• Mothra@mander.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    69
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • Rescuer6394@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      38
      ·
      1 year ago

      in Italy, there is literally a law obligating houses to have a bidet. the separated from the toilet kind.

      • Oyster_Lust@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

        • Rescuer6394@feddit.nl
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          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.

            • Rescuer6394@feddit.nl
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              oh, yes, felt like it was obvious… i’m not touching anything without washing my hands after that.

              • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                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.

          • machinaeZER0@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            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!

            • Rescuer6394@feddit.nl
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              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

    • PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      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

      • Mothra@mander.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

    • DonJefe@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Spain checking in here. Bidets are definitely popular in Spain. I suspect that’s how they made their way to south America.

    • happyhippo@feddit.it
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.