Why are men supposed to wash their hands after urination? (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_220.html)

[hbergeronx.livejournal.com]

while good points are made, it's mostly nonsense. By those measures, anyone who parforms oral sex regularly should wind up with "food poisoning" of some form, and it just doesn't happen in numbers that would support such a view. Most coliform backteria are (in general and not in puncture wounds) completely harmless.

While those who prepare or serve food, or perform surgery, or deal with the immune compromised, are well advised to wash up, the obsession with germs that most people have is leading to the creation of better germs, not cleaner hands.

[cktraveler.livejournal.com]

At the bottom someone did write in and ask if his girlfriend was going to die for performing fellatio, since she was obviously directly ingesting bacteria. He kind of didn't answer that.

That said, men are taught to wash after urination not merely because of bacteria but because the smell can stick to your hands and come off on other things. I know this because of the odor a Magic deck acquired after I lent it to someone who didn't believe in washing up.

[hbergeronx.livejournal.com]

well then. He's obviously not a Yalie.

If your hands acquire a smell from your genitals, it's not the not washing your hands that's the problem. It's a not keeping your genitals clean problem, imo. It's about not being conscious of your own body. If your hands have acquired a nasty smell, irrespective of origin, and you bypass a thoroughly convenient opportunity to wash up because "you don't believe in washing up", that's a mental disorder, not a failure of hygiene.

And, for reference, the smell of urine can come from more than your genitals, since you excrete uric acid from your sweat glands everywhere on your body.

That said, all of this is irrelevant to the argument at hand, so to speak. There is a rampant irrational fear that needs to be excised. It's why people wont shake hands with a homosexual. It's why people hover instead of giving the seat a quick swab with TP. Its why little boys run away from cooties. Its why Purell and Lysol can sell billions in product without having any provable positive health impact. Its why vancomycin resistant bacteria are what keeps public health workers in night terrors.

It's all the same elitist b.s.: wrapping something in the aura of "the public health" when it's just loony made-up superstition.