Because of “big toilet paper”. They even tried to assassinate a spokesperson for japanes toilets.
Holy shit? Do you have a source for that because damn. It’s something I would expect though.
It’s was joke. That’s the plot of a south park episode.
Honestly I wouldn’t even be surprised if Procter and Gamble did that shit lol
It’s a joke from South Park
I wish I could find it again but this was years ago now that I saw a news story about the rise of women getting UTI’s from bidet usage in Japan specifically.
Today you have the bidets you can install on your toilet, but traditionally they were a thing on its own, that required about as much space as a toilet and all the extra pipework associated with it.
In some European/ Mediterranean countries (I suspect France may have started the trend) this caught on well, and bidets were a must have in most houses that had toilets as part of their main architectural structure. Most people in South America had bidets this way, it’s rare to see a house without at least one bidet, and this comes from the culture inherited from colonial times .
Now, things are different in othe parts of the world. England seems to traditionally have the toilet separate from the house and for some reason the bidet trend never caught on. This is in turn reflected both in USA and Australia. I don’t know about bidet popularity across all of Europe, but this is definitely a cultural thing and I suspect distance and language may have kept UK without bidets until relatively recently. And as you know, old habits die hard, so… Yeah in Australia I use the shower.
in Italy, there is literally a law obligating houses to have a bidet. the separated from the toilet kind.
Just another reason to like Italy even more.
the separated from the toilet kind.
I don’t understand how those work at all…seems like that would be a recipe for poop tracks from the toilet.
well… it is time to explain to an internet stranger how we clean our bum.
- you shit on the toilet
- you wipe with tp one or two times
- get up, sit on the bidet
- water, soap on the hand, and you scrub your ass with your hand, no this is not gay
- go again with water and soap until you feel your ass is clean
- dry with a small towel
the towel is generally personal, and we change it every couple of days.
That may have been sarcastic, but I appreciated the info. It beats having to take a shower.
Legit question: Do you wash your hands again after that?
oh, yes, felt like it was obvious… i’m not touching anything without washing my hands after that.
Well I mean I do that in the shower, and I don’t wash my hands again after the shower, so I have no idea what the mentality is.
What part of cleaning your ass could be misconstrued as gay? Feels like an unnecessary aside, haha. Thanks for the step by step though, that makes sense!
i legit have no idea, but on every tread talking about bitets, there is always someone that discards it because is gay to touch your own ass
That would never fly in the US. They complain about water usage so much that they regulate shower heads so that they barely drip water, and toilets so that they don’t have enough water to flush solid waste. The bidet would just blow the regulators’ heads with all the water usage.
Which would be short sightedness on their part, since bidets actually save water in the long run by reducing TP usage
this isn’t a thing at all.
The bidet would just blow the regulators’ heads
Only if they sit on it backwards for the drying portion.
not surprised that Italy (who has a history of fascism and from what I heard currently has a fascist leader) has an authoritarian law requiring that people do things in their own homes (kinda like some HOAs in the US. Although, I have to admit, we must have lucked out with a HOA that’s not one of the shitty ones you always hear about)
fascism is when regulation
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“Hey you need to build the house with these features in order for it to be approved”
“Wuh what??? This is literally fascism”
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you are not obligated to use it.
brit here.
can confirm. i sit on the side of the bath and wash my arse with the shower. The only house i have seen in the UK with a bidet was essentially a mansion
Fellow Brit, I just shave my arse crack to prevent Klingons.
“today is a good day to die!” flush
“Glory! To you and your ass!”
Just get the toilet seat bidet. It’s probably like 40£
only outputs cold water, right?
Yeah, you get used to it quickly
Look up the Tushy 3.0 bidet. Costs less than 100USD, and connects to both hot and cold taps at the sink. No electricity for a heater and you get the warm bum treatment! I got one for each bathroom
Right now I live abroad and we have just the tub, so yeah same remedy. It’s cursed and annoying though, so I hate it so much
they make attachments you can add to your terlet for such activities, although i’m guessing the UK uses some special kind of non-standard HrH style plumping fixture to supply water (like a square pipe or something?) so maybe they don’t exist there?
Also in the UK, the aftermarket toilet attachments are not in line with building codes because of the possibility of contamination of the water supply, so it’s quite complicated if you don’t have room for a separate bidet.
England seems to traditionally have the toilet separate from the house and for some reason the bidet trend never caught on
Uh… wut?
The UK has lots of old housing stock, built before the concept of indoor plumbing, so there was nowhere to put a toilet in lots of properties when they started to become a thing, hence you’d put it seperate from the house in an outhouse style set-up. We also lost less of the country to warfare during the two wars so didn’t have to rebuild whole cities, so the conversion to move those toilets inside was still going on as we moved to the later half of the 20th century. My old man didn’t have an indoor toilet in his childhood home until he was a teenager, he was born in the late 50s.
You still go to pubs these days that are old enough that the loos are disconnected from the main building as they’ve been there for so many years.
I live in the UK and nothing you’ve said here is congruent with my experience. I don’t recall ever being in any building whatsoever that had no indoor toilet, including pubs.
there was
In the past. A long way in the past.
as we moved to the later half of the 20th century
The move to the later half of the 20th century was 70 years ago.
Near where my sister lives on the edge of Bristol there are several pubs with outdoor toilet blocks. It’s usually country pubs or ones old enough to be listed. You’re not going to find many in cities these days.
This must specifically be like, row homes, right? Where it’s too tightly packed to fit a new room.
It’s not like houses here in sweden are brand spanking new and yet they all have toilets nowadays even if some of them are ancient.My old man’s was semi-detached, but yeah density is part of the issue here too.
This what I’ve been told- I’ve never been to England, my understanding is that back in the day this was the way especially for suburban and farmland, and that that’s why many old Australian houses still have the toilet separate. Obviously this doesn’t apply to dense or modern areas.
Lol. Out of ALL the European countries to pick as example, you chose the worst.
France definitely does not like bidets and French will even ask you why even bother having one, assuming they even know what it’s for.
Try again with Italy. Basically every household has one.
Interesting. Well, not losing sleep on that. Good on Italy and Spain though.
Spain checking in here. Bidets are definitely popular in Spain. I suspect that’s how they made their way to south America.
The utopian city of Atlantis sunk due to bidet overuse.
They might have sunk the city, but their butts were sparkling clean
I think the answer is just that most don’t know about them, having grown up in homes without them. They are quite nice though.
They may also be perceived as too expensive, if they only know of full toilet replacement kinds and not the seat replacements you can get for less than $100.
Cost me half that and I love it. It’s a life changer.
Maybe, but I’d still go with having no idea such things exist. That was me, and the first type I knew about was the seat attachment/replacement
There are dozens of choices that work great for twenty some dollars online here in the US and don’t even replace the seat.
I got a $400 one, and it was the best $400 I’ve ever spent. It’s something I use every day, and damn does it improve my day just a little bit more.
There are a large number of Americans that think:
- Anything touching them there makes them gay - still not sure how your hand and TP is any different
- It will hurt - yeah… IDK
- It’s gross, or it doesn’t get you clean - uh…wiping some paper on it does? how???
I know someone who thinks it just sprays shit over everything
I know a lot of people think the same thing. I’ve even seen people say so on here/reddit, on other bidet posts.
I only have anecdotes, but as an American, it’s #1. It was my initial off the cuff thought. Buttholes are verboten here. Full stop.
Its really the first one tho.
Striaght american men will fight you before they will let water spray on their dirty asses.
As an American who’s unsure.
I don’t like the thought of water spraying into my ass
There are valid concerns with regard to bidet use. They do result in aerosolized particulates in greater number than results from wiping, which means you are literally breathing more feces.
Is it enough to be problematic? Probably not, but that may also depend on how aggressively/frequently you use them.
See also:
- Ali, Wajid, et al. “Comparing bioaerosol emission after flushing in squat and bidet toilets: Quantitative microbial risk assessment for defecation and hand washing postures.” Building and Environment 221 (2022): 109284.
- Abney, S. E., et al. “Toilet hygiene—review and research needs.” Journal of Applied Microbiology 131.6 (2021): 2705-2714.
I think you me question is missing some key words. “Why isn’t the use of the bidet more widespread in the USA and other western countries?”
I am in Vietnam right now and nearly every bathroom has a bum gun to wash your bits. When I was in Japan nearly every bathroom had bits to wash you built into the toilet seat with digital controls. These are not just in homes and nice places, but also at 7-11, train stations, airports and even hole in the wall places. Wish USA/Canada had this as we all know how much it sucks when out and you have a forever wipe.
Bum gun >>> bidet
I find wiping just doesn’t do it for me… I can wipe myself raw and still have itching…
But a trip to the bidet clears it all up.
toilet paper mafia.
I suspect it’s a case of “We always did it this way, so it’s the superior way”.
This. In my part of the world, Nordics. No one has it, except really old bathrooms that have a separate bowl with o detachable shower head. But I only saw that once in my life. I installed one a year ago and it’s a game changer.
I was overseas and recovering from surgery. I’d never seen a bidet before arriving in Argentina a few days before, so I still wasn’t used to them.
In any case, I was sitting on this bidet at 3am or something, on painkillers, and recovering from surgery, almost falling asleep while I sit there. I’m leaning forward, and turn the bidet, and it turns out this bidet has a jet of water almost powerful to reach the roof. And because of the angle I was sitting at, I get this jet of high pressure water right on my clit. I’m pretty sure the noise I made woke most of the neighbours! It was not a fun experience
That being said, I’d still get one here in Australia if I could :)
A bidet can find the clit and I can’t? WTF
/s
/s
You lie
Why do people always act like it’s super difficult to find the clit?
Look at a medical textbook, put your face between her legs and you’ll see where it is. It really isn’t that hard.
I’m aware there are men who are so caught up with toxic masculinity that eating out a woman is not an option, and they probably actually are unable to find the clit. But do people really say “look at me, I’m a toxic person who isn’t able to pleasure their partner because of it” about themselves as a joke?
Not wanting to eat out their significant other isn’t necessarily correlated to toxic masculinity; I think you’re conflating two different things. It’s possible to be selfish completely unrelated to toxic masculinity. Not every instance of a male doing something wrong is attributable to toxic masculinity.
So people are saying “look at me, I’m selfish” as a joke?
You’re completely right that not every bad behaviour in a male is toxic masculinity. And a completely non-sexist person may just not want to do it out of pure selfishness. However there are plenty of jokes about the gayness of a man eating out a woman. I’m pretty sure these topics are closely related. The logic of those men usually looks like this:
Eating a woman out => submissive => weak => bad
there are plenty of jokes about the gayness of a man eating out a woman
Ummm.
Those two things are opposites
I know. And yet there are plenty of shitty people making jokes about it.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard that.
I LOVE eating out a woman. My woman is 8 months pregnant and I havent eaten pussy in most of that time and it’s killing me lol
I haven’t eaten anyone out in over a year, and I also miss it. It’s super fun seeing the other person being pleasured by my actions.
No idea tbh. It’s not hard to find. Sure it’s hidden under a good but it’s not exactly hard to see. Learning how to use it though seems to be more of a mystery. I mean shit, the majority of the time my wife struggles to know what she does and doesn’t like.
I would never.
I found that discovery to be a highly welcome one personally
I mean, maybe in other circumstances, but I was not ready! :)
Because the tradition of wiping until it’s red is deeply rooted in american toilet culture.
In the US, mostly because of the associations with prostitutes made by American soldiers in Europe during WWII. They were frequently called “whore’s baths”. Personally, I love mine and hate having to use a toilet without one.
The worst part of having a bidet is going places where there isn’t one.
Agreed. Once you’ve acclimated to using one regularly, it feels nasty not to use one.
You realize just how many people go about their lives with shit-stained asses
I’ve read that one reason could be due to prostitution during WWI / WWII.
Americans saw bidets over in Europe during the war, mainly at brothels, which gave them the idea they were unclean, non-Christian, idk. Maybe if you said you liked bidets then everyone knew you had been to a brothel.
I didn’t fact check it. Doesn’t really matter - I’m taking a poop right now and I’m about to blast the poop away with my Toto. Eat this pleasant, warm water, turd balls.
As a European, nobody has them here, I know them from Asia
Here in Italy almost every house has a bidet
Damn. I should move to Italy.
American here. Thanks to woot regularly selling them, I have a bidet on each toilet in the house. I have a battery operated travel bidet, because now I’m hooked.
It has certainly led to… “Interesting” responses from house guests. There’s always TP in stock, so it’s not required. Butt I’m never going back if I can help it.
There’s always TP in stock, so it’s not required.
That’s always weird to read. For me bidets are for after, not instead of.
After TP? Why? TP is for drying and a double check.
no, its for removing the shit.
You would make a mess of the bidet otherwise.
Is this like the bidet version of standing-wipers thinking normal people will get their hand in the water?
The fact that any time there’s a poll and about half of people respond as being standing wipers always blows my mind. It’s just so… wrong.
It gets all smushed up in between your cheeks too if you stand and wipe
Not true for any of the six bidets I have owned. the wand sits very far back in the spray is in the opposite direction of where the wand is and the wand itself retracts into a cover while spitting water to clean itself.
And I have never even had a fancy one with power or heated water. All these just run off the pressure in the pipe.
Huh? I can assure you won’t, unless you have extremely muddy poos?
Last time I was in Japan there was actually shit on the spray nozzle at the hotel.
Come to Asia my friend, Bidet showers, no paper.
both my grandmothers used to preclean dishes with the same instrument before putting them in the dishwasher. It was attached to the kitchen sink of course. When I first saw one in a toilet in SEA I thought ‘what? But grandma how?’. She told me that dishwasher salesmen recommended them, and I always wondered how they made the jump from Butt to Wedgewood.
yeah same here, people are not doing this right.
You need to eat more fibre.
Whoa… Tell me more about this battery operated one. I just got back from vacation and I missed my bidet!
I bought a Toto HW300-W “Portable Travel Washlet” off Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008O1G4LQ) back in 2018 and it still runs like a champ. The text is all in Japanese, but easy enough to figure out (or Google Lens it if you really want to know).
* Edit: I should note that I paid about half of the current list price :-O
Thanks! Adding that to my wish list right now!
Yeah I’d also like a recommendation!
I have a travel one for camping. No battery though.
Big TP conspiracy :)
In America? Because we are barbarians.
I kinda think that’s why we are all so pissed and ornery most of the time….because our tushes are dirty.
