A friend was recounting her days as a school teacher, and she told of one instance where she had an openly gay female student who was somewhat rough around the edges, and who asked to go to go the the bathroom (to urinate) during class. My friend was irritated as she always told the kids to go before they got to the classroom so class would not be disturbed, and told the girl to hold it. The girl protested she would not take as long as “regular girls”, because when she needed to pee she just lifted up her leg and went.
Can a woman actually urinate like this, and not make a big spraying mess?
(TMI/NSFW image in this Wikpedia link) Yes. I read a news story not too long ago (tied into anthroplogy I believe) that mentions that in fact, this was the norm in some ancient cultures, and that males squatted down to urinate. If I am not mistaken, the culture the article spoke of was also a matriarchy FWIW. I will keep trying to find the story.
Yeah it’s possible and there’s a healthy amount of cites for this on the world wide web if you’re adventurous. All it takes is a little practice and some stretching of the labia.
(Why have many of my recent posts been about female urination? I deny everything!)
To get a smooth stream of urine, as opposed to one that goes down your leg or sprays in all directions, adjust the way you spread your lips (inner labia). Many women need to lift the labia up to get a smooth stream, but I don’t. Spreading too far or not far enough can make your urine spray. It just takes a little practice to get a feel for what works.
To aim, steer with your hips, not by pulling on your labia. Pulling your labia out of their optimal position can cause your urine to spray. Consistent bladder pressure also helps with aim.
Well, I tried it a few times in the shower and the pee went everywhere. I am willing to believe that I could get it right with practice though. A heck of a lot of practice. So I’ll just stick with toilets for the time being.
I have also heard this of some cultures. Probably the best known is Herodotus’s report of Egypt in the time of classical Greece. Here’s the text in English. Ancient Egypt of course wasn’t a matriarchal society, though women there had higher social and economic freedom than in Greece, but this is unlikely reason for different urinating habits, which were probably just an old cultural norm. Note though that the “women pass water standing up, men sitting down” line is only a part of Herodotos’s longer list of things that are the opposite way in Egypt, livius.org finds the whole text of Egyptian customs to be somewhat strange.
There’s an interesting write at paruresis.org about the evolution of bathroom, which also quotes Herodotus and adds other similar cases such as that European women until quite recently would stand up urinating too. Those particular points aren’t sourced, but most of the whole text comes from Alexander Kira’s book The Bathroom which sounds like good toilet reading, that is if you’re planning to sit and not stand up.
From recollection (and I’m not looking it up as I’m at work!), Havelock Ellis covers this in some detail in his studies on sexuality. One case study, Florrie, is very much into peeing in a standing postition, and Ellis also covers some historical ground in citing examples from the turn of the centurly missionaries and anthropologists that concern the varying approaches to urination around the world.
Taken at face value, it would appear that it is a fairly recent (ie. 400-500 years) phenomenon in the western world, and that it lost popularity amongst the higher classes first (which was part of Florrie’s prediliction with the subject, as I recall).
Some of it may be due to the cleanliness/stickiness (by which I mean presence of sticks, not adherance) of the voiding area and also the clothing worn by a woman.
When I’m in the woods, I squat. Sitting on anything (like a log) would get my vulva and ass all leafy and wood-chippy. Standing would splash too much around my ankles, even with my thighs spread wide to avoid the stream (maybe women with much thinner thighs would find it easier.)
OTOH, when I work Ren Faire, I stand around the toilet, facing the wall. The layers of steel stays in my corset under a tight bodice make it very uncomfortable to sit on something as low as a toilet - my thighs get stabbed with metal pointy things. (Again, maybe not so bad for the skinny chicks, or the longer waisted ones.) The toilet is high enough that there’s not a bad splash factor, unlike a forest floor. If I wasn’t using a toilet (as a woman in that period wouldn’t have (Queen Elizabeth had a toilet, but wouldn’t use it)) I think I’d find standing, or squating slightly over a chamber pot easier than sitting on a flat bench with a hole in it like an outhouse.
I had a girlfriend and another friend who could both do this. They could do it without getting urine on themselves, hands included. The other friend could do it even in pants. It really is a matter of knowing how to manipulate yourself. In short bursts they could “out-distance” the boys. IIRC, they would either use their index and middle fingers or middle and ring fingers, and press and pull up slightly. The other hand would be holding clothing out of way or a beer. ah college.
Modesty, perhaps. Men traditionally squat to pee in India, for example (although Indian men wearing Western-style clothing with zip-front trousers generally pee standing up).
I think this is because Indian men traditionally wear a dhoti or a lungi or some similar “skirt-like” garment that doesn’t have a fly-type opening in front. To access their pissing tackle while standing they would have to hike up the garment pretty far, probably revealing more of their legs/underwear/butts than would seem appropriate. But when they squat with their knees spread facing towards a wall or other visual obstruction, their bodies and clothing form a little “privacy cave” within which they can do their business.
(Don’t ask me about the details of the operation, though, I’m female and haven’t seen the process up-close and personal. I only know as much as I do about it because male public urination (albeit modestly screened as described) is pretty routine in India.)
Again with the reviving of the years-old thread. Well let me add this then:
So God having just created the earth, decides to bestow upon each animal a unique gift. He gives birds the gift of flight, he gives speed to the cheetah, great strength to the bear and so on down the line.
He finally comes to Adam and Eve and says to them, “Well, I’ve only got two gifts remaining. The first is the ability to pee while standing up.”
And Adam immediately responds, “Ooh, me, me! I want that one!”
So God says to Adam, “O.K. if it means that much to you, you can have it.”
He then turns to Eve and says, “Looks like you’re stuck with the multiple orgasms.”
Despite the TRitle, this book has detailed instructions on how a woman may pee standing up. I guess they figured that they shouldn’t limit themselves to mere defecation: