# Why are men supposed to wash their hands after urination? response to email **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 15, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744 "2008-02-15T15:49:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wongfeihung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9e8a1a/32.png) [@wongfeihung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wongfeihung)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/41 "2008-03-07T12:24:30Z")
Why are men supposed to wash their hands after urination? Bathrooms are a vector, how many keyboards in an average office building vs. how many bathrooms. Many diseases can be picked up if not sourced there. The WHO and CDC recommend plain soap n water. Sanitizing gels don’t control spore forming bacteria, and anti-bacterial soaps may foster resistant strains. Wash your hands after the bathroom, and use the towel that you dried them with to open the door (thats why the can should be right there) and toss it on your way out… All health care professionals should do this by rote… ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/42 "2008-03-07T16:44:16Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Well, yeah, but it was about the _oil_, not about the groin cooties themselves, as has already been discussed in the thread. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure I understand. Cecil said, “You touch that area, you get groin cooties. To get rid of them, you wash off the oil they are sticking to.” It’s about the groin cooties **and** the oil. ---
**Author:** ![PetW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@PetW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PetW)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/43 "2008-05-10T15:13:19Z")
So the consensus of this thread is that bacteria from one’s own nether regions can be very harmful to the health of others. So does that make oral sex very dangerous? Do many people get sick from giving head? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/44 "2008-05-10T16:28:04Z")
[QUOTE=SiXSwordS] I’ve often heard that atheists don’t wash their hands. [/QUOTE] That’s because we don’t believe in germs. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/45 "2008-05-10T17:28:42Z")
[QUOTE=PetW] So the consensus of this thread is that bacteria from one’s own nether regions can be very harmful to the health of others. So does that make oral sex very dangerous? Do many people get sick from giving head? [/QUOTE] Reading the column you’re commenting on is appreciated. Reading one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your browser, then reading the words that appear on the screen. > **[Why are men supposed to wash their hands after urination? Plus: urine therapy!](https://www.straightdope.com/21342195/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-plus-urine-therapy)** In this case you could read: > [@](#): > > [Y]ou can catch lots of bugs via oral sex. Many of them are transmitted by, or have their transmission facilitated by, coliform or other fecal bacteria or, for that matter, fecal viruses. Or, you could read other columns and find interesting info on infections other than those caused by, … , _crotch cooties_. > [@](#): > > [“Oral sex is very low risk for transmitting HIV.” Low risk does not mean no risk—some men have been infected giving head. “But even though oral sex is very low risk for HIV,” adds Hargraves, “other STDs like gonorrhea and chlamydia can still be transmitted via oral sex,” giving and receiving,](http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/savagelove) > [@Czarcasm](#): > > That’s because we don’t believe in germs. How about the flora, the scum and the oily-gross? ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/46 "2008-05-10T22:34:31Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] For all the difference it makes, one could wash one’s hands on each bathroom visit _prior_ to the act of urination. But since most people, without a clear understanding of what’s going on microbiologically (again, as evidenced by this very thread), would find that oogy, nobody really makes that argument. Nevertheless, it’s largely true. The fact that so many people believe they are washing their hands after urination in order to get rid of the pee and the groin cooties is unfortunate, and pretty much irrelevant. And continuing the debate as if that’s the basis for the argument just makes you look foolish. Nobody’s arguing the other side. The column didn’t, and nobody in this thread is. If you want to skip washing your hands after you pee, then please feel free. Just make sure to make four or five _extra_ visits to the bathroom, or some other handy washbasin, to scrub your hands of the nastiness they accumulate throughout the day. [/QUOTE] If I ever meet you, I’ll make sure to stick my hand in my crotch, and _then_ shake hands with you. Because, hey, I already washed my hands five times that day, so my hands are clean. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/47 "2008-05-11T16:11:51Z")
Washing your hands doesn’t so much directly protect the people you shake hands with. Actually, you’re either just strengthening their immune system or doing nothing. (No, seriously.) What you’re helping is a larger-scale cause, because if _everyone_ stopped washing their hands, that would greatly increase the total number of infections circulating in the environment (which would, at some point, counteract the gains in strengthened immunity). But if you want to be selfish, I’m pretty sure you’d be healthier if you didn’t wash your hands. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/48 "2008-05-11T16:28:43Z")
[QUOTE=Polerius] If I ever meet you, I’ll make sure to stick my hand in my crotch, and _then_ shake hands with you. [/QUOTE] Fine with me. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/49 "2008-05-22T15:29:23Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Hand sanitizer won’t do the trick. It doesn’t remove the oils that the bacteria cling to. And it promotes the eventual triumph of hand sanitizer resistant bacteria. [/QUOTE] I thought bacteria coudn’t become resistant to alcohol because it works by physically destroying the cells. Also, the [Hand Hygiene Resource Center](http://www.handhygiene.org/), of the Saint Raphael Healthcare System, claims the following: > [@](#): > > Numerous published studies have shown that alcohol-based hand rubs remove bacteria from hands more effectively than washing hands with plain soap and water. > In most studies, alcohol-based hand rubs removed bacteria from the hands to a greater degree than did washing hands with an antimicrobial soap and water They cite it with the following, but I’m not sure what the journal is: Boyce JM, Pittet D et al. MMWR 2002;51 (RR-16):1-45. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/50 "2008-05-22T18:34:48Z")
[QUOTE=rcburket] What does DSYoungEsq do after handling money? [/QUOTE] There’s crotch cooties on my Visa card? ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744/51 "2008-05-22T20:18:37Z")
What about the spoon? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-men-supposed-to-wash-their-hands-after-urination-response-to-email/437744.md?page=2)