# Pubic Convenience **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 4, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968 "2005-07-04T01:59:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/1 "2005-07-04T01:59:59Z")
A gem in Dan Savage’s postbag deserves a wider audience: > [@Correspondent](#): > > I was hoping you could provide some insight as to whether my behavior is normal. At work I can clearly see who is going in and out of the restroom. When I go into the restroom and no one is around, I wipe the hairs off the urinal. In particular, if this one guy I like enters and leaves the restroom after I wipe down the urinal, I go in, lock the door and sometimes find two or three of his pubic hairs. I collect his pubic hairs and take them home and sterilize them. I store them in a plastic sandwich bag [no - I’m not making this up, though I can’t vouch for Dan], which I bring out when I masturbate. Imagining that I have just orally serviced him, I place his pubic hairs in my mouth and let them rest on my tongue. Then I climax. Is this healthy? Should I stop behaving this way? In response, Mr. Savage writes that it’s perfectly healthy but a bit TMI, in his opinion. The chap concerned is going to ‘make other people sick’ (a kind of vicarious gag reflex?) if he seeks a wide audience for his ‘strange behavior’. But, Dan, I have a question of my own for you (perfectly normal, I swear). If, as you put it, ‘no one needs to know’ about this conduct, why are you, um, publishing it in syndicated columns across the globe? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/2 "2005-07-04T02:07:51Z")
I thought you were going to rant about embarrassing typos. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/3 "2005-07-04T04:38:29Z")
I rant only about whingeing New Zealanders and billionaire rock stars who choose to name themselves with the same number of words as number of brain cells they possess. Typos comes way down on my list of rantable subjects, somewhere between the walking habits of Hong Kongers and why no socialist will ever explain what he or she means by ‘equality’. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/4 "2005-07-04T08:44:45Z")
Speaking of the walking habits of Hong Kongers, are they sidewalk hogs? That is, when you’re walking along on the very edge of the sidewalk, and others are coming from the opposite direction, do they move over just a bit to accommodate you, or do they force you off the sidewalk? Oh, and the person in the OP is a nutjob. What kind of responsible person would tell another that that kind of behavior is “healthy”? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/5 "2005-07-04T08:56:38Z")
What specifically is unhealthy about it? Our correspondent isn’t hurting anyone else or himself by his actions. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/6 "2005-07-04T09:11:15Z")
What _won’t_ this guy consider unhealthy? ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/7 "2005-07-04T09:42:11Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > What _won’t_ this guy consider unhealthy? Incest, pedophila and scat, last time I checked. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/8 "2005-07-04T11:08:49Z")
Weirdo. Not _wrong_ I guess, but freakin’ weird! ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/9 "2005-07-04T12:18:34Z")
> [@Large Marge](#): > > Speaking of the walking habits of Hong Kongers, are they sidewalk hogs? That is, when you’re walking along on the very edge of the sidewalk, and others are coming from the opposite direction, do they move over just a bit to accommodate you, or do they force you off the sidewalk? I think moving \*at all \* is considered showing that you have concern for someone with whom you have no relationship of blood or commerce. Therefore, it isn’t done. I once saw it have a nasty consequence on a coastal path with a drop (not too high - but at six feet enough to cause cuts and bruises) onto rocks. A group of people were walking towards a single hiker, and he (probably new to HK) anticipated the ones on his side would move across and tuck in behind their colleagues. If you don’t want to end up the same way, you either have to announce your presence - I’ve seen one group training for a trail-race blow a whistle! - or stop and let groups pass. > [@](#): > > Oh, and the person in the OP is a nutjob. What kind of responsible person would tell another that that kind of behavior is “healthy”? Sometimes I wonder if we are not allowing ourselves to be taken through the looking glass. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/10 "2005-07-04T18:24:41Z")
> [@Large Marge](#): > > What kind of responsible person would tell another that that kind of behavior is “healthy”? Admittedly, the behavior is rather atypical, to say the least. But unhealthy? How is it unhealthy? ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/11 "2005-07-04T18:32:53Z")
Well… um… if he sterilizes them… (I’m sorry, I like Savage, on a regular basis, but this is just _way_ too gross for me. _ewwwwwwwwwww_) ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/12 "2005-07-05T02:08:46Z")
Any way you play with it, you get problems: 1. I’m a lesbian and I use tweezers to lift pubic hairs off the bowl after a woman has used it… 2. I’m a hetero male, and I like to enter the Unisex restroom at our local disco after a woman in order to take away some of her pubic hairs… 3. I’m a hetero female who works as a cleaner in male toilets. I like to put on my rubber gloves and take away pubic hairs… That this “letter” was published shows the problems of taking legalism as your benchmark and ignoring all other considerations, such as appropriateness and a sense of style. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/13 "2005-07-05T02:15:50Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > That this “letter” was published shows the problems of taking legalism as your benchmark and ignoring all other considerations, such as appropriateness and a sense of style. What exactly does this mean? And what exactly was your purpose in starting this thread to begin with? Is it an attack on Dan Savage? An attack on kinky people? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/14 "2005-07-05T02:20:14Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > What specifically is unhealthy about it? Our correspondent isn’t hurting anyone else or himself by his actions. Um, collecting material from public toilets and then sticking them in your MOUTH? Good god, do you have any idea of the filth crawling in those urinals? That’s just begging for some kind of bacterial infection. _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/15 "2005-07-05T07:06:29Z")
That’s probably why the correspondent _sterilizes them first_. > [@Our Correspondent](#): > > I collect his pubic hairs and take them home and **sterilize them**. Be a lamb and try to make it all the way through the OP next time, m’kay? ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/16 "2005-07-05T07:49:53Z")
_ **BLINK** _ … Read the OP??? … Whatever for??? ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/17 "2005-07-05T22:59:17Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Admittedly, the behavior is rather atypical, to say the least. But unhealthy? How is it unhealthy? You’re kidding, right? You think that behavior is sexually or psychologically healthy? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/18 "2005-07-05T23:36:16Z")
What is your definition of “healthy”? Is the behaviour harming the one engaged in it? Is the behaviour harming anyone not engaged in it? With all due respect, explain how the behaviour is unhealthy or STFU. (aside: still curious as to what the point of this thread is exactly) ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/19 "2005-07-06T00:01:03Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > > [@roger thornhill](#): > > > > That this “letter” was published shows the problems of taking legalism as your benchmark and ignoring all other considerations, such as appropriateness and a sense of style. > > What exactly does this mean? It means that if someone is talking about taking a stranger’s pubic hairs and putting them in his own mouth so he can get off while masturbating and then writing into an internationally syndicated advice column to talk about it, the most relevant question is _not_, “Well, you’re sterilizing them, right?” > [@Otto](#): > > What is your definition of “healthy”? > > Is the behaviour harming the one engaged in it? > > Is the behaviour harming anyone not engaged in it? > > With all due respect, explain how the behaviour is unhealthy or STFU. Are you actually serious, or just taking the standard PC mentality to a ridiculous extreme, and calling any comment that this behavior is indeed fucked-up, nothing more than an “attack?” But no, you’re going to demand an actual explanation of how the behavior is unhealthy. Where to start? 1. Obsessing over a stranger instead of pursuing a real relationship. 2. Dependence on masturbation instead of pursuing a real relationship. 3. Needing a kinky and elaborate process to be able to achieve orgasm. 4. Invasion of the stranger’s privacy – keeping a lock of someone’s head hair is obsessive and stalker-ish; putting their shed pubic hair in your mouth, _no one_ should need to explain. 5. Need for approval, asking a newspaper columnist to reassure you that your behavior is “normal.” 6. Need to hide and sneak around to get what you need to orgasm, implying shame in what you’re doing. Do you need me to go on? Where, exactly, does the “anything goes” mentality stop? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968/20 "2005-07-06T00:04:11Z")
Well, I wouldn’t do it. I’ve never cared for the taste that plastic sandwich bags add to things. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pubic-convenience/310968.md?page=2)