I ask because of a Buzzfeed article I just read that completely blew my mind. I had no idea there was any deviation, outside of some tiny group of deviants, on how to do this. In fact, it’s nearly 50/50, and both sides are mostly not aware the other exists!
Googling, I see this was discussed here, but it was nearly 15 years ago. Some of you couldn’t even read yet, or at least your parents didn’t let you go on the (then-capitalized) internet. So it seems like as good a time as any to ask again. (I’ll chime in later to avoid OP bias.)
I’m not sure how I would have Googled moar, but thanks for the link. I noticed a similar pattern here as in the comments at BuzzFeed: people on both sides of this secret divide are surprised people do it any differently than they do, but the sitters are more likely to be righteously indignant. As a stander who as of yesterday did not know there was any significant number of sitters, I find that strange and amusing.
I would think all standers must have to turn a little bit after they stand, unless they have owl-like necks, or don’t need to see the toilet bowl to be able to aim the TP into it.
Also, to contribute better to the thread, I wipe sitting down, or at least crouching close to the toilet. I don’t stand too well, I use grab bars for assistance. It’s easier not standing all the way up. There probably are other Dopers not as able-bodied as they used to be who find it easier sitting down.
I do have to say that while I have learned many things in my 17 years on this messageboard, getting to know the variations in people’s bathroom habits has been the most amusing.
I pride myself on understanding that everyone is different, and that my attitudes are not necessarily shared by everyone else, but I honestly had no idea how very differently everyone handled the excretion of waste.
First, I learned that some people actually look at the toilet and/or toilet paper after use. Before reading this messageboard I had never done so, and had no idea that anyone else ever had.
Then I learned that skid marks are a real thing that happens to some people, and not just because they had an accident in their pants.
Then I learned that some people notice or care about which stalls are occupied, and what other people are doing in them, instead of focusing laser-like on their own business and treating the entire public restroom as being under a sort of mutually-agreed cone of invisibility.
And now I learn that a significant number of people stand while wiping, and not just the rare person who has some wardrobe issue.
Thank you, SDMB, for providing the kind of enlightenment that is available nowhere else.
It’s definitely interesting. I’m fascinated from the other side of the divide, as someone who stands to wipe and looks at both. Very hard to imagine doing it your way.
I do not understand this rubber forearm comment. It’s…in the same place whether you’re standing or sitting, right? I mean if you can reach it standing, why couldn’t you reach it sitting? I don’t get it.
Because the seat is in the way. So you have to lean in an uncomfortable position, or slightly squat. And if you can’t see what you’ve wiped, how do you know you’ve wiped enough?
I’ve been wiping my ass a lot longer than most of you. Believe me, I know what I’m doing.
