There is something going on behind bathroom stall doors. That’s right, something unspeakable, rarely mentioned, embarrassing even, it is taking place every day — people are pooping. Of course, not everyone is self-conscious, but to those who are, I cannot help but ask ‘why?’

The answer is buried in history.

“It’s a really interesting, kind of long history how we have become ashamed of our bodies,” said Allison Carey, sociology professor at Shippensburg University.

The importance of privacy comes from the idea that to have privacy is to be civilized and proper, Carey said.

When Europeans began exploring different parts of the world, Carey said, they justified their authority to take over various peoples with the fact that they were morally and intellectually superior, a power in part indicated by the control of their personal bodies.

“The whole idea of manners is about control. You can control how you react, you can control how you put your fingers on a teacup, you control the way you control your body,” Carey said. “This got equated with being civilized and being superior.”

Then, with industrialization, people packed into cities and it became more important to distinguish between private and public places because the small-town community was lost and neighbors became strangers, Carey said.

“There became much more enforcement of privacy. And having privacy was associated also with wealth. Wealthy people could afford more privacy,” Carey said. “They could afford indoor bathrooms rather than outdoor bathrooms.”

For Eric Hertzog, SU junior, the bathroom is definitely a place of privacy. Peeing at the urinal is one thing, but pooping is a whole other ball game for Hertzog, he said. When he was in elementary school, Hertzog said that he did not like pooping with other people in a public bathroom — something that holds true today. Even if there is only one person in the stall, Hertzog said he will just walk out of the bathroom.

“I’m just afraid of people judging me. I’m just uncomfortable around people. That’s my place to be private — the bathroom. I want to be by myself. I want to not feel rushed. I want to take my time… You just want to be by yourself, relax, take a load off,” Hertzog said.

On campus, Hertzog said he has a secret bathroom that people rarely frequent and this is where he goes “number two.”

Shayna Jansen, SU senior, also said that she would not poop in public bathrooms when she was in elementary and middle school. If she could wait until she got home, Jansen said she would, just because she was more comfortable using a bathroom in her house.

“It was just one of those weird quirky things,” Jansen said.

Once she reached high school and joined the track and field team, Jansen was at school from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and that was just too long for her to hold it.

“It was more by force that got me used to it. And I’ve been fine ever since,” Jansen said.

Of course, not everyone is self-conscious about pooping. Several men and women, who were mostly college students, said that pooping in public places did not bother them — their repeated mantra was, “If you gotta go, you gotta go.”

Even though just as many women as men said that they did not mind pooping in public restrooms, I still questioned if gender plays a role in bathroom habits.

This past summer at my job, I probably analyzed the bathroom traffic too much, because it led me to wonder how gender differences play into people’s habits when it comes to public bathrooms.

From my desk, I could see both the men and women’s bathrooms, which were for one person at a time.

The contrast between men and women was strikingly different. The women in the office almost snuck to the bathroom, walking quietly and efficiently and then rapped softly on the door before entering. The men however, ambled over, talking to the rest of the office members as they went. Then, oftentimes they would open the door and pause halfway between the office and the bathroom where they may have a five minute conversation with someone.

“What we’re comfortable talking about, everything we do, what we will reveal, the space that we give, is all shaped by gender,” Carey said.

Gender roles go beyond pink and blue, Carey said. Even when a fetus is in the womb, parents use a different tone and different language based on the gender of their child, Carey said. Parents continue to treat their children differently based on prescribed norms.

“Even as a sociologist I was flabbergasted to realize the difference between clothing. Boys’ clothes are much more comfortable, much more durable, and girls are put in tight, body-fitting things even from really young ages,” Carey said. “They are put in skirts and things that make it hard for them to move around, so girls become much more conscious of their bodies, which is going to relate to the bathroom behavior.”

When she talks about gender roles, however, Carey said it is a general pattern that does not apply to everyone.

So as a general rule, women are taught to be pretty and nice and learn from an early age that their appearance is important in their status. Since men have historically held economic and political power, women have not and so they rely more heavily on their appearance as a source of power, Carey said.

“And part of the expectation of appearance is that it’s supposed to look effortless, because if it looks like a sign of oppression, then you’re not doing it right,” Carey said.

It is a sign of status for someone to be able to complain and reveal weaknesses, Carey said, because it means they have the power to do so.

“It’s a sign of power that men are allowed to work out and sweat and smell … Just that freedom to just be in their natural bodies and have their natural bodies be more accepted, that’s power,” Carey said.

Since men have been responsible for matters of economy and politics historically, a responsibility that requires one to be tough and at times even cut-throat, Carey said that they are given moral leeway. Women, however, have been charged with the responsibility of maintaining morals and keeping control of their appearance and bodies.

“Even in the bathroom, women don’t want to make noise when they’re doing something natural,” Carey said.

Even though she has no qualms about pooping in public restrooms, Lauren Lehman, SU senior, said that it seems like girls are embarrassed to admit that they poop.

Teenagers and young girls in particular probably feel that they are going to be judged, whereas men embrace that unclean side of themselves and it is not an issue, Lehman said.

“It’s not a part of a girl’s social structure to talk about [bathroom habits], or at least doesn’t happen often, so they see it as something that shouldn’t happen, if that makes any sense,” Lehman said.

There is so much pressure for girls to be “doll-like,” Lehman said. This is part of the reason that most of her friends were boys growing up, Lehman said — it was too hard to be around that specific girl mindset, so she surrounded herself with fart jokes and the sense of ease that accompanies boys.

“Not to say social pressure isn’t on boys as well. I think they are expected to act a certain way as well, but as far as that goes I think they’re more free to act the way they want to and no one judges them for talking about fart bathroom jokes, talking about what they did in the bathroom,” Lehman said. “Whether it’s a bowel movement or urinating, it’s not a big deal for them.”

The fact that men have two separate places to pee and poop — the urinal and the toilet — may contribute to the ease that they have when it comes pooping in public places, Jansen said.

“I think it makes it less of a deal because there’s no guessing about it,” Jansen said. “Even though it’s behind a stall, it’s open knowledge that that’s what you’re doing.”

In comparison to the women’s bathroom, everything is in a stall, so it is easier to keep your private business private, Jansen said.

Despite the fact that people may pretend it does not happen, there is no denying that everybody poops. No amount of sneaking into an empty bathroom or spraying Hawaiian scented breezes will change the fact that brown sludge will slide from between two cheeks, small pellets will rocket themselves to a porcelain landing, or a gas-propelled slop will splatter white walls. 

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