Feminists Manage To Find Victimization In Your Rectum
Jessica Bennett and Amanda McCall get all fraught in The New York Times about women and pooping:
Poop shame is real -- and it disproportionately affects women, who suffer from higher rates of irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. In other words, the patriarchy has seeped into women's intestinal tracts. Let's call it the pootriarchy.Girls aren't born with poo shame -- it's something they're taught.
In "Psychology in the Bathroom," the psychologist Nicholas Haslam writes that girls tend to be toilet trained earlier than boys, learning at a young age to neatly keep their bodily functions contained (our words, not his).
When those girls get a bit older, they learn to pass gas silently -- while boys do it loudly, and think it's hilarious. (Yes, there is a kind of Kinsey scale to gas-passing and it goes like this: According to a study called "Fecal Matters" that was published in a journal called "Social Problems," adult heterosexual men are far more likely to engage in scatological humor than heterosexual women and are more likely to report intentionally passing gas. Gay men are less likely to intentionally pass gas than heterosexual women, and lesbian women are somewhere in between.)
"If a boy farts, everyone laughs, including the boy," said Sarah Albee, the author of "Poop Happened!: A History of the World from the Bottom Up." "If a girl farts, she is mortified."
There are plenty of attitudes widely held in society that I do not share, like the notion that motherhood is a wonderful choice for women. It is not for me. Or, as I like to joke, I don't have children, because if I had them, I would likely chase them with a wooden spoon.
By the way, guys feel bad if they stink up somebody's bathroom -- whether it's a woman's or a bro's. They concede this:
Which is not to say that anxious poopers or audible flatulators of all genders don't exist: Indeed, a male friend of ours, a U.S. Marine, recently explained that he often changes out of his military uniform and into another while on base in order to enter an entirely different facility to use the restroom. (He was one of three individuals who responded to a survey we sent out to 100 people, mostly women, about fecal habits at work. Even with the cloak of anonymity, apparently nobody wanted to talk about it.)But while boys and men are more likely to develop "paruresis," the D.S.M.-recognized medical term for pee-shyness -- theorized by some to stem, in part, from the pressure of standing next to each other at open urinals -- it is women who are more likely to have "parcopresis," the corresponding bowel movement anxiety, which is not in the D.S.M., according to a variety of fecal scholars.
"The bathroom is saturated with gender in fascinating ways," said Mr. Haslam, a professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne, who noted that women's aversion, particularly at work, is not entirely unfounded: One unpublished study he mentions in his book found that a woman who excused herself to go to the bathroom was evaluated more negatively than one who excused herself to tend to "paperwork" -- while there was no difference in the way participants viewed the men.
"At one level it's an association of women with purity," said Mr. Haslam, referring to the double standard. "At another it's a double standard applied to hygiene and civility, where the weight falls disproportionately on women to be clean, odorless and groomed."
Or, as one of the woman interviewed in that "Fecal Matters" study put it: "Women are supposed to be non-poopers."
And the wrap-up:
As it turns out, the ideal position for a person to comfortably relieve their bowels -- at least according to gastroenterologists -- is a lot like a squat, with the knees at a 90-degree angle to the waist, and not a seated position. Which means that perhaps all of us should be investing in a squatty potty to prop up our feet, but particularly those of us with a tangled up Slinky for a colon, sitting on a toilet in an office building that was built for the height of men.Or, a better idea: We could invest in educating girls to accept their bodies as they are, along with all the smells and sounds that come with it. Because, quite frankly, women have enough crap to deal with.
So much fretting. Do any of you get the idea that, as our lives become easier and easier thanks to technological advances, people come up with more and more picky-wicky stuff to be all bent out of shape about?
Not even a First World Problem. More of a Summer Resident of The Hamptons Problem or Living in a Locked, Guarded San Francisco High Rise Problem.
When you’re such an elite that yours isn’t supposed to stink, that you and the cows are causing Global Climate Catastrophe can be a rude reality.
Wfjag at September 17, 2019 11:04 PM
Feminists saying stupid things is a constant in modern life and thus the particular stupid thing said is of no interest. Also debunking a particular stupid feminist is also pointless. Feminists are supposed to be illogical.
A much more interesting question is why do big tech, the media, and academia promote feminism?
Why do our elites promote anti male hatred? Why did they empower bitter females and not their male incel counterparts?
After all there are always going to be bitter hateful women. The real question is who gives them power and why?
I think I know the answer. But I dare not say it.
YourAsianGoddess at September 18, 2019 12:55 AM
I had no idea my fart jokes were so revolutionary and radical.
Question though, can people really fart on command?
NicoleK at September 18, 2019 2:42 AM
Ever heard of Le Petomane? He was a world famous “fartiste.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Pétomane
Conan the Grammarian at September 18, 2019 5:17 AM
A much more interesting question is why do big tech, the media, and academia promote feminism?
Because they oppose Teh Patriarchy? and want to tear it down? starting with my "toxic" masculinity.
I R A Darth Aggie at September 18, 2019 6:21 AM
Switch to keto. Problem solved.
Feebie at September 18, 2019 6:22 AM
Ever heard of Le Petomane?
No. I am now...bummed out...that I do not have that talent. That said, do not tell the UN that I possess a weapon ass destruction. I do not wish to be inspected.
I R A Darth Aggie at September 18, 2019 6:22 AM
"So much fretting. Do any of you get the idea that, as our lives become easier and easier thanks to technological advances, people come up with more and more picky-wicky stuff to be all bent out of shape about?"
I agree completely.
Life is easy for lots of the middle class in America. I remember it was girls from Grosse Point who got time off from college (at a large, Michigan public university) to drive their BMWs to the WTO protest in Seattle because "the man" was keeping them down. These were the same girls who lived in off-campus housing their parents owned.
Life was easy; they were unfulfilled and empty; so they replaced the hole in themselves with outrage culture.
The problem with no name was caused by women not having to work a laundry mangle. It's not just that they would be busy - the old life closer to the edge involved manual exertion; the exercise was good for them psychologically. You can't reproduce it by doing the "no shame" 2.0 mph treadmill plod at the "anti-lunk" Planet Fitness with the other 10,000 office girls.
El Verde Loco at September 18, 2019 6:29 AM
"If a boy farts, everyone laughs, including the boy,"... "If a girl farts, she is mortified."
You could say: If a boy does anything and everyone laughs, he'll laugh too and do it again. If a girl does something and everyone laughs, she might be mortified. But not necessarily.
"At one level it's an association of women with purity... At another it's a double standard applied to hygiene and civility, where the weight falls disproportionately on women to be clean, odorless and groomed."
I don't know about "women", but about 70% of my adolescent clientele are impish girls who don't seem to seem to have internalized this double standard. They need as many reminders for hygiene and grooming as the boys, and even more redirection for immodest talk, dress and behavior.
We could invest in educating girls to accept their bodies as they are, along with all the smells and sounds that come with it."
No, please, don't do that.
Ken R at September 18, 2019 7:56 AM
I really don't want to "invest" in telling anyone how to fart or how to feel about farting.
Kevin at September 18, 2019 8:11 AM
Canceling my subscription to the New York Times was the right move.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at September 18, 2019 9:08 AM
It's past time that we simply expect everyone, no matter what group he belongs to, to handle his own mental issues.
jdgalt at September 18, 2019 9:21 AM
Traditionally, women have been the keepers of manners, customs, and holidays. Women organized the large family thanksgiving, christmas and birthday gatherings. They taught manners to the kids. They were responsible for whatever cleanliness the family could manage. They kept church functions going. That is, women were in charge of civilization, while the men worked 14 hour days in the coal mine or out on the farm to pay for it. If women have now decided that being civilized is the patriarchy, then down will go manners, courtesy, cleanliness, and family....oh, wait, that is exactly what has happened! Lots of women seem determined in fact to make themselves as unattractive as possible. yuck.
cc at September 18, 2019 11:58 AM
This is one of those sex difference stereotypes that is wholly justified.
During an almost 40 year marriage, I would be hard-pressed to offer any direct evidence whatsoever that my wife actually poops.
I also make some effort, at least, to shield her from the worst effects of my own defecatory efforts.
Jay R at September 18, 2019 12:37 PM
So this whole article is about a 3 out of 5 on the psychological-disorders scale. It reminds me of my youthful experimenting with vegetarianism, in that it appeared to me that most of the "vegetarians" were actually looking for ways to rationalize eating disorders. They weren't just eating a vegetarian diet; they were eating very specific patterns of very specific meals, with very specific placements of knife, fork, plate, drinking glass, condiments and chair, at very specific times of day and very specific surroundings. Their rote speeches to others about Evil Meat were mantras to attempt to soothe themselves; convincing the listener was secondary, if it was considered at all.
This article strikes me as the same sort of thing: feminism being used to rationalize the writer's psychological disorders. The misandary is emotionally unconvincing; the author does't appear to have actually thought about it. Rather, she's simply reciting it as part of the catechism. It makes her feel better to say it; what the reader thinks about it does not matter. The NYT as therapist for its staff. The rest of us are not readers so much as we are voyeurs, peeking into a glass house of neurotic exhibitionists who want us to look, so that they can then chide us for doing so. It's all part of the ebb and flow of their lives.
Me, I simply don't care anymore. I've got better things to do. Feminists being attacked by transgender activists for political incorrectness re sexual development? Meh. There was a time when I would have been sympathetic to the feminists' libertarian argument in that regard. But I know now that they can't be reasoned with. It isn't going to change their minds about anything; they are merely looking for a way to Win The Argument. It's a totem-pole contest: two groups in positions of vast power, argument about who will have the most power. Meanwhile, I am and always will be at the bottom of the pole. So, like the Middle Ages peasant, I have the luxury of not caring what happens in the queen's court. And I intend to enjoy it.
Cousin Dave at September 20, 2019 8:01 AM
I'm not so concerned with anyone pooping as I am about telling the difference between that and their speech.
You really can't tell which end is talking sometimes.
Radwaste at September 20, 2019 12:07 PM
90 degrees is a right angle. Squares have four. I think you meant 45 degrees where one's knees are above ones waist yet below the shoulders
Bruce Garrick at September 20, 2019 12:46 PM
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