Micro futures observation: Toilets

I remember my family got a bidet at our home when I was 10 or 11 as it was a bit of a trend at that time. I wasn’t a curious kid, I didn’t ask too many questions in life. I just easily accepted the usage of it in my daily routines without any doubt or questions but, my grandparents found it odd and they never got used to it. But ever since I moved to the States, my perspective and opinion about it changed. I didn’t know that it was uncommon to have a bidet in common households and that it was actually unsanitary as the device needs thorough cleaning regularly. I went back home every summer and winter but, I never used the bidet again. The idea of shooting up a water stream on my bottom just all of a sudden seemed odd.

When I saw the open bidet bowls in European countries, I was appalled in a way. It’s just so open! I understand that it is a perfectly fine way of cleaning and that it is a practice very widely spread and used. I mean, I used to use it myself. But, now I sense a kind of insecurity and discomfort from it being an open thing likely to contain bacteria. I’m sure they are cleaned regularly and everything flows into the drain but, the I still sense the nastiness from it.

Not only the bidet bowl but also, the toilet brush often standing next to the toilet bowl makes me feel insecure and uncomfortable about its existence. Regardless of whether it’s been clean with bleach or whether it’s squeaky clean looking, the idea of it having been shoveled in a toilet bowl lingers.