# Ladies:  What good is a bidet, nowadays?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-what-good-is-a-bidet-nowadays/385024>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 21, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-what-good-is-a-bidet-nowadays/385024 "2006-12-21T04:29:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-what-good-is-a-bidet-nowadays/385024/41 "2006-12-22T08:43:29Z")

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[QUOTE=Ethilrist]  
No, it’s for washing your backside.  
[/QUOTE]

Well who’d a thunk it.

Truly we live in wondrous times

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**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-what-good-is-a-bidet-nowadays/385024/42 "2006-12-22T09:11:23Z")

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And remember, kids, it is not a child-height water fountain.

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**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-what-good-is-a-bidet-nowadays/385024/43 "2006-12-22T15:52:33Z")

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On a related note - I found the bathroom set up in India completely mystifying for the reasons listed above. Instead of toilet paper, there would be a cold water spigot and a jug. I carried around toilet paper with me because I just couldn’t figure out how that system was supposed to work - it seemed your butt would get super wet and then you’d drip all over your clothes.

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**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-what-good-is-a-bidet-nowadays/385024/44 "2006-12-22T18:01:48Z")

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[QUOTE=Sapo]  
That was the end result (NPI) of my early experiments with a bidet. Your arse gets all wet and then you need a towel. When you get up, water on your cheeks runs down your legs and messes up your clothing. Was I doing something wrong?  
[/QUOTE]  
I remove my pants altogether and set them on the chair/bench (I was in a hotel). The bidet was right next to the toilet with the toilet paper between them, so there was no shuffling accross the room. But I did have to remember to toss the toilet paper in the toilet for flushing and not in the bidet. I did not get water all over my butt cheaks. Yet, it everything felt so wet I thought I ought to be towelling off, even though the TP sufficed.

However, in a hotel in Panama the “bidet” was more of a fancy, miniature shower head, angled like a dental instrument, on a hose beside the toilet. I got water _everywhere_ and didn’t use it again after the first attempt.

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**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-what-good-is-a-bidet-nowadays/385024/45 "2006-12-22T18:47:03Z")

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I can see the people out side the bathroom, that has these. They’ll be pointing at people leaving and saying “Look, they used the bidet.”

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