why isn't the use of the bidet more widespread?

nitefox@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 465 points –
393

You are viewing a single comment

It's almost exclusively a cultural norm. In SE Asia they often have a spray hose next to the toilet. In Korea and Japan they have bidet functionality integrated into the toilet. In the middle east they dump into a hole in the ground.

That's just false. In every country in the middle east, in any house, you'll find an integrated bidet and probably a hose next to it. Even the most down trodden facilities in my country had bidet.

I can't say the same for North Americans who apparently just think wiping is enough.

Can confirm. There are hole-in-the-ground toilets in the Middle East as well, like sometimes for public restrooms. But not in homes, for gosh sakes.

Syrian, Turkish and Jordanian toilets were no picnic but I've never seen worse facilities than the ones in Egypt. I remember having food poisoning after dining in Sinai and the next day a boat took us to Jordan. However much I needed to use the toilet on that ship it wasn't enough, I couldn't face it. Maybe it was the rough sea conditions that caused there to be shit up the walls and on every surface.

Before bidets, Arabs used a gardening pale. I don't know about other middle eastern cultures.