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CLASSIC: Why don't Americans use bidets? · Ridiculous History

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Fellow ridiculous historians. We are a family show. We welcome
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: you gratefully. We are so excited that you have joined
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: us for this classic episode, and we want you to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: know before you get into it, there are going to
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: be a lot of poop jokes in this one.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there was no way around it. You know, it's
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: kind of funny, man. Last week's classic episode was about
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: showing your butt. This week's is about washing it.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: We had a phase, we had a day.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: It was a fut phase. And we also referenced this
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: episode quite a lot as a good example of native advertising.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Because I'm not mistaken, man, We did successfully pitch this
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: to a bidet company who sponsored it back in the
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: bidet when and when it originally came out that will
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: have been stripped out by now, but you know it
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: was I think a Tushy sponsored episode.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, Tushy, a supplier of Bedazz. Now, let me take
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: a moment, fellow ridiculous historians, to give some credit where
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: it's due. It's very important to me, Noel. You and
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I were working on this episode. Why don't Americans use
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the days? And you are the guy who came to
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: me and said, hey man, Hey man, what if we
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: reached out to a bidet company and I'm the guy
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: who said, wait, holy smokes, can we do that? And
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: you said, what's the worst that could happen?
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's how it went down or
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: not been, but it has become codified in the lore
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: of this show. So I thank you for the credit
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: where it may or may not be due, but that
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: is absolutely what happened. To some degree. We did pitch
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: it and they did bite, but most importantly, we got
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: to talk about bidets. I am a huge bidet fan,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: not just saying that because of a sponsor.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: And prolegmatic way everybody.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Do not I want a problematic way is there. They're great,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: They're just I mean, come on, let's be honest, Ben,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Wiping your butt with dry toilet paper is weird and
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: a huge waste of resources.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: I spend a lot of time in countries where bidets
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: are crazy common, and I just got to tell you, guys,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Japan is pooping in the future.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, man, I finally upgraded and got myself a
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Toto washlets and it's changed my life. And just to
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: jump in here for a second, I just want to
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: make sure that it's known that we're three for three.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Toilet paper is barbaric, It really.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Is, unanimously. Yeah, whether you are royalty or a roaming vagrant,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: at some point you will have to poop. And the
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: study of sanitation is a study of civilization. In this
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: classic episode, well in this classic episode, we ask ourselves
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: about how to poop.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Right, let's roll that beautiful bidet footage.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome to the show,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: fellow Ridiculous Historians. We'd like to start today's episode with
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: just a couple of statistics, some of which may surprise
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: you. You're gonna give us the straight poop, Ben, I am,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I am. And by the way, and yeah your nol
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I'm Ben. That's our super producer, Casey Pegram, saving the
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: show every time we are here in the booth with you. So,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: first things first, the average American uses twenty three point
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: six rolls of toilet paper per year per capita. Huh,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: which doesn't seem like that much right now. It doesn't
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: until you consider that there are over three hundred million
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: people in the US.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Ah, yeah, we're lousy with people.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: And that makes a total of seven point four billion
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: rolls of toilet paper used in the US each year.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: You ever, just think about just picture everyone in the world.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: But you know what kind of blows the mind a
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: little bit, doesn't it.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: But some people will think it's particularly cheeky of us
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: to have back to back episodes related to butts, or
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: should we say cheek to cheek?
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, like the way you dance with the
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: lady in Red.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: You know, thanks for classing that up, man. We seriously,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: I think we need as much class as we can
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: get in this episode. The average American uses fifty percent
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: more TP than people in Western Europe and Japan, and
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: there's a big reason for that, which is the subject
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: of our episode today, which.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: By the way, yes, let me tell you we are
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: excited about this for a couple of reasons. I don't
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: know if you guys know what custom content is. That's
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: sort of the industry buzzword for when you make a
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: piece of content for a company, which is kind of
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: what we're doing today. But it's totally awesome because I
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: am just a huge fan of Bedeys, first of all,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: and I'm a huge fan of this company that is
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: sponsored this episode, a company called Tushy who actually sent
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: us these bidets. And I will tell you, my friend,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: my butt has never been cleaner, my disposition has never
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: been sunnier. I'm just loving life, and the beday life
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: is the life for me, my friend.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a brand new bidet.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: Get it. I see what you did there. That's gonna happen.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: We've been throwing that around.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Although apparently I saw an Englishman talking about it and
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: he pronounces it b day.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw. I saw the same video. Now let's
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: continue peeking behind the curtain here because I want to
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: assure you friends and neighbors that my co host enthusiasm
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: is genuine and sincere.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: I literally talk about it all the time.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: It's weird, it gets weird sometimes. But but oh but
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: oh this is gonna be ridiculous.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: That's fun. I'm having it already.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: So our in another show that we do stuff they
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: don't want you to know, with our illustrious, amazing co
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: host Matt Frederick. We actually also did the day sponsorship.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: We did some ads for them, but this episode came
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: about because we reached out to them and said, we're
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: gonna do this anyway. Do you guys want to hang out? Basically,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: and we're so glad that when we reached out to them. Yeah,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: we did it, Yeah, because it just made sense and
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: it's like podcast need sponsors.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, why not. There's a match made in but heaven.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Because we're also we're also fairly silly, a juvenile for
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: two grown men.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: You know what, I'm never gonna let that boyish, potty
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: mind die.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Heck yeah, banger rang, That's what I say. So we
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: started investigating the history of this, and just at the
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: very front of the episode, we want to point out
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: the following. Although it can seem very hilarious and silly,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: you know what, arg you rightfully so to talk about
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: these kinds of these kinds of gadgets and the techniques
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: people use to stay clean across the world. The truth
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: of the matter is that sanitation is a tremendously important
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: thing throughout history and in the modern day.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, have we talked about the fact that today in
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: San Francisco, specifically, I saw an interview with the head
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: of their sanitation it costs something like a million dollars
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: a month or something like that just to clean out
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: their sewage system.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there are a lot of people and those those
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: costs aren't really going to go down.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Well, it's because of this thing. If if you heard
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: of this, it's called a fat berg. You know what
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: a fat is. It's the collection of like grease and
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: dirt and hair, toilet paper, toilet paper especially wipes that
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: you're not supposed to flush, shanitary products, condoms, absolutely, just
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: all the stuff that you're not supposed to flush, and
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: that's a huge infrastructure costs. I actually saw an article
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: about one of these fatbergs that was so massive in London.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: It was the size of like a double decker bus.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: They removed it and they put it under glass in
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: a museum.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, and it looks just as disgusting as you
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: might imagine. You can find it. You can find this
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: article online and you don't have to take our word
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: for it. The only recommendation we would make before you
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: read the article is to be sure that.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: You are not eating as you peruse it. They call
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: it the Whitechapel Monster, which is such a cool name.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: And in England, London rather a Thames Water, which is
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: the company that operates the water system there in London,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: spends a million pounds a month just to clear these
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: kinds of blockages.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: And it's a constant battle. It's not like they're getting
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: ahead of the problem. It's strange because we spend so
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: little time thinking about how important sanitation is, especially in
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: a world where the majority of people now officially live
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: in urban areas. So this fatberg stuff, this problem with
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: sewage infrastructure, it's not going to go away. For most
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: of our listeners here in the US, A bid day,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: which you've probably heard of before, sounds like a very
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: you know, fancy pinkies up European thing, right, you would
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: associate it with an upper crust lifestyle. That's reason, and
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: there's a great reason for that. So let's turn back
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: the clock. Let's travel to France sixteenth century. Maybe that's right,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the sixteenth century. You see, in the fifteen hundreds, bid
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: day was a word referring to a specific type of pet,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: a pony, to be absolutely specific about it, and these
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: ponies were kept by French roy The word midday itself
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: originates from an old French word which I graphically mispronouncing, bideer,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: which means to trot.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: And these, you know, I'm picturing these fancy frenchmen and
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: women in their finery trotting around on these dainty little ponies,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: perhaps with ringlets in their manes, you know, flowing locks,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: flowing locks bedecked with little little bows. Maybe I don't know,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: white stockings, whatever. Man, I'm at a we're editorializing here,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: but I'm just painting a picture. Okay, it's for effect.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: But it wasn't until the sixteen hundreds that the bidet
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: as we know it, the b day whatever was kind
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: of came into fruition. But it wasn't what we know
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: today today's bedey.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: It was it today's day.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: It was the mid day of yesterday, and it was
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: really just like a sink. It looked like a chair.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: So yeah, let's let's take a closer look at these
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: days of yesterday. The apparatus itself was resembled in some
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: ways an ottoman, an ornamental automan. The basin was set
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: within wooden furniture and bidets themselves. You will hear different
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: contradicting claims about whether there were was a single inventor
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: or whether there were multiple people to whom the idea
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: occurred around the same time. But one thing for sure
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: we know is that they were furniture makers, because these
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: things were set into wooden furniture.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: And the thing about that too is there's a reason
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: for that, Ben, because these were not in bathrooms, because
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: they didn't have indoor plumbing, the idea of a bathroom
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: would be more likely. It would be like in your chamber.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Pot it was just a bucket under your bed.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: And p in two or in your dressing room or
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: what have you, your your what do you call your boudoir, right,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: and the bidet would just be this little I'm like,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking of it as like a nightstand kind of
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: with short legs, and this inlaid basin of water that
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: would just be filled up and you'd squad over it
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: and literally splash yourself manually, right.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: And this would be I love the point you bring
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: up about there not being a separate bathroom or restroom.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: So this would be either in the dressing chambers or
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: in the bedroom itself. And to keep it classy, would
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: often be a lid, something made of wood or wicker
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: or leather.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: And a lot of this, you know, These furniture makers
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: would inlay these little basins into these wicker furniture, like
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: you were saying, Ben, and it was almost to like
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: disguise the function of the device.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's it's a very intimate thing. You're already
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: in someone's bedroom and then you see how they handle
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: some very personal business. But I feel weird every time
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: we say, but I'm gonna get over this, I promise.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: However, I like it.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: There we go, good substitute, Thank you, thank you. However,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: in the the origin story of the bidet, it is
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: inherently intertwined with the story of class in France. And
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: that is why, as we alluded to at the top
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: of the show, that is why bidets even today are
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: seen as this more upper crust, fancy thing. And you
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: start to see why this might not have taken off
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: in the United States quite as much because of that
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: association with almost hedonism, right, because soldiers would see these
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: when they were traveling around Europe during World War Two. Yeah,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: and we want to give a shout out to the
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Atlantic because there is a fantastic article we found called
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: the Bidet's Revival. In this article, author Maria Teresa Hart
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: explores not just the somewhat murky origin of the bidet,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: but I would argue even more importantly the social role
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: it played. It occurred culture, it was found in paintings,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: it was referenced by the most wealthy, successful people of
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the time.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Even Marie Antoinette, as she awaited her uh he head
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: to be chopped off by the guillotine, was able to
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: get her golden crusted bidet in her cell because she
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: was that was like one of the comforts that she
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: was used to. Apparently she used to travel around with one,
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: had one made that would go in her coach. So
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: this was very much associated with like kind of the
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: upper crust. But then it filtered down to kind of
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: everyone eventually, right.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: Well everyone in Europe, yea, and eventually Asia and elsewhere
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: everywhere except the United States.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: And with this article does a fantastic job of doing
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: is kind of exploring why that might.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Be okay, real quick time. The first written reference to
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the bidet itself is in seventeen twenty six in Italy.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: But as we know, the first written reference doesn't mean
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: it wasn't around, right of course, It just meant that
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: we have surviving documentation of someone writing about it.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Oh and by those days been it was a fancier version.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: It had like a pump with the water that would squirt,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: you know, the more like las you didn't have to
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: splash that seems very messy and ineffective.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: So around this time from the seventeen hundreds on Europe
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: experiences what we can only call a bidet boom, a
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: boom of bidets.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: I love it. It sounds like a just an explosion of
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: bidets going everywhere.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Yes, watch out, they're flying through the air to a
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: home near you. And it spread to other social classes
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: in France, as you said, Noel, to other countries in
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Western Europe, and then Latin America, the Middle East, Asia,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: but not the US. And there's a weird there's a
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: weird reason for that, and we should explore that. You know,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: while we're here at this point in space and time,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: how did the US not jump on the day train?
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: How did they not straddle the biday trade?
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Ben. It's a good question because everything we've said up
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: to this point makes it sound like a pretty appealing
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: train to ride, right. You know, it helps the environment,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: And we didn't even talk about how much water and
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: resources are used in making toilet paper and paper products
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: in general, right, right, and how much money it costs
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: some local and state governments to clean up these disgusting
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: blobs of congealed tpe and crap. That are clogging up
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: our source systems. And as a bidet user myself, I
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: can tell you, sir, it leaves you feeling fresh as
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: a daisy.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Well, they're more hygienic. That's part of it. That's a
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: big part of it, too big part.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: But despite this, despite these advantages and friends and neighbors,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: you can tell that we have our we have a
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: pretty strong opinion about this stuff. But despite the advantages
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: that were inherently present in biday technology, they were thought
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: of as very dirty, filthy things to the US. Why
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: because in World War Two we've got Allied troops, US
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: troops stationed in Europe, right and they are visiting there's
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: no need to use the euphemism here. They are visiting bordellos.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: They're visiting houses of prostitution, and they saw bidets and bathrooms,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: which was a normal thing, but because of the location
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: they were at, they started to associate these with sex work.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Interesting. I feel like it's a little crappy of them
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: to judge, boy to judge when they're hanging out in
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: the bordellos, like what, they're good enough to pay for sex,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: but they're like freaked out by their strange cleansing implement
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: and also.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: The process by which Biday cleanses someone after they have
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: used the restroom right or had intercourse or had intercourse.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Yet it's associated with a sexual aspect because you're washing
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: out genitalia, right.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: That's absolutely true. In fact, it was even associated with
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: birth control, and birth control in those days equals sin, helen, damnation.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: And we found a great quote from a birth control pioneer,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Norman Hare in nineteen thirty six.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Right, yeah, that's right. He says that in Anglo Saxon communities,
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: where bathrooms are notoriously cold and joyless rooms, lacking any
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: kind of warmth or decor, the very presence of a
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: bidet would have been regarded as like a symbol of sin, right.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Which is so strange because again we see this association
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: with hedonism, debauchery, and obscene wealth carrying over from this
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: seventeen hundreds to World War two.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Dude, that's right. This would have been way in like
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: the forties. So we've got the evolution of the bidet
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: kind of reaching its logical conclusion at this point where
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: you've got indoor plumbing at this point, so the bidet
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: has moved into the bathroom next to the toilet. It's
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: still a separate implement. And that's why a lot of
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Americans when they see them, it's rife for comedy and like,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: you know, euro vacation or somebody, someone ends up drinking
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: from the bidet and then making a joke about how, hey,
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: pretty cool y'all have water fountains in the bathroom here
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: they're kind of low though, Yeah, weird. I forget what that.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: That's definitely in a movie and I can't remember which one.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Write us and let us know.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, people getting squirted in the face and stuff. There's
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: another association that bidets had which worked against them, at
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: least in the US, and it is tied to the
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: misogyny of the time, and that is that they were
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: helpful in the process of menstruation.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: That's right, because there were no sanitary products in these days.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: There's actually a really amazing sounding book called Unmentionable, The
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manner. So this
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: is we're going back a little bit, but this is
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: still doesn't get much better than this, and it talks
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: about how women to rid themselves of the product of menstruation,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: the blood, would use what they referred to as jelly rags,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: and it was literally just a piece of fabric that
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: they would use to physically wipe this area. And that
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: just sounds really unpleasant and messy. And the midday would
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: give you nice little spritz clean you right off. We
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: good to go for at least a little while, right right.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: And so it's strange now when we look back from
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen that the ability to provide a more healthy
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: alternative in the process of menstruation was not seen as
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: a selling point. It was placed on the same level
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: as prostitution or unwanted pregnancy, to be delicate about it,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: and these all became hindrances for the bid day itself
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: because they were inherently being linked in the American consumer's
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: mind with a bunch of things that at the time
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: people just did not speak of in public.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: We're kind of jumping all over the place a little bit,
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: which is fine, that's what we do. But if we
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: go back to nineteen twenty eight, according to this amazing
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: Atlantic article, there was actually a patent for a design
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: that's very similar to what we see in bidets today
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: by our buddy John Harvey Kellogg. You know, the corn
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: flakes and masturbation fame. Uh huh, corn flakes anti masturbation fame.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Excuse me, Well, he would he would take exception. He's
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: also a big fan of animas, which I think we
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: mentioned we did earlier episode Yogurts I believe. Yeah. Yeah,
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: weird guy, but forward thinking when it comes to washing
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: your butt.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: And he was American, Yeah, he was American, and his
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: very particular beliefs about how one would pursue personal health
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: obviously led him to design this thing. Now, there's no
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: two ways about it. Harvey Kellogg may have been really eccentric,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: but he was also a brilliant person, so he would
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: have if the bidet had not already been invented centuries before,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: he would have invented it in the US.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Oh dude, but I'm looking at this pattern right now.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: It's a drawing. Yeah, it's just called J. H. Kellogg
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: anal douche. Yeah, sounds like it's this title and it's
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: it's it's like a nozzle. Sorry about John Harvey Kellogg
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: anal douche.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: And it's a it's a it's a nozzle.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: It's a nozzle that it kind of splits off from
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: the water supply that you would see. And it's the
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: same as and hasn't changed much, right, indoor plumbing. And
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: it goes up and kind of out from underneath the
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: toilet seat, and there's just a little fritz are nozzle
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: and you have a control with a valve, and it
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: fritz is you. And you might ask, isn't it gonna
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: go everywhere? No, sir or madam or whomever you're it's
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: blocked by your butt, goes in your butt. That's true.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Now, of course, we should also point out that these
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: things were not advertised as a complete replacement for the
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: use of toilet paper. They were in addition to so
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: you use much less toilet paper because one of the
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: questions people would have is how do you dry yourself off?
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: That's dab. That's where that stuff comes into play. Yeah,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: and you use so much less toilet paper. But still,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: as we're in the twentieth century, early to mid twentieth century,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: the days are seen as hedonistic European and I hope
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: you can hear the italics when we say it that way,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: like ou la la right, exact European, and they seemed
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: set to remain a thoroughly Unamerican thing, but that didn't
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: stop people from trying to make bidet waves. There was
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: a guy named Arnold Cohen who was the founder of
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: the American Bidet Company because he created a specific type
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: of bidet for his father who was having some health problems.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Some memorhoids perhaps or rashes. Yeah. Yeah, where you can
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: get these like anth calm fishers that you can get
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: from having, you know, being unclean down there. It's bad times.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: And he ultimately had a very difficult time with this,
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: even though he was an experienced, veteran man in the
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: advertising industry. No matter what he did, he couldn't really
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: seem to get this off the ground. And in bathrooms
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: across America.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: We're in the sixties at this point.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: We're in the sixties, Yes, thank you, in nineteen sixty four,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and he did some out of the box stuff. He
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: went on his own initiative. He installed hundreds or thousands
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: of these all over New York.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but unfortunately, this is one man going up against
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: big toilet paper, which is a thing. It is whenny
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: can we hear some stats about how much toilet paper
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: is sold, how much money is generated from toilet paper
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: in this country?
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, because we had the stats about how much
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: is used. I don't know how much is Yeah, let's
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: put some financial numbers on that.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Dude, this is insane. Okay. So Sharman Ultrasoft, which is
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: you know, you know, you know Sharman. They've been around
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: for a long time. They got a lot of brand recognition.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: They're only the third most popular brand of toilet paper
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: in sales. They are Sharman Ultrasoft variety made more than
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: a billion dollars alone in twenty seventeen. Wow, the most
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: popular private label made one point seven billion dollars in
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: twenty seventeen. So when we say big toilet paper, we
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: are not kidding.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: It's a billion dollar, booming business but belligerately opposed bidets. Yes,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: oh good, oh thanks man. Thanks, So we can tell
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: from those statistics, which are our really recent twenty seventeen
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: you said, right, yes, sir, So we can tell that
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: the battle between bidets and toilet paper did not work
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: out for bidets back in the sixties in the US.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: But you know where it caught on you where Cohen
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: did find success for the American Bidet company.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: You tell Japan. Ah, that's right, because the Japanese were
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: importing a lot of American toilets because original Japanese toilets
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: were really uncomfortable. They were super low to the ground.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: You had to squat, which now they've got these squatty
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: potties and they say that it's good for you. But
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: I don't know about all that. But the Japanese, being
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: very innovative people kind of really took that bidet design
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: that Kellogg patented so long ago and took it to
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: the next level. There's this company called Toto that makes
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: a product called the Washlet, which is a remote control
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: bidet with a heated seat that can be hot or cold.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: The bedet stream can change directions you wanted to go
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: counterclockwise or clockwise, or give you a nice direct jet
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: kind of water pic vibe. But you can do that.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: And these things are like thousands of dollars or some depends.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: They're like the you know, luxury toilet.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: Seats, but the bottom line one is maybe five hundred dollars,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: which is still very expensive, very expense in comparison to
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: a regular commode.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Or you know, the amazing product from our pals at Tushie.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: There we go, there we go.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: So we see that this technology originates in France and
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: proliferates throughout the world. But we also see that this
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: partially because of the cultural associations, I think more and
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: more frequently because of the price point. But days have
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: been you know, a distant second place in the story
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: of sanitation here in the US.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know how much toilet paper was sold in
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: Europe in twenty seventeen, much less than in the US
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: thirteen mil, relatively, dropping the dropping the chamber bucket.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Because we're talking there, we go, dropping the chamber five
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: because we're talking about a continent there that's not just
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: the country, that's Europe entire. And so this catches us
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: up to the modern day. And there's an excellent article
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: on our website HowStuffWorks dot Com by Alison Cooper called
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: the bidet Is it making a comeback? And it turns out,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: as you and I have been talking about off air nol,
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: it turns out that, uh, the bidat may actually have
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: its time to shine here in the.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: States, to shine up our buttholes.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, man, that's that's the truth of the matter. And look,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: we know this can sound.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: We know this.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: There we go, there we go, Oh my god, Well, done.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: We know this can sound a little bit strange, but
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: the facts, the objective statistics, are on the side of
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: the argument that bidets are gaining ground here in the US.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: And I think a huge part of that is because
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: for decades I assumed, and I think most everybody assumed
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: rightly so, that you would have to remodel your house,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: you would have to install a new water line to
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: run to that biday, right, that's right.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: But now thanks to our pals Tushy, he's got a
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: super low profile bidet attachment that has gained popularity. And
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: it's actually very similar to that patent from our buddy
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: Kellogg from nineteen thirty. It just splits off from the
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: existing water line. And look, we know, we know they're
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: sponsoring the show, but I really do It's a great
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: thing to have in your house. I'm a fan, and
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: I really hope the midday Revolution continues on full force
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: and I'll be leading the charge. My friend, I don't
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: know about you.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: It's a brand new beday in America. We got there, Noel,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: we did, man.
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: We hope that.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: I think it's fairly obvious to everyone that we we
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: enjoyed ourselves so much on this episode. I'm Casey. I
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: am sure that you have cut out several solid minutes
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: of us just laughing at each.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: Other, just saying but just saying butts. But we hang it.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: However, we hope you enjoyed this episode as much as
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: we enjoyed exploring it. And again, as funny and silly
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: as it may seem, as taboo as it may feel
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: to discuss these things, the truth of the matter is that,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: for multiple reasons, the role of toilet paper, the role
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: of personal sanitation.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: Roll of toilet paper.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Oh I just walked into that one it. Oh man,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: thank you, No, I wouldn't have noticed that one these
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: these various factors come into play in a tremendously important way,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: not just environmentalism, but also your own personal health.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: I think those US versus European to the paper sales
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: stats speak volumes.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: So let us know what your experiences are like. We
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: have a lot of listeners from around the world. I'd
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: also be interested to hear from folks in Australia because
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: we didn't really explore Australia's sanitation in this episode.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and does the water really turn down the drain
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: in the other direction? Let us know you can write
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: to us at Ridiculous at HowStuffWorks dot com. You can
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: hit us up on our Facebook page, or better yeah,
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: join our Facebook group, the Ridiculous Historians, where we get
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: into all kinds of fun stuff.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: We'd like to thank Casey Pegram for yet again saving
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: the show. We'd like to thank Alison Cooper and John
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Donovan over at how Stuff Works.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: And Loriel Dove while we're at it, she didn't really
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: write anything today, but such a cool sound cue I'm sorry.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: We also want to thank Alex Williams who composed our track,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: and most importantly, as we as we'd love to say
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: every episode, we'd like to thank you specifically you.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: Buy does she be d by?
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Does oh nolsa?
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: Subliminal? You like that?
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're proselytizing. I know that's it for now, but
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: stay tuned for our next episode where we cover very
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: strange stories of voter fraud.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, we're talking election fraud in the eighteen hundreds.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: That includes stuff ranging from all kinds of bad behavior, kidnapping,
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: forced intoxication.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: And my favorite one repeat voting in disguise.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: We can get a trench coat you can't make this
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: stuff up, and a fake mustache. Yes, yes, we'll see
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: then ridiculous historians. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: favorite shows.