Talk:Anal hygiene

Purpose?

what is the purpose of this article? it talks about how people wipe their butt. Is this what we want for wikipedia? Sallicio (talk) 03:41, 31 January 2008 (UTC)Sallicio

people take toilet paper for granted, but it really is just a hundred or so years in use after all. how did our forefathers do it? this is cultural knowledge and important to record. talking about knowledge, this article explains ZERO how people did wipe their digested food off their behinds. i really would like to know what they did with those sticks... ??? 217.25.116.50 (talk) 21:12, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

I agree. I mean, does EVERYTHING really require explaining? Humans have gotten pretty far without Wikipedia; I think we can survive not having a page about what anal cleansing is and how to do it. I'm just sayin'.--Vico (talk) 03:53, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

I see nothing that would render this article unfit for Wikipedia. Brian Ryans (talk) 19:21, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

This article needs to discuss the health ramifications of wiping vs not wiping. besides dirty undergarments, what happens if you don't wipe over a long period of time. (I know it's disgusting to think about, but seriously) Dachande (talk) 19:15, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

Ok. how about a section on animals (other primates also sometimes wipe, felines lick).FiveRings (talk) 20:00, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

The statement that the bidet is used for anal cleansing after defecating was obviously written by someone who does not live in a country where bidets are common. They are NOT used for cleaning after defecating , but rather for feminine hygiene, i.e. cleaning the vagina, NOT the ass.

How do you know this, it sounds like original research? My bit of original research is that bidets are extremely effective for anal cleansing. I'm unable to comment on the alternative, as I lack the necessary equipment. The Yowser (talk) 08:31, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

I can confirm with my original research that 99% of people in Italy who have a bidet at home use it to cleanse their anus --Formagella (talk) 23:56, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

As an Italian, I confirm we use it to cleanse our butthole. Feminine hygene is also very common. Anyway, our routine is: poop, wipe with toilet paper, cleanse with water, dry with a towel, wash hands, feel good. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.206.116.120 (talk) 07:43, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

Well, it is still interesting to learn more about our cultural history (and yes, wiping is cultural). If people can quote reliable sources, why not?--24.200.114.202 (talk) 04:27, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

This page is an example of the quality of articles I have come to expect from Wikipedia. Very informative and useful. 69.255.188.5 (talk) 04:13, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Get rid of countless interesting articles, like hey, the in-depth Pokemon articles, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD don't touch the article about wiping your ass! I love you, Wikipedia. - Rmzy717 (talk) 09:23, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

The part about southeast asian countries isn't exactly accurate, at least not with Thailand. In Thailand, dippers are really really rare now. It's mostly just faucets in households and toilet paper in public. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.28.118.39 (talk) 09:08, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

I found this article to be exactly what I was looking for (I was expecting it to connected to a sub-category of hygiene). It will be interesting to track [1] to see how this area evolves. Makes me think of Demolition Man and the three shells. -- BlindWanderer (talk) 01:23, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Overlinking and sources

I just did a clean up (no pun intended) of the wikilinks in this article. It was horribly overlinked. The manual of style recommends linking terms that aid in navigation and understanding. See WP:OVERLINKING. It advises not to link terms whose meaning can be understood by most readers of the English Wikipedia, the names of major geographic features and locations, religions, languages etc. Much of what was linked here were things like "water", "sand", country names etc. Most people understand what a telephone directory is (kind of self-explanatory) without a wiki-link. If anyone has an issue with a link that was removed, I'd be happy to discuss it. Niteshift36 (talk) 01:13, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Incomplete source

There was a citation of "Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 122". The citation doesn't tell us the title of the book that was being cited. Without that, the source isn't verifiable. I've removed it until someone can complete the citation. Niteshift36 (talk) 01:16, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Some possible sources

Look up Ecological Sanitaiton by the Swedish International Development Corporation Agency, pg 57 for a list of anal cleaning methods. Also, try googling "family cloths". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.94.73.15 (talk) 12:23, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

• A better question is whether or not the article should even exist. I'm really considering nominating it for deletion. Niteshift36 (talk) 14:13, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Pictures

Could you provide some diagrams or photographs to explain these concepts? Extra points for making them as inoffensive as possible :) --Error (talk) 00:14, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

Anthropological and Evolutionary Histories

Well, it seems I've stumbled onto the dark side of Wikipedia (this is the thinking man's version of the dark side of Youtube), but I did notice a significant gap in this article that would be interesting to address. What are the histories of anal cleansing? I'm thinking specifically of two different kinds of histories:

• Anthropological: At what point in human history did we begin wiping/cleansing? Have we always done this? How did wiping vs water cleansing first diverge? It seems like there's a lot of potential for rich anthropological discussion in this article.
• Evolutionary: What other animals (especially related ones) also participate in anal cleansing every time they defecate? At what point did this become a necessity, and what processes drove this (was there a change in diet, or in the fundamental workings of our digestive system that caused anal cleansing to be extremely favorable if not absolutely necessary)?

Arathald (talk) 06:08, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

Extremely funny

Extended content

I find this article quite hilarious. For a awhile, I almost thought i would die laughing. Now seriously, whose idea was this? An article on Anal Cleansing?!?!?!? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.93.236.3 (talk) 23:49, 16 January 2013 (UTC) Yes, an article on anal cleansing. Did you have any suggestions to improve the article? - SummerPhD (talk) 00:20, 17 January 2013 (UTC) In fact I do. I believe that the article could only benefit from the inclusion of detailed pictures, photographs, and/or, if possible, a video of anal cleansing. that would make it both more informative and hilarious. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.93.236.3 (talk) 01:53, 17 January 2013 (UTC) Good luck with that. - SummerPhD (talk) 02:51, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

I do not understand

I cite: "The stick would be soaked in a water channel in front of a toilet, and then stuck through the hole in front of the toilet for anal cleaning" and I read it again and again but could not understand what the second part of that sentence want to say to me. --89.204.138.130 (talk) 07:59, 10 March 2013 (UTC)

Dubious assertion—need citation

First, this is among the stranger articles on Wikipedia; I never knew that we'd have an article on this topic, although at this point I shouldn't be surprised. It's even stranger that I've encountered an issue with it. The first sentence of the "paper" section asserts that toilet paper was first used in China, The statement is uncited. However, one of the already cited articles (this one from CNN) flatly states that toilet paper was invented in the United States in 1857. Unless someone can find a citation that supports the claim that toilet paper is a Chinese invention, I'm going to rewrite the first sentence to match up with what the CNN article says. Horologium (talk) 14:23, 15 June 2013 (UTC)

• Go ahead. I've considered nominating this for deletion a few times and would support any nominations others would make. Niteshift36 (talk) 17:58, 15 June 2013 (UTC)

Horolgium seems to suggesting removing one unsourced bit, not deleting the whole article. - SummerPhD (talk) 01:01, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

• do you really think I didn't get that he was talking about an unsourced part? I said go ahead. Then I made a statement that I've considered nominating it for deletion. If it was all one thought, I'd have put a comma after I said to go ahead, rather than a period. I simply didn't think that I needed to start a new section simply to broach the subject. Niteshift36 (talk) 04:33, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

I first considered deleting the uncited information, but first decided to read the Wikipedia article on the humble music roll, whereupon I found a citation. I then added the citation to this article. for future reference.Wzrd1 (talk) 21:46, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Consensus before initiating proposed merge

Much of this article is already present in greater detail in the Toliet paper article. Wouldn't we better served in merging the two and having a redirect for Anal cleansing to Toilet paper?Wzrd1 (talk) 21:55, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Japanese toilet?

The sections on "Japanese toilets" seem too narrow in scope and assume that such seats are limited to Japan. Indeed they are used only on western style toilet bowls and available worldwide.

Although Toto, which is supposedly the world' largest plumbing supply company, originated and is headquartered in Japan, the have other divisions worldwide, including Toto USA. So it's not as if people in the US have to import seats from Japan, but can get them at local stores.

Also there are companies in other parts of the world that manufacture the same style seats. Even Costco carried such seats regularly, and the particular brand was from a Korean company.

I have no idea what percentage of homes in the US have such seats but I've certainly seen them in other people's homes and in hotels in other parts of the world.

Unlike European style bidets, which need to be integrated into the design and construction of a restroom, the so called Japanese model can be ordered from Amazon in many models from many manufacturers and added to existing toilets. Since they are in common use in countries such as Korea, and are readily available in western countries for anybody who wants one (albeit more likely to be in the home of somebody more affluent, but they are still in the hundreds of dollars and not a luxury item) it makes sense to say that the style is commonly used in Japan rather than referring to it as a Japanese toilet. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.0.107.222 (talk) 00:43, 9 February 2014 (UTC)

Relation to showering/bathing

I think this article is really about anal cleansing directly after defecation, but it seems to almost make it sound as if people in Western cultures never use water to clean the anal region, which as far as I know, they do with showers and baths. Maybe there should be some wider view of bathing/cleaning (what people did before indoor plumbing vs. after), and maybe also what people did in the Western world before toilet paper.Swingerofbirches24 (talk) 22:26, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

I've changed the first sentence now to make it clear that this article is indeed only about anal cleansing directly after defecation. What you describe is probably covered in the article on hygiene? EvMsmile (talk) 13:44, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

Trimmed the information on bidets

A comment was made above: "I can confirm with my original research that 99% of people in Italy who have a bidet at home use it to cleanse their anus --Formagella (talk) 23:56, 20 February 2016 (UTC)"

I have taken this as a hint to look at the way bidets were mentioned in this article. I've tried to clarify the bidet section and reduced the content a bit as it's in detail avaiable in the article on bidets. This article here is more about methods of anal cleansing, not on details of which countries in Europe have bidets or not. - Please check and improve the article on bidets. EvMsmile (talk) 13:37, 11 March 2016 (UTC)

Add video

I suggest there should be a video added showing the proper way to cleans one's anus. This would be educational. 71.166.33.65 (talk) 02:35, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a how-to. It is not here to show "the proper way to cleans [sic] one's anus." SQGibbon (talk) 02:43, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

please ignore the comment from this user as he is attaching me 71.166.33.65 (talk) 03:05, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

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Why has the notability tag been added?

User:Niteshift36 can you please explain why you added the notability tag? I think the article is notable because many people don't know that anal cleansing with water is very common globally. This has implications on the design of e.g. public toilets. A lot of Wikipedia readers are from the US and would think that everyone uses toilet paper. This is one reason why I think this article is notable - it highlights the different hygiene habits of people. Also interesting how this is related to Islam. EMsmile (talk) 14:55, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

• I find trivia as interesting as the next guy, but is the practice of anal cleansing a notable topic as a stand alone article or more a part of a bigger hygiene article? Niteshift36 (talk) 01:21, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

Well, I think it's more than trivia. It's information about cultural preferences which has e.g. implications on how you design public toilets in countries with e.g. more and more Muslim immigrants (as they want water for anal cleansing instead of toilet paper). If we were to re-integrate this article into hygiene then I think it would make the "hygiene" article unnecessarily unwieldy (it is already quite long). Or which "bigger hygiene article" did you have in mind? EMsmile (talk) 03:59, 24 August 2018 (UTC)

• I honestly hope that someone planning a building would use a source more authoritative than this article. And I appreciate that you find this whole issue as it pertains to Muslims interesting, but I'm not convinced it is incredibly notable as a stand-alone topic. What harm is there in leaving the tag? From what I can see, it could only serve to encourage improvement of the article. Niteshift36 (talk) 14:00, 28 August 2018 (UTC)

Well the potential harm is that someone might take the next step and propose this article for deletion. (which I think has been done once before but rejected). So if you think it should not be a stand-alone topic, into which other topic should it be merged then? I am not a big fan of creating overly huge articles which is why I think merging it into hygiene would not be appropriate. Which other article then? And yes, I also hope that people will help to improve this article further. - This article helps people to understand the "toilet habits" of their fellow citizens - a topic shrouded in taboo. Wikipedia helps to break this taboo and is a first step in finding out more. EMsmile (talk) 14:14, 28 August 2018 (UTC)

• It's easy to check that no, it hasn't been to AfD. And so what if it is nominated? If it's notable, then the it survives. If it's not notable, it goes away, as non-notable articles should. This has nothing to do with taboo. Maybe when I have time, I'll look at where it may better fit, but I don't have the time right now. The only potential harm you've voiced isn't a harm at all. Deleting a non-notable improves Wikipedia, not harms it.

Niteshift36 (talk) 20:57, 28 August 2018 (UTC)

So what's the process then? If your tag stays here and nobody comments on it for a year, can it then be deleted? Or does it have to stay "forever"? Please do suggest which larger article you'd want to merge it into. I can only think of hygiene and am in not in favour of moving it into there. If you can think of a better one (when you have time) then I am all ears. EMsmile (talk) 01:48, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

Requested move 30 August 2018

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Moved as proposed. bd2412 T 00:59, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

Anal cleansing → Anal hygiene – Belongs better in Category:Hygiene than Cleansing. Would allow for expansion of the article. The article on Cleansing shows how the term is normally used. And the other "body part" cleansing article is colon cleansing, which is distinctly different. Bod (talk) 16:33, 30 August 2018 (UTC)

Survey

• Support. It's a better title than the current one. Rreagan007 (talk) 19:34, 30 August 2018 (UTC)
• That would be fine be me. What kind of expansion do you have in mind? We would have a redirect from "anal cleansing" to "anal hygiene", right? - I did a quick google search and anal hygiene gets 30 times more hits than anal cleansing. Here is a website by Worldbank's Water and Sanitation Program that uses "anal cleansing": https://www.wsp.org/Hygiene-Sanitation-Water-Toolkit/BasicPrinciples/AnalCleansing.html Just FYI. EMsmile (talk) 07:57, 31 August 2018 (UTC)
• Support. The current sounds overly technical, like Enema, Rectal douching or Proctoscopy. Hygiene is better for the daily routines. --SmokeyJoe (talk) 13:26, 8 September 2018 (UTC)

Discussion

Any additional comments:

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Japan

In Japan, flat sticks were used in ancient times Anal_hygiene#Examples by region or country.

You have a filter against the word "shit", so I cannot edit "flat sticks" to the wiki-link Shit stick. --212.241.100.229 (talk) 18:31, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

I added the wikilink to shit stick as per your suggestion. EMsmile (talk) 14:50, 28 January 2019 (UTC)

Add map

Add world map with white countries being toilet paper countries, and blue being bidet etc. water using countries, etc. Jidanni (talk) 12:30, 4 April 2020 (UTC)

@Jidanni where could we get such a map from? EMsmile (talk) 13:39, 18 April 2020 (UTC)

Who is Fernando?

This page mentions a certain Fernando (according to Fernando ecc.) twice both in the Indian subcontinent and Culture and economy sections, but I can't find any link or previous citation for a last name. Did I miss it in the references? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.13.239.81 (talk) 10:59, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

"Stinky crack" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Stinky crack. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 July 4#Stinky crack until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 02:59, 4 July 2021 (UTC)

"Clean butthole" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Clean butthole. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 August 25#Clean butthole until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. firefly ( t · c ) 08:26, 25 August 2021 (UTC)