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I honestly think it comes from puritanism. My guess is that people in general, at least in the US, are afraid that they might get some kind of pleasure from a
by AndrewKemendo 7y ago
I honestly think it comes from puritanism.
My guess is that people in general, at least in the US, are afraid that they might get some kind of pleasure from a bidet, and that is scary to them. You can see those elements portrayed, usually comically, in depictions of of bidets in US media.
- flanbiscuit 7y agoSeems about right. Just found this: > Throughout this bidet boom, the United States resisted its appeal, and the reason might have been the power of first impressions. Americans were introduced to bidets on a broad scale during World War II, when troops were stationed in Europe. GIs visiting bordellos would often see bidets in the bathrooms, so they began to associate these basins with sex work. Given America’s puritanical past, it makes sense that, once back home, servicemen would feel squeamish presenting these fixtures to their homeland. But even before the war, bidets were linked to sex and scandal. In the United States and Britain, when various forms of douching were thought of as a pregnancy preventive, bidets were considered a form of birth control. As Norman Haire, a birth-control pioneer, put it in 1936, “The presence of a bidet is regarded as almost a symbol of sin.” The present-day American sociologist Harvey Molotch agrees, concluding that the devices were tainted with France’s hedonism and sexuality. “Bidets have had such difficulty ... Even all the power of capitalism can’t break the taboo.” https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/the-bidets-revival/555770/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/the-b...