Censure

Until Archie Bunker flushed the toilet, the sound of a toilet flushing never had been heard before on television.  Until that instant, the flush had been a private sound—no one’s business but the flusher’s.  Now a taboo had been broken (not the first for “All in the Family”): people pooped.  A taboo had been broken, but so not disgust for the bathroom.  Human needs and human behaviour intersect in the public restroom and these often are vibrantly displayed and vehemently rejected: strong smells, fugitive sounds, spots of blood, loose hair, and used condoms—the public restroom often is a contemptible thing, but also so desperately needed.  Perhaps it’s this slipperiness, this struggle over what should be so simple yet is so sticky that provokes eruptions of public censure when a city considers installing public toilets.  This condemnation is in part responsible for the lack of public toilets in North American cities: what politician wants to incur the wrath of her/his electorate over something as picayune as a toilet?


In my next blog post, I will consider the (historical) conflict between practical and social justifications for public toilet provision and restriction.  Or perhaps I will explore a related matter.  In the meantime, I offer you another apt quote from my favourite television show:

Sheldon:  Howard, I have to go to the bathroom and no one will take me home.
Howard:  What’s wrong with the bathroom here?
Sheldon:  Pneumococcus, streptococcus, staphylococcus, and other sorts of coccusses.
Howard:  Sheldon, my mother is on her deathbed and my fiancée is grief-stricken over putting her there.  I’m NOT taking you home!
Sheldon: Will you at least go with me to the restroom here so you can open the door and flush the urinal?
Howard: NO!
Sheldon: This might be a good time to point out, Howard, that friendship requires a certain give and take.

                                                                                    The Big Bang Theory, Season 4, Episode 23