:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Monday, August 30, 2004 ::

If Anyone Knows The Scientific Name For This, Tell Me

My gf has an irrational fear/dislike of men's urinals. She's utterly disgusted by them, even though she doesn't have to use them. However hard I press her, she can't give me an explaination for it, though. I don't see why urinals would be disgusting - urine is sterile, and the only time I touch the thing is to flush it. Even in flushing it, though, I use my elbow, so it's not unsanitary for me. I know that she, like many females aparently, also has an irrational fear of having her butt hit the seat of a public toilet, and this just might be an extension of that fear.

I also have no problems sitting on a dry toilet seat - one of the many functions of skin is the prevention of infection, and since it does its job quite well I have no fear of popping a squat on a public john when I need to. She, and apparently many women, feel the need to layer tons of toilet paper upon the seat before sitting on it, then flush it all down the crapper at once. Beyond sounding like a damn good way to clog a toilet (to the consternation/constipation of all involved) it also sounds like it'd involve an increase in physical contact with the seat, not to mention the introduction of manual contact that wasn't there before, all because the person has to touch the toilet seat to place and remove the toilet paper. Since women's toilet seats are permanently in the down position, the added and unnecessary manual contact seems like a wonderful new vector for infection, since your hands touch everything both before and after you visit the loo. All your butt touches is the insides of your underpants and other toilet seats. That's it. If all one does is plop one's butt down, leave their solid waste in the bowl, wipe, flush, and leave, then the only germs one is exposed to is one's own, just as at the person's own house. All you need do is wash with soap and warm water, just like mummy said, and you'll be set.

Here's an interesting thought experiment: how many trees are wastefully chopped down to supply the toilet paper for this useless practice? Remember - toilet paper is not recyclable, so all paper used for this is counted as pure loss.

:: The Squire 4:37 PM :: email this post :: ::
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