HIllary Clinton even had one installed outdoors:
Posted on 05/22/2013 9:49:51 AM PDT by NotYourAverageDhimmi
The U.S. has long prided itself on being a cleanliness-first nation. All throughout my childhood, I heard about "dirty" Europeans and "smelly" French folk. My school friends, and sometimes even their parents, would joke about how women in other countries didn't shave legs or armpits and how glad they were that kind of behavior didn't fly in America — unless one was a "dirty" hippie, that is.
We have been through the toxic wringer and back in attempting to keep our homes not only sparkling clean, but germ-free (which very well might be contributing to supergerms and auto-immune diseases per the "hygiene hypothesis"). And we spend tons of money in pursuit of that elusive state. Thankfully, many of us have realized the irony of bringing a plethora of chemicals into our homes to make it "clean," and nontoxic product use is on the rise. Nonetheless, we are still a dirt- and germ-avoiding nation.
Which is why it has always surprised me that bidets — which can be separate basins or integrated into a regular toilet (if one is lacking space) — are so uncommon in America.
After all, what could be cleaner than actually washing oneself after using the bathroom? Relying on toilet paper is often insufficient, and not only does extra TP usage mean toilet clogging is more common, it is clearly wasteful to use TP for a job that's beyond its powers. Bidets are a far greener solution to using reams of extra toilet paper to make sure you're clean.
And ironically, bidets save water too (even though they use it). How? Well, think about how many times you have taken a full-on shower when you didn't really need one, because you felt a bit sweaty (after sports), uncomfortable (from wearing restrictive clothing), or just not clean down below (after sex)? (Or for women, while menstruating?). Not only is it a hassle and a time-waster to take more than one shower a day, but it's a waste of water and fossil fuels for all that extra hot water.
Bidets are found throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia (especially Japan) and pretty commonly in South America (basically everywhere besides the U.S., Canada and Australia), but I know exactly one person who has one, and he is originally from South Africa.
But bidets are growing in popularity in the U.S. - the Toto Washlet being a specific brand that is popping up in all kinds of home renovations and new buildings. (I've seen them featured on house-hunting shows on TLC as well as in listings for NYC apartments; for now they are always considered a "perk" or "extra.") Here's one trend I hope will trickle down — pun intended.
The next time I know I'll be living somewhere for more than a year, I'm going to invest in an in-toilet unit bidet for myself and my partner. How about you: would you consider a bidet during your next bathroom upgrade?
You still need tp
“I think they are great”
Yeah, I don’t get why everybody thinks bidets in America is a crappy idea and are throwing cold water on it.
HIllary Clinton even had one installed outdoors:
The electricity isn’t required but it can serve to warm the water and for the drying air.
Bidets are common in upscale areas like the Southern California coast.
Bathrooms in America need to be modernized since they are largely indistinguishable in capabilities from an advance bathroom of the late 1800s, and they also need urinals.
A modern bathroom can be technological marvel of service and comfort, and odor free.
You can get them where the spray is heated.
for the average american diet, i doubt they have enough pressure to clean all the stuck-on gunk off the undercarriage. you really need a mini pressure washer.
and then you’re all wet down there, so you grab some tp to dry yourself off before the undies go back up. so what have you saved?!? noting.
“bidet” in french stands for “mini shower”.
the french really do need them. our bathing habits are different.
how much more laundry and water are you using for your rear end cleaning and wiping? please don’t tell me you use the towel more than once to dry your bottom.
i can see this as a helper to people with medical conditions. but i think in terms of what it saves it’s marginal, as you use more water, some still use some tp, and if you use towels to dry, you’re now having to wash a bunch of crotch towels you didn’t have to wash before.
Without following through to the source link, it's become commonplace to embed Amazon item "links" into "news" items (when in reality they are catalog plugs with kickbacks for those readers who make the purchase)
yeah nothing better than fresh tuna. yow.
i don’t get it either.
the bidet is your friend, not your enema.
Sounds like a job for.... BLOOMBERG!
“the bidet is your friend, not your enema”
Awesome, and so true!
Yes, I can’t think of one of those countries with much to offer us, besides their teeming masses and their food
I believe it is common in Japan to wash off seated in a "shower", then, once clean, bathe in a tub.
I read once that tubs were more common in Europe than showers, but I suppose that is changing.
“...you squat over a stinking hole in the ground.”
I worked at a “westernized” facility in Indonesia. The large bathrooms/changing areas had stalls with just holes for the locals, and toilets for the westerners. Above each toilet was a stick figure standing on the seat of the toilet and squatting - with the universal red slash through the image.
Freepmail for you.
59 posts, and no-one has mentioned Sheryl Crow until now!
Hoot!
The way I heard it, Jethro says "They's some really small people over there in Europe."
"How do you figure that?"
"Well, jess look at how low them drinking fountains is."
That being said, I read where many Russian peasant soldiers in WWII thought the regular flush toilets they found in Germany were wash basins.
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