Women: Do you use those paper "toilet seat protectors"? If so, why?

[Radio_Lady]

What do you think they protect you against? Urine is sterile and germs on the seat don't give you HIV or AIDS.

Would you scream at your daughter, "DON'T EVER SIT DOWN UNTIL AFTER MOMMY PUTS THE PAPER DOWN..." at your small girl maybe six or seven. After that, I heard a SMACK and the daughter started to cry uncontrollably.

This was all from the next stall in a VERY CLEAN department store bathroom.

I'm upset...

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

1. My grandmother taught me how to squat.

[Radio_Lady]

4. Grandma knows best! That's good exercise, too!

Your screen name could be Squatting Squaw Peridot...



Appreciate your chiming in.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

6. LOL cool name :)

:hi:

[blonndee]

2. No way, I either concede or hover. I'm more concerned about

those freaking bathrooms that have a pull, rather than a PUSH handle, to exit. What's the point of my dutiful (and possibly somewhat obsessive) washing if I have to grab ahold of a germ-infested door handle to leave? THAT's what I most hate about women's bathrooms, besides the overall nastiness, air dryers, etc.

[Radio_Lady]

3. Grab the handle with paper towel if you can... or another wad of...

tissue or toilet paper.

I always carry a small bottle of anti-bacterial wash for these occasions, and keep another in my car. Frankly, I'm more concerned with colds and flu, not STDs.

Thanks for your comments.

[blonndee]

5. Me too, it's not STDs that concern me, either.

I work at a university, so I tend to eventually catch what's going around anyway, so I'm more concerned about the nasty crap I might get on my hands-not only direct viruses, but also crap that could reduce my immune functioning so that I'm more vulnerable to catching what goes arouund, which I tend to always get.

Thanks for the tip. I haven't been doing it for fear of littering, but it might be worth it.

[LostinVA]

11. Correct -- that's what I do. And I flush with my foot

[Radio_Lady]

15. Yes, I try to do that most of the time! It's an odd position and I have

to watch that I don't hurt my (already injured) back.

How about the little automatic flushers with a tiny button?

Do you try to negotiate them with a finger?

[LostinVA]

56. No, my heel!

[Jamastiene]

53. I have the foot job...

thingie, flushing with my foot, down pat now. I do that too.

[blondeatlast]

47. Push vs. pull--i couldn't agree more!

I work at a public library built in the last 10 years and our bathroom entrances are hidden from public view; no need for doors on the outside at all (of course the stalls are private).

These entrances were designed for people like you and me!

I hate it, hate it, hate it when I have washed my hands and have to touch the damn door after someone who has just reeled out of the stall without a moment's thought to hygiene.

YUCK.

[Radio_Lady]

66. Suggestion is that you retain some unused toilet tissue or a paper

towel to pull the door open.

Then discard that in a waste basket. Works for me.

[blondeatlast]

75. I grab an extra paper towel.

Still, it gives me the willies to touch the thing. :shrug:

[Radio_Lady]

77. Yep. I agree.

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. What bothers me is when people splash their pee all over the seat

and don't clean up after themselves. Hello, Mrs Gross, I really don't want to clean up your urine.

[riona]

9. I agree

The biggest drizzlers are the squatters.

[Radio_Lady]

16. My pet peeve is WHEN THE PAPER TOILET PROTECTOR IS WET

AND ADHERING TO THE SEAT -- and nobody bothered to deal with that before I come into the stall!

[bertha katzenengel]

8. Nope. I just clean the seat if it's wet. Plus, there's a better name for

those paper toilet seat covers:

Ass gaskets.

[Radio_Lady]

20. "Ass gaskets"! I've never heard that before! Very cute!

[Hotler]

134. We have ass gaskets dispensers at work that say...

Provided to you by the management. We used white-out to fix it to read, Provided to you by the man.

[Radio_Lady]

136. Very appropriate!

[LostinVA]

10. If you do, please throw the damned things away

You don't want to putt your ass on the seat, but then expect ME to touch paper YOUR ass has been on?

Hypocrites.

[Sugar Smack]

19. *THANK YOU!*

Thank you, thank you, thank you. :yourock:

[LostinVA]

57. You're welcome Snugsmuffin n/t

[Radio_Lady]

22. See my post #16 upthread.

[LostinVA]

12. Urine is pretty much sterile

As long as poo isn't on the seat, I'm fine (and if it is -- gag -- I move).

I have, however, perfected peeing standing up when I'm out in the woods trail running. No poison ivy or snakies near MY nether regions, thank you very much!

[Radio_Lady]

23. Peeing standing up! What kind of training class is there for THAT?

I usually squat in the woods and pee on my shoes.

Damn!

[Jamastiene]

54. You can buy a travel mate.

Here is the link:
http://www.travelmateinfo.com/page002.html

[LostinVA]

58. I have something WAY better:

http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=726&parent_category_rn=40003012&vcat=REI_SSHP_CAMPING_TOC

[Radio_Lady]

72. Cool item(s)! However, I have a better name for each of these devices...

Each one could be called a POCKET PENIS!

Hey, hey.................. I wonder if a women invented these???

OT: Jamastiene, how did you make out during the hurricane? Did it come near your area? We had a brief exchange the evening before and you were concerned. I was thinking about you all the next day.

[Jamastiene]

94. There were a couple of

wind gusts that scared me pretty bad, but all in all, we just had maybe 5 or 6 wind gusts. From what I heard, Maryland got it worse than we did. I may be wrong on that, but in the end, it didn't even rank next to the second worst regular thunderstorm I have lived through, that is, other than the wind gusts. It's the wind and sometimes hail that scares me more than anything.

On the travel mates, I have heard that sometimes on long road trips, paralyzed women use them. I don't know if that is true personally, but I have heard that.

[LostinVA]

55. Foolish woman -- if you're wearing shorts, you can do it...

[Radio_Lady]

73. I don't wear shorts -- but do wear long dresses and...

NO underwear. I'll have to try harder....

(SMILE) Thanks for the encouragement!

[warrior1]

13. Use them outside of home

because, yes bathroom seats are dirty. Sometimes they are wet. Last thing I want to do is sit on someones urine. Urine also stinks, I do not want that on me.

[Radio_Lady]

24. OK with me. Just remember to flush them down so the next person

doesn't have to deal with them.

We can't flush feminine hygiene products in our radio station, but I guess they allow the seat protectors. At least, the sign they put up in the Women's Room doesn't mention them.

I don't use either.

Thanks for your response.

[Eurobabe]

14. Yes, because I am mysophobic

No really, I get skeeved by people pissing on the damn seat because they wizz half-standing up so THEY won't touch the toilet seat. That's what the paper is for you bunch of douche bags!

[Radio_Lady]

26. Well, there are two sides to this story. You're on one side, and we're

on the other.

I don't piss on the seat. Mostly I sit right down and if anything, I wipe up where OTHERS have pissed. I also wipe the sink down from others who have splashed water everywhere. My motto is, "Leave this place cleaner than when you got here."

Please don't call other women "douche bags" -- we have a right to disagree, especially in the lively DU Lounge. This calls for tolerance -- it's a woman's right.

Thank you.

[LynneSin]

17. I'm a hoverer

And if the handicap bathroom is available I'll use that since the bar helps with hovering

[Radio_Lady]

28. Excellent idea! I use the handicapped bathroom also because

I need more room to deal with my orifices.

[tjwash]

18. My wife calls those "ass gaskets" nt

[Radio_Lady]

29. I have never heard that term before today; however, if you Google

the Images section, you will find lots of interesting pictures. Mostly, they're toilet seats or toilet lids -- not disposable.

Unfortunately, the website www.offbeatprod.com, an airbrush painting company, isn't working as it should be. That's where most of the photos come from. Here's one from the parent directory:

[skygazer]

21. Yes, I do use them

What do I think they protect me against? Sitting on a filthy toilet seat. No, I don't neccessarily think I'm going to get germs and I certainly don't think I'm going to get HIV - but I see a parade of people going in and out of the (public) bathroom at my place of work and frankly, I don't want my bare ass touching anything they've touched, to put it crudely. Besides, half the time the seat is wet (ick!) and the paper cover at least absorbs that.

And no, I wouldn't abuse my kid under any pretext.

[Radio_Lady]

31. Thanks, Skygazer. Here's what I've discovered:

I've talked with environmentalists and they said the toilet seat protector is a BIG business nowadays. Tons of paper -- aside from toilet paper, are used daily in our public bathrooms.

It also has the same disadvantages that paper towels have -- they use forest (trees) and also chlorine bleach (to get them white), which all ends up in the wastewater treatment departments of our cities and towns, or, sent out into rivers and streams and oceans UNTREATED.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

25. I'm a man and I use 'em.

Depending on how clean the stall is, and whether or not I had to clean the seat myself before using it.

[Radio_Lady]

32. Eek, it's a man! Hi Hooligan.... who invited you in here?

Just kiddin'...

My husband says that most men's rooms don't have toilet paper protectors available. I don't know what to say about that!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. Most of them do.

Well, I haven't actually taken a survey. But I'm pretty sure that most public mens room in places like stores, theaters, public buildings, etc. have them. Sometimes you won't find them in shitty (no pun intended) gas station bathrooms and the like.

[Radio_Lady]

36. Well, most men stand at a urinal -- so no problem there.

I refuse to ask my husband anything more than, "Did you remember to wash your hands?" To which he invariably tells me, "I didn't touch anything but myself!"

Don't urinals have handles for flushing? I have no clue and I don't bring it up in polite company. (The Lounge is OK...!)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

37. heh heh.

Most men stand at the urinal, yes. Unless the urinals are occupied, in which case they pee in the stalls, and often don't lift up the seats. The little boys are much worse, which I'm sure you're aware of if you've ever had any.

[Radio_Lady]

41. Right you are. At least four grandsons have passed through my

portals. I have the urine stains on the bathroom floor to prove it.

But, isn't this little geezer cute? It's our youngest grandkid... you can just tell he's ready to tinkle right through the seat and even right on the floor if you let him...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

42. He's a cutie.

That look on his face makes me think he already has, and he's just waiting for you to find out about it.

[Radio_Lady]

44. He's a good kid, but we still have him in Goodnites pull-ups (diapers).

He isn't completely housebroken through the night. Enuresis (bedwetting) seems to run in his father's family.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

48. Well, it won't be too much longer.

In another ten or twelve years he'll finally remember to put the seat up.

On a more serious note, I had problems bed wetting until much later in my childhood. It can be psychological if it lasts too long.

[Radio_Lady]

64. Our granddaughter (his sister) stayed dry through the night at

age 6.

This little guy is five years old. We're not expecting a much different pattern with him.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

119. Right... the "father's family"...

**wink, wink, nudge, nudge** ;-)

[Radio_Lady]

124. My son-in-law's sister's child still wore pull-ups until around age

ten. Or so I've heard -- that child lives in Michigan.

My mother told me I was eager to potty train and I believe it was accomplished at age three. My two biological kids were not a problem, but my son had to undergo a urological operation called a meatotomy -- widening the ureter into the bladder -- so he would be better able to function. My son was about five when he had that operation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meatotomy

[Roon]

98. I wash my hands

before I touch myself "down there"

[Radio_Lady]

100. How about AFTER you touch yourself?

Wash again?

[Roon]

103. I was being facetious

but yes, I wash afterwards, except when I am in the mountains are at the bus station.

[Radio_Lady]

137. Good for you! That's the best way --

[elocs]

113. Most now have a timed flush or a sensor that flushes it. n/m

[Radio_Lady]

138. We have those only occasionally in the women-only restrooms.

Thanks for the information.

The automatic flush mechanisms really scared my grandchildren when they were younger!

I guess most little children fear loud noises.

[mad-mommy]

27. I would have been upset at the...

smack followed by crying. Mom may be a germophob. I am one too, but really, you have to get over it. When your kids are at school or in someone else's home, do you think they concern themselves with such details? it's ok to remind kids to be hygienic but I don't think I would go to such lengths as that mom.

[Radio_Lady]

34. Good thinking! Thanks for your input.

Recently, I overheard one mother say to her child, "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING IN THIS ROOM!" in a pretty hysterical voice.

I am a very clean and fastidious person, yet both of those outcries -- the one in the original post and this one -- made me shudder.

I really feel badly for those kids.

[NMDemDist2]

63. I swear it's the germaphobes that cause kids to be sick all the time

you won't build any immunity if you live in a germ free bubble fer gawd's sake!

kids should get dirty, play in the dirt, suck on rocks and the tassels on their stingray bikes

jeeesh! :banghead:

and to smack your kid who probably doesn't have great bladder control at that age and who probably had to go RIGHT NOW is simply criminal

but I'm not a mom (just an old broad) so what do i know? :shrug:

[RoyGBiv]

105. You know a lot ...

You are quite correct.

My mother has a friend whose daughter has a disease that basically results in the body's immune system turning on itself, and she has struggled through numerous, sometimes bizarre treatments just to live. (I forget the name of it.) It's almost like HIV, but not quite, because it's not that the immune system is diminished, rather that it's too active. As a child this person who has this never was allowed outside, was washed incessantly with bleach and ammonia, which caused other skin related problems, and just pretty much grew up not being exposed to germs if at all possible. When she got to be school age, she was sent to school with one of those hospital masks on her face and was forced to shower as soon as she got home, then shower before she left, and was never allowed to have other kids over to her house or associate with them except at school. Nearing her teens, her body's immune system started to attack itself. Her current doctor says part of the problem is that she has not had enough exposure to diseases, leaving her immune system with very little in the way of a job to do, so her body adapted and created a job ... killing itself.

I personally experienced this on a lesser scale. My grandmother, who was one of my primary care givers as a child, was paranoid about disease because she, as a child, had lost brothers and sisters and friends to things like flu epidemics and other diseases. I also was not allowed to associate with other kids until was like 8 or 9, and those kids never came into my home. I bathed multiple times a day, and my quack doctor had me taking penicillin every day from the time I was about 8 until I was well into my teens and simply started refusing to take it. (I can now no longer take penicillin to treat illness because it doesn't work on me. I have to take powerful, expensive antibiotics that sometimes make me sicker than whatever illness I have.) Regardless, I was sick constantly. If I even spent a few minutes near someone who was sick, I got sick. When I went to the doctor, I might have a cold, and when I left, I would end up infected with whatever else others who were there had. I once went to the doctor when a sprained ankle, and a few days later ended up in the hospital with a case of the flu that turned into pneumonia.

When I was 16, I got a job working with the public and have had jobs that put me in contact not just with the public but with some of the nastiest conditions one could imagine ever since. Mostly, it's just people sneezing, coughing, or spitting on me. Sometimes I get handed money that's been stored in various bodily orifices and is saturated in nastiness. I don't like this and wash a lot because of it, but since I was about 18 or 19, I have had to deal with far fewer illnesses. I am 37 now and have not had a major, i.e. life endangering, illness in over 10 years. In my teens, I got sick at least three or four times a year, at least one of those times resulting in something that put me in the hospital with something that threatened to kill me.

The human race has survived because it has adapted to germs. What a lot of people do now in the name of hygiene runs directly counter to evolutionary principles. We're making our kids unable to deal with the environment in which they live.

[NMDemDist2]

111. anti bacterial soaps kill the "good" bacteria along with the bad

the only problem is the bad bugs grow back 5 times faster then the good bugs

on another thread we were talking about laundry habits too and the folks who bleach and use hot water for everything spend tons of $$$ replacing clothes that wear out very fast under those conditions

it's just silly.

glad your health is better now and it's very sad about the young girl you know

[Radio_Lady]

139. Your observations are quite correct, RoyGBiv. Thanks for your

lengthy and thoughtful post! I appreciate it very much.

[Arugula Latte]

30. Recently, while we were at the beach, my daughter was in the stall

and sat down on a seat protector. Well, her bathing suit had been wet (from water), thus her rump was wet, sooooo ... the paper stuck all to her backside. She was unaware of the situation, and came out with that thing plastered all over her heiney and thighs. I had to force myself to stop laughing because she was getting mad at me. :rofl:

[Radio_Lady]

39. Not nice to laugh at your own daughter! But I would have done the same.

Funny!

[Withywindle]

33. No, I just sit.

After checking for pee first, of course--god, some women are PIGS.

I don't get sick any more often than hoverers or seat-cover users, as far as I can tell. :shrug:

I do wash my hands of course, but I'm not a big germophobe.

[Radio_Lady]

43. You sort of describe me. I go to movie theaters a lot and it's always

a rush and you miss a scene if you putter around too much.

I have to remember to drink less before a feature film....

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

38. IDK, I've heard you can get the clap if someone with open sores sit down

[Radio_Lady]

45. The operative word there is "I've heard...." From whom, when and where?

You might want to check out this website:

http://www.4woman.gov/faq/stdsgen.htm#3

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

50. Kid in my gym class, Tuesday, in the locker room. . .

Ok, I see your point :(

[azmouse]

40. Nope. Never have, probably never will.

I check the seat and then sit if it is clean. If it is wet, I'll wipe it off and then hover over the seat.
Never felt that the thin, little piece of paper was going to protect me from anything.

[Radio_Lady]

46. Thanks for chiming in, azmouse! Do you think you are exposed to

deadly diseases that way? I guess not...

[azmouse]

52. I live on the edge!

:evilgrin:

Seriously, I just don't worry about it. I've never heard of anyone dying from sitting on a toilet seat!

[Radio_Lady]

76. "I've never heard of anyone dying from sitting on a toilet seat!" --

My sentiments exactly.

[khashka]

49. I have the perfect podcast for you!

A trucker who discusses how he uses every toilet protector he can snatch out of the dispenser.... it's very funny.

I do have a very small bone to pick though. Yes urine is sterile. You could drink it, bathe in it, whatever, with no ill effect (besides the yuck factor). However, bladder infections and urinary tract infections can be passed through urine. Very rare, but it does happen.

But I do agree that that woman screaming at her kid was awful. Biggest yuck factor of all.......


Khash.

[Radio_Lady]

78. Did you give me a link to the podcast? Thanks, Khashka.

OT: What's the derivation of your screen name:

Any relation to khishke? It's a Jewish food delicacy -- see it here:

http://www.bloomsdeli.com/index.php?screen=product&productID=9965

[khashka]

95. I did not

But if you have itunes go to the podcast section and check out "the gay trucker"... it's free.

OT: my screen name. Not so much a screen name as I use it in Real Life, too. It's from a song by KaTe Bush, the Goddess. "Khashka from Baghdad" - the story of a woman watching two gay men in love and wanting to be a part of that love..


Khash.

[Jamastiene]

51. Urine stinks and I don't want anyone's urine on me.

Not to mention that it feels icky, because usually it has sat there long enough to get cold. I'd rather squat in the woods behind a place than use a bathroom that doesn't at least have plenty of TP so I can work my magic trick on the seat with TP and then prepare my little TP cushion afterwards.

The magic trick goes like that. Tear off a nice strip of TP. Don't wad it up, leave it straight. Dangle it over the seat being careful to move if you need more light to find the wet spots. Then lay a single layer of TP on all seat surfaces (sides and back) and across the front. That will take four separate strips of paper, btw.

If no pee bleeds through the single layer, add another layer just in case and let her rip.

If a wet spot does show up, carefully take the offending wet TP strip by an edge with your fingertips (carefully holding your pinky finger up the whole time-THIS IS CRUCIAL!!!I'm series!!11!!!1!) and flush it. You can't flush public toilets often enough before using them. Replace the strip that you just flushed with another strip and see if that takes care of the offending wet spots. If it does, follow the "no pee bleeds through" instruction above.

Repeat the whole process as often as necessary to avoid that "yuck, someone else's piss on my ass cheeks feeling." That's it, that's the magic trick I use.

[Radio_Lady]

79. Different strokes for different folks. I just swab with TP until pretty

dry and sit down.

Sometimes (but rarely), my cheeks get a little wet. I don't worry about it.

In peace,

Radio_Lady in Oregon

[SeattleGirl]

59. I don't use them. For some reason, they gross me out.

But I really hate it when I walk into a stall and one of the damned things is halfway in the water and still partly on the seat!

[Radio_Lady]

80. Dangling paper in the water. Happens all the time where I go.

I usually say some subtle curse word under my breath.

[Gormy Cuss]

60. What I have observed is that bathrooms stocked with those things

are cleaner for the most part than the ones without.

Had I heard someone smack a child in the next stall I would get store security. Not that they'd do anything but witness it when I confronted her. That woman isn't using good judgement.

[Radio_Lady]

81. It was in a movie theater -- I couldn't find anybody around when it

happened.

[Lars39]

61. Pee is only sterile until it exits the body.

It will pick up germs from whatever it hits on the way to the toilet. It's warm, so once it hits the seat it's ready to rumble with its new 'friends'.
I don't use those seaty things; they act like a wick, drawing the moisture up to you. I think you're better off just wiping the seat, or lifting the seat with tp and squatting.

[Radio_Lady]

83. Good advice! Thanks for posting!

[Book Lover]

62. Well, I do, but that woman was so out of line!

I remember once being in a swimming pool dressing room. Next to my changing booth, I heard an older woman raise her voice to a young girl who apparently was embarrassed to take off her swimming suit. She was saying something along the lines of, "There's nothing for you to be embarrassed about, I've seen it all before." I don;t know if it was the right thing to do, but I called out something like, "Well, *I* think it's nice to know that some young girls have a little modesty," which was more to comfort the girl than chastise the woman. Oh boy, it got quiet in the changing room after that...

[Radio_Lady]

84. Good retort! However, I don't like it when youngsters are TOO

modest -- have to be in a dressing area before changing -- worried about anyone "seeing them naked."

That's a real no-no for this grandmother.

I would have said to that little girl, "Sweetie, Grandma's changing right here in this room with you. You have nothing to be scared or ashamed of -- we're all built alike -- more or less! So, let's get changed, OK?"

[SOteric]

65. Yes, I use them.

I have an immune deficiency. Urine may be sterile, but people's butts are not. I have a hard enough time controlling the bacteria and virii I'm exposed to as it is. It's not just AIDs and HIV which concern a person like me, it's Herpes, yeast infections and urinary tract infections, - a host of things we could find ourselves exposed to.

I still wouldn't abuse a child.

[Radio_Lady]

85. Sure, if your immune system is compromised, by all means --

do whatever you have to do to be safe.

Thanks for posting.

[Taverner]

67. Scabes, body lice, inpetigo...among others

Not all communicable diseases are sexual

[Radio_Lady]

86. Here's a pretty decent article on this subject -- PLEASE READ...

From: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtoilet.html

What diseases can you catch from toilet seats?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Straight Dope:

What EXACTLY can you catch from sitting on a toilet seat? I took an informal survey and asked several of my girlfriends if they sit on public toilet seats, and 9 of the 11 of them never do. When I asked why, all of them had some variation of "You never know what you can catch from a toilet seat." So, please clear this up for all of us women who are afraid to sit down in a public restroom. --Nicole Anderson, Millis, MA

SDSTAFF Jill replies:

You can get cooties, and that's about it. Sexually transmitted diseases are spread via sexual intercourse with an infected person. Most of them are spread more easily from male to female. The diseases vary in how infectious they are, but none of them are spread on toilet seats (well, assuming you're using the toilet seat for what it was intended). Most bugs don't tend to live on cool, hard surfaces.

I could add that a couple of diseases - syphilis and herpes - can be spread by direct non-sexual contact with infectious lesions, so make sure there is not an infected person already on the toilet when you sit down. One should consider HOW people sit on toilet seats. Genital and anal infections most likely would not come in contact with the seat in normal use. Intact skin is a good barrier against most disease organisms ... unless of course one were to pick up a bacterium or virus on the seat, then immediately plant their buttocks on someone's nose and mouth. If this were to happen to me, disease transmission would be the least of my concerns.

As far as other kinds of diseases that have different routes of transmission, such as oral/fecal or airborne, the hands are more to blame for spreading these diseases than the bottom is. Shake hands with a carrier, touch your eyes or mouth, and voila! You've caught that person's cold or influenza. Eat food prepared by a person with hepatitis A (who didn't wash their hands after using the toilet), and hey, you've got hepatitis! I guess theoretically if you sat on feces on the seat, got some on your hands when you wiped yourself, then licked your fingers (mmm, mmm!) you could possibly get hepatitis A, but it isn't a primary route of transmission. Urine doesn't carry any common diseases that I know of, but I sure hate it when people leave the seat wet.

--SDSTAFF Jill
Straight Dope Science Advisory Board

Radio_Lady adds: SCABES -- Go to: http://www.dmt123.com/diseases-conditions/145-dmt123.html

LICE, IMPETIGO -- same story. Never mentions toilet seats!

[LostinVA]

106. Lice, that's about it

And, you can pick them up anywhere.

[Taverner]

114. You can pick up impetigo and scabes too

Impetigo is a bacterial skin infection, albiet nothing more than a rash that spreads that can be cured easily, but it's not fun.

[Radio_Lady]

116. Impetigo is a nasty condition. Children in Florida used to get it.

[LostinVA]

131. Not according to the mom and sister nurses

And the mom nurse is a pediatric allergy nurse.

I just Googled to make sure she was right... even though she did it for 20+ years.

[bridgit]

68. i do not, if it is a public facility, then the seat is required by code...

to be 'open front', which decreases the chance/point of contact, so as to say; i do know however, a little girl that contracted an STD by way of that very contact point...it has resulted in a law suit brought forward by her parents on her behalf

[Radio_Lady]

87. Where did you get that information? I'd appreciate a link to a site

about that lawsuit. Thanks very much.

[bridgit]

93. there is no link that i am aware of, just a six year old little girl...

with pissed off parents

[Radio_Lady]

96. In the news business, and in the law -- without a link, it's just hearsay,

or a fable.

Sorry. I need facts to check this out.

Good night and good luck.

[bridgit]

97. if you're looking to scoop some actionable cause, dear...

shouldn't you be perusing the dockets of contemporaneous jurisprudence...this is the DU lounge :eyes:

[Radio_Lady]

99. Bridgit, I just want the facts, m'am! Obviously, I'm really not impressed

with hearsay, even in the Lounge. But I'm no lawyer or journalist -- and I have no axe to grind, "dear..."

But thanks for your input.

"That's all she wrote..."

[bridgit]

101. then you prolly need to get out more...

cause that's where the facts are imo

[Maddy McCall]

104. What do you expect her to do? Link to her brain?

Jeezus. I could post a totally fabricated lie on my website, link to it, and you'd buy it as factual.

But another DUer tells you about a situation that happened with one of her friends, and you don't believe it.

It's amazing how many people are totally gulible when they require "proof." Almost as amazing as people utilizing wikipedia for "facts."

:eyes:

[Radio_Lady]

115. Sorry -- my research training took over; I certainly didn't disbelieve

her story necessarily. I just asked her to produce something I could fact-check.

In the media, we generally do use written or spoken information to back up our stories. Sometimes we require two or three legitimate sources. You wouldn't want it otherwise, would you, Maddy McCall?

UPDATE: I did try to find a legal precedent or a current legal filing by a parent or parents suing on behalf of a minor child for transmission of an STD via a improperly configured toilet or toilet seat (in a ring formation rather than U-shaped).

It would be helpful to know the jurisdiction of this case -- where it happened and some other facts, including the plaintiffs and defendants involved. Without that, it's a shot in the dark! I'm not that skilled in legal matters to understand what law was violated and what the remedy should be.

Thank you for your interest.

In peace,

Radio_Lady

[Maddy McCall]

130. Did it EVER cross your mind that maybe she doesn't want to tell you?

Think about it. A child with an STD. That's not something that people crow about.

Are you here at DU in your capacity as a "reporter?" When people talk about their marital woes or perhaps a surgery they have scheduled, do you require them to produce documentation before you'll discuss it with them?

Your reaction to bridget's post was ludicrous. For Christ's sake...this is the DU lounge. If you wanted to know more about the situation with the child, then you should PM the DUer who brought it up.

UPDATE: I have no way to prove that you are a "radio lady." I have no way to know that you work in "the media." Am I to just take your word for it? Show me your credentials. Give me your references.

And, please, save your lecture for someone else. In the work I do, I require multiple sources, too. But I'm not an historian when I post in the DU lounge. I'm just Maddy--like any other member.

[Radio_Lady]

135. Hello? Maddy? Let's reset, please. I don't need this kind of grief

from you or others this weekend. Maddy, all I did was ask her for citations about this case if she had them! I was curious about whether there was a legal precedent for this.

Sorry I aroused your ire. I certainly didn't mean to. I posted this question because I was upset more about the mother's comments than the paper toilet seat. Nothing to get all in a twist about... she didn't respond and I certainly don't deserve a tongue lashing from you.

Please see my journal's right hand column for more information on me and my radio background. I've been in broadcasting off and on since 1957 when I was in college -- one of the pioneering women in radio talk programming. I can PM you more background information if you care to see it. In retirement, I now volunteer for the PBS outlet here in Portland, recording an hour show which plays back locally on a sub-channel of KOPB-TV and also on the Internet. The audio show is available to you to hear each Monday at 1 PM Pacific/2 PM Mountain/3 PM Central/4 PM Eastern. Directions to the link are also posted on my journal. Perhaps you will listen in sometime -- I hope so!

End of story -- really. Thank you for listening.

Radio_Lady (woman, wife, mother, stepmother, and grandmother... along with the radio career)

[Radio_Lady]

69. This article ran in August: What's Dirtier, Cell Phone or Toilet Seat?

What's Dirtier, Cell Phone or Toilet Seat? Your Cell Phone Is a Breeding Ground for Bacteria

Aug. 4, 2006 — We've seen George Bush chat away on a cell phone, not to mention Paris Hilton. And don't forget Maxwell Smart, the secret agent who used his shoe for a phone.

Believe it or not, his shoe phone could have been cleaner than your cell phone.

When people in New York City were asked which they thought was dirtier — the sole of your shoe, a toilet seat or a cell phone — the answer was overwhelmingly the toilet seat.

But they were wrong — your cell phone is filthier.

New research out of the United Kingdom found mobile phones are a technological petri dish for tens of thousands of germs.

Why? Germs multiply in warm places. Between the heat the phones generate and the germs on faces and hands, you've got a bacterial breeding ground.

"You put it in a warm place, you hold it in your hand, you put it in your pocket like I do, it's nice and warm," said microbiologist Chuck Gerba. "Bacteria like that. It can grow in these types of places."

Dirtiest Phone Ever Tested

Believe it or not, the filthiest phones can spread the dreaded staph bacteria, which can cause everything from skin infections to meningitis. And where do these germs come from? Your hands and face.

Gerba recently tested 25 mobile phones and found the staph bug growing on nearly half.

Gerba also tested 10 phones from "Good Morning America" cast and crew. The results were shocking, especially the from the soundman's phone.

"This is the dirtiest phone I have ever tested," Gerba said. "He has somewhere between 10 and 50 million bacteria on his phone. If there is ever a new life form on this planet, it will be on this phone."

If you're worried about germs growing on your cell, Motorola has come up with a clever tactic — some of its phones have an anti-microbial coating, which prevents bacteria from growing.

In the meantime, keep your phone to yourself and clean it frequently with anti-bacterial wipes.

Link to this story: http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=2273311

[bridgit]

71. ewww, paris hilton's cell phone HAS to be the dirtiest of them all...

x(

[Radio_Lady]

88. Which is dirtier? Your keyboard or your toilet seat? Check it out!

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20040311/239226.shtml

OK. I'm still working with a dirty keyboard at my volunteer job:

[bridgit]

91. noth'in do'n, i've SEEN Gattaca...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gattaca :scared:

[Blue-Jay]

70. If piss is so sterile, why don't people drink it?

Poland Springs Pure Piss.

[Radio_Lady]

89. Under drastic conditions, people have been known to drink their own

urine. In case you ever need it, here's an article on how to drink urine to survive:

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=575026

If you can get by the gag reflex, you're home free!

[LostinVA]

107. People do -- even though it usually just makes you thirstier

And, urine IS sterile.

[Nikia]

74. No, I lived in the dorms for 4 years of college

I had to use toilets that everyone else did and never thought about protection. Just by age demographics, if I were to have contracted an STD from a toilet, it would have been there. I didn't catch anything. I figure that I probably won't catch anything at any other toilet either.

[Radio_Lady]

90. Excellent logic, in my estimation.

Thanks for posting.

[NewWaveChick1981]

110. Don't use them.

In public restrooms, I usually "hover". :P That's mainly an aesthetic issue, although when women don't aim properly, it just prevents contact with the mess. :yoiks:

[XemaSab]

82. You can get Hep A from a toilet seat...

:puke:

[Radio_Lady]

92. Not likely. See my post #86 upthread which discusses this.

You are more likely to get Hepatitis A from a food server who didn't wash his/her hands in the bathroom. But, you'd get it from the food, not the toilet seat.

Thanks for the comments.

[Silver Swan]

102. Blah

No, I don't use the seat covers.

If the seat is wet, I'll wipe it. But I just sit down otherwise.

I hate the squatters and hoverers who spray all over the seat and leave it wet for the next person. If they are so paranoid, what makes them think someone else wants to deal with their mess?

[Radio_Lady]

125. Anyone can make a mess. Important thing is to clean it up.

If the toilet is so disgusting you can't use it, for whatever reason -- tell the manager or building maintenance supervisor.

I'm always reporting at the movie theaters -- and I tell them when they need more airconditioning, or less -- or when the movie projectionist is playing a film out of focus -- when the soap dispenser is out of liquid -- or when a stall is out of toilet paper. (That's really maddening... I carry a small square of tissue paper in my purse or backpack. I carry it all the time!)

I know most of the theater managers and they usually thank me for taking the time to tell them about whatever. Most people just buzz on through, and are too busy to report these things.

[NC_Nurse]

108. I do.

My Grandma was a nurse too and she INSISTED on it. The only way that you could pick up something would be if you're skin was open
on your bottom - like a cut or pimple or something. Of course, I am super paranoid, being around sick people all the time.
OTOH, this person was totally inappropriate to yell and whack the child! Some folks are so concerned about physical welfare, but they have NO CLUE about psychological welfare of a child.

[Radio_Lady]

117. Thanks for posting, NC_Nurse. Good point about the psychological

implications!

Have a great weekend!

[LanternWaste]

109. If you had the same co-workers as I do...

If you had the same co-workers as I do, you'd not only use those but also wear a bio-hazard suit and a face mask with air-freshener built into it every time you entered the men's room :puke:

(although, I'm judging you wouldn't actually be going into the men's room, but you get the idea...)

[Radio_Lady]

118. Yucky men's room, eh? I've seen them all -- the worst ones in

Mexico (no seat on most toilets -- you had to squat if you were a woman or a man!)

And then, there was Hong Kong -- China. They use a water system that is indescribable -- sloshing water to rinse from a common bowl -- feet wet.

Some places in the Far East -- all you could see was a porcelain or plain hole in the ground. Pretty disgusting, but if you want to travel, that's what you've got!

[Book Lover]

132. Hey, when I visited the Vatican, there were just holes in the floor too!

Admittedly that was back in 1988, but still...

[Radio_Lady]

140. I can't vouch for toilets at the Vatican. We were in a large group and

hurried along -- and I can't remember.

I'll take your word for it.

In general, Rome, Italy was more cosmopolitan than many other places. They do have a lot of different Italian made bathroom fixtures -- which made life pretty interesting, because I don't speak or read Italian and did a lot of guessing about how to operate their equipment.

Thanks for posting!

PS. We saw Michelangelo's painted ceiling in the Sistine Chapel under restoration -- it was pretty amazing after they removed eons worth of contaminants from those amazing paintings!

[MissMillie]

112. in a ladies room? no

but some of the restrooms here on campus are co-ed, and if I were to use one of those toilets, I may use a cover.

[Radio_Lady]

120. So the guys are messier than the gals?

Thanks for your observation, Miss Millie!

[MissMillie]

129. that has been my experience, yes

though I wouldn't be surprised if my experience is considered "limited" to many here.

[schmuls]

121. I don't use 'em. First of all, it is easy to eyeball the seat to see if

the last person shat or pissed on the seat. Then, you would have to try to get any infectious bacteria or virus on your private parts, and even then, it probably wouldn't take. Last, don't most women squat anyway?

If you tinkle when you sprinkle,
please be need and wipe the seat

[schmuls]

122. I meant "neat". Sorry

[Radio_Lady]

126. I'm not sure about "most people" -- and you corrected

your rhyming couplet.

"If you tinkle when you sprinkle,
please be neat and wipe the seat."

Thank you for posting.

[schmuls]

127. yes, I replied and amended it to neat. Thanks

[In_The_Wind]

123. I usually hover instead of sitting.

I can understand your feelings over hearing the child scream. It sounds like Mommy Dearest needs to learn better parenting skills.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

128. I always use a butt gasket...

because the idea of dropping my pants and rubbing my bent-over ass against the naked, bent-over asses of another 100 or so women who may or may not be good at hygiene kinda grosses me out. :scared:

Because, essentially, that's what you are doing when you are sitting down on a bare, public toilet seat.

Bleck, thanks but no thanks...

[Neoma]

133. I don't force anyone else to do it.

But I do put toliet paper on a seat before I sit on it if i'm in a dirty restroom.