The Beginnings of a Squat Toilet Manifesto
Squat toilets are infinitely superior to the sissy sit-down toilets that are ubiquitous in the States. In fact, if I ever own my own house, I am installing a squat toilet. I think Americans have an aversion to them because we're socialized to be convenience- and sanitation-oriented consumers who don't give a second thought to the broader consequences of all 300 million of us flushing and flushing and flushing all day and night.
It is sheer brilliance that with a squat toilet, you can regulate the amount of water you need to chase down your pee or poop. Sometimes you just don't need a whole toilet bowl of water. A single scoop usually does the trick. But when you've made a particularly fluffy and adhesive mess, instead of lingering in the stall wondering if you should press the flusher again or save water by leaving the skid marks be (merely a cosmetic imperfection). Instead, you look down affectionately at your squat toilet and realize that you can toss as much or as little water as you need into it to get it clean.
It's far more comfortable and hygienic to squat to do your business than to sit. Imagine all the money and trees saved when our country no longer needs those paper toilet seat covers in public restrooms. And if you're really careful with your wiping technique, you don't even have to wash your hands, which saves even more water, and paper towels, too. After a few weeks of squat toileting, the whole country will have developed enough balance to read the paper during their morning poop. You laugh but I've seen old bent-over ladies doing it in China. And I am optimistic that not a few women will learn to pee accurately standing up, so they don't even have to strain their knees to get down there if they don't want to.
And then what's up with those industrial-strength toilets that you find in office buildings? The ones that swirl your poopage around with a centripetal force equivalent to a fire hose, so that you're basically watching the toilet make a blended shit-and-pee soup for you. If that's not the worst way to witness your waste being disposed of, I don't know what is. Because you always find little spray droplets on the toilet seat afterwards, a special gift from Team Flushing, made up of you and the crazy only-in-America power toilet.
Okay, so I don't know the details of flush vs. squat toileting in the context of sewage treatment, but squat toileting seems to me to send less garbage (i.e. toilet paper, tampons, and the occasional hairball or segment of dental floss) into the waste water supply. But that's another posting.
================
My brother's friend Linus only flushes the toilet if the bowl is brimming, or contains solid waste.
It is sheer brilliance that with a squat toilet, you can regulate the amount of water you need to chase down your pee or poop. Sometimes you just don't need a whole toilet bowl of water. A single scoop usually does the trick. But when you've made a particularly fluffy and adhesive mess, instead of lingering in the stall wondering if you should press the flusher again or save water by leaving the skid marks be (merely a cosmetic imperfection). Instead, you look down affectionately at your squat toilet and realize that you can toss as much or as little water as you need into it to get it clean.
It's far more comfortable and hygienic to squat to do your business than to sit. Imagine all the money and trees saved when our country no longer needs those paper toilet seat covers in public restrooms. And if you're really careful with your wiping technique, you don't even have to wash your hands, which saves even more water, and paper towels, too. After a few weeks of squat toileting, the whole country will have developed enough balance to read the paper during their morning poop. You laugh but I've seen old bent-over ladies doing it in China. And I am optimistic that not a few women will learn to pee accurately standing up, so they don't even have to strain their knees to get down there if they don't want to.
And then what's up with those industrial-strength toilets that you find in office buildings? The ones that swirl your poopage around with a centripetal force equivalent to a fire hose, so that you're basically watching the toilet make a blended shit-and-pee soup for you. If that's not the worst way to witness your waste being disposed of, I don't know what is. Because you always find little spray droplets on the toilet seat afterwards, a special gift from Team Flushing, made up of you and the crazy only-in-America power toilet.
Okay, so I don't know the details of flush vs. squat toileting in the context of sewage treatment, but squat toileting seems to me to send less garbage (i.e. toilet paper, tampons, and the occasional hairball or segment of dental floss) into the waste water supply. But that's another posting.
================
My brother's friend Linus only flushes the toilet if the bowl is brimming, or contains solid waste.
posted by Justina at 6:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home