| Title: | Naturism |
| Notice: | Site report index is in topic 7 |
| Moderator: | GENRAL::KILGORE |
| Created: | Tue Jan 26 1988 |
| Last Modified: | Wed May 07 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 457 |
| Total number of notes: | 3687 |
Entry number 884 in REC_NUDE regarding differences between French
and American attitudes toward nudity and bodily functions has amused
me and reminded me of an experience that I had in France last year.
This is the portion of the entry which I found intriguing:
Indeed, the problem is not wether you can put your ball or
tits in the air, but that people from the opposite sex
cannot see them. Swimming pools do not have individual
changing rooms or showers. The worse being the washrooms,
there are 30 cms high opening at the bottom of the wall so
that you can see people with their pants down while they're
shiting. Beeeerk !
Although female nudity in the media is much more prevalent in France,
French society has remarkably contradictary attitudes toward bodily functions.
While talking with several friends in Colmar, France who had never been to the
United States, they asked whether it is true that public restrooms in the
United States do not have walls between toilets (i.e. closet-like floor to
ceiling walled compartments with full sized doors). After being told that
American restrooms have partitions, but not exactly floor to ceiling, they
were quite shocked, and thought the situation offensive and scandalous. I
accepted their reaction as a simple case of human conditioning, meaning they
had trouble accepting that which they were not used to. However, I was mildly
annoyed that the same people who promoted themselves as sexually open-minded
and accepting of the human body feared the sight of a crumpled pair of pants or
a crumpled skirt, etc.
The very next morning, in downtown Colmar, I saw a large free standing public
restroom situated in the middle of a major square. The restroom had EXTERIOR
URINALS!!! I commented to a French friend (who lives in the United States)
that I would have liked to have seen that garish facility before hearing
American restrooms being derided. He said that the facility was "for
tourists." Yeah, right!
Shawn
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 243.1 | They MUST be joking! | CHEST::ELLIOT | Tue May 08 1990 13:15 | 22 | |
Shawn,
Ah, yes, I remember it well, the joys of French toilets...!
Perhaps your French friends don't realise that you actually have such
things as proper loos over there! Many of the public loos in France are
of the 'two tiles to stand on and a hole in the ground in the middle'
variety, which could be a bit unpleasant if the doors and partitions
didn't reach the ground, couldn't it! (Some even feature charming little
open channels to take the, um, waste away. Quite delightful!)
Really, I'm amazed and more than a little amused that the residents of a
country where ghastly sanitation is common could find partitions that
don't reach the ground "offensive and scandalous", unless it's for the
reason I've guessed at above. As for exterior urinals being "for tourists",
perhaps it's an attempt to solve the problem whereby no self-respecting
tourist goes into a public loo in France a second time, once they've
discovered how dreadful they are the first time. ;-)
Are you sure they weren't joking?!
June.
| |||||
| 243.2 | They were serious | ASABET::MCLAUGHLIN | Tue May 08 1990 15:19 | 20 | |
June,
You have made a valid and hilarious point regarding those all-important lower
30 cm of wall when using the commonplace and so-called "ethnic minority"
toilets in France. I wish that I had thought of your hilarious comeback!
The folks in Colmar were indeed serious. Years ago, before my first trip
to Europe, my French friend, and another friend who had lived in Switzerland
for 5 years, told me about the "ethnic minority" toilets that I would no doubt
encounter. To be honest, I was incredulous and thought that they were joking.
At that point, my French friend mentioned that one of the most uncomfortable
aspects of adjusting to life in the United States was using public restrooms,
and all because of the gaps below and above stall partitions.
Strange that he thought nothing of using the restroom below Notre Dame
Cathedral, which has a female attendent collecting fees and watching over
the urinal area. How's that for inconsistency?
Shawn
| |||||
| 243.3 | ...words fail me! | CRATE::ELLIOT | Wed May 09 1990 10:11 | 11 | |
> Strange that he thought nothing of using the restroom below Notre Dame > Cathedral, which has a female attendent collecting fees and watching over > the urinal area. How's that for inconsistency? Strange, indeed! I can only conclude that dignity is only an issue where, er, um, (how do I put this delicately?), where the 'other thing' is concerned. You learn some amazing things in Notes!! June. | |||||