Hellmuth/Matusow Bathroom Chat

[Jordan Olsommer]

Fair enough, although I'm still a bit skeptical seeing as how this guy offered no evidence whatsoever to support his claims, and I couldn't find any corroboration of them based on a cursory googling.

[maurile]

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Fair enough, although I'm still a bit skeptical seeing as how this guy offered no evidence whatsoever to support his claims, and I couldn't find any corroboration of them based on a cursory googling.

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It's Cecil Adams. You can trust him. If you're not familiar with his columns, skim the StraightDope archives:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/index.html

Lots of good stuff there.

[allinadam]

From some of his other postings Straight Dope, the guy seems like kind of a clean freak. He might have just made something up to align with his world view. I too have googled and found nothing confirming this.

[neorab]

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And yes, Mike didn't wash his hands as he left.

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Logically, not washing his hands does not present any problem assuming a) he didn't piss on them, and b) his junk is clean.

[/ QUOTE ]I wash my hands before I piss, I've seen how dirty these old fat farmers are. I'd hate to get crabs from touching dirty chips, then handling myself.

[kodonnell]

Fecal coliform bacteria is omnipresent. It is everywhere. On everything you touch, in every breath you take. Inside and out. Our bodies have lived with it for millions...well maybe thousands of years and have adapted. Unless you have grown up in a sterile bubble for the last several years and was recently released or you lick a toilet seat (or otherwise overdose on coliform) it will not hurt you.

[dana33]

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Logically, not washing his hands does not present any problem assuming a) he didn't piss on them, and b) his junk is clean. Men usually wash their hands after they piss because it just seems unsanitary not to, when in reality it is perfectly fine to the best of my knowledge.

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The best of your knowledge is woefully inadequate in this particular case.

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_220.html

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The MythBuster guys on the Discovery channel did a test to see if leaving a toothbrush in the bathroom near a toilet causes fecal coliform bacteria to get on the brush. They found that it does -- but so does leaving a toothbrush in a completely separate room. The conclusion: some amount of fecal coliform bacteria is virtually everywhere. The question for handwashing after touching your privates is: Is there enough of it to pose a significant risk of infection? The fact there there does not seem to be an epidemic of fecal coliform infections among heterosexual practitioners of oral sex indicates probably not.

BTW, I advocate frequent handwashing, but mainly due to things other than your privates that you touch throughout the day (poker chips, door handles, other people, etc.).

[Jordan Olsommer]

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BTW, I advocate frequent handwashing, but mainly due to things other than your privates that you touch throughout the day (poker chips, door handles, other people, etc.).

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I agree with this position 100%.

[mblax10]

Their are positives to peeing on your hands just ask Giants outfielder Moises Alou.

[maurile]

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The fact there there does not seem to be an epidemic of fecal coliform infections among heterosexual practitioners of oral sex indicates probably not.

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From the link I provided above:

"But the truth is you 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. There's no point in stopping now though. You can catch most of the same germs from intercourse, kissing, or simply holding hands.

"For example, a common complaint among women is urinary-tract infection, which is often caused by sexually transmitted fecal bacteria. Research suggests these bacteria travel to the entrance of the vagina, get shoved in by the penis during intercourse, and then migrate to the bladder. In other words, the guy helps infect the woman with her own germs. (Doctors--male ones usually--blame this on the "woefully short" female urethra.) It seems likely oral sex could accomplish the same thing, but for a given infection there's no way to tell.

"It's rare that a specific sexual practice is associated with spreading germs, but there are exceptions. About 20 years ago clinicians began noticing what has come to be called "gay bowel syndrome," a collection of intestinal and rectal complaints that frequently plague gay men. Many of these illnesses stem from infection by fecal bacteria following anal sex--specifically, anal intercourse, analingus, and fellatio following anal intercourse. Some heterosexual couples (estimates range from 5 to 27 percent) also engage in anal sex, and they're at risk too.

"The question is how much risk. The answer is probably not much, unless they're unusually out there sexually. A key factor in gay bowel syndrome and in the spread of STDs generally is multiple sex partners, which exponentially increases your exposure to infection. In contrast, monogamous couples, whether gay or straight, soon achieve "homeostasis"--they've swapped germs, didn't come down with anything, and thereafter coexist in a state of microbial equilibrium. That's not to say they're germfree; they may simply be "asymptomatic carriers" of some bug that doesn't make them sick but that might lay low an outsider. Granted, the danger isn't very great, but it exists. I was just reading in the Harvard Medical School Health Letter about a 51-year-old guy who learned that hepatitis C had destroyed his liver. He'd had no previous symptoms, but the kicker is that he'd contracted hepatitis C 46 years before. Hepatitis C isn't transmitted by fecal bacteria; my point is that just because you don't think you have anything doesn't mean you don't. Thus the apparent paradox: you can frolic with your honey all you want, but you still have to wash your hands after using the pot."

[Easy E]

I agree- I didn't attribute the quote to anyone but the OP, even though I noted the quote box.