Monday, July 25, 2011

A Stanky Subject

Fashion and wit may have been more of a priority than hygiene in the age of Enlightenment, with the subjects of Britain having a reputation for being...well, rather gross.  Casanova's sensibilities were shaken as he toured St James's Park and saw, "hinder parts of persons relieving nature in the bushes..." Casanova was rather shocked at the Bosh-like qualities of the metropolis and went on to say that people were even relieving themselves in the middles of the street rather than hiding themselves to do their business.  Visitors to the royal court would find much of the same behavior.  The French ambassador's wife was known to use the court chamber pots in view of everyone, "...at least ten times a day amongst a cloud of witnesses."  Yup, England had no shame.  The little shame that they did have could easily be covered up with powder and perhaps a few patches.

To add insult to injury, defecating in public was the least of England's hygiene problems.  Bathing tended to only include the washing of hands and the face.  Most everything else was neglected, resulting in course commentary about the sort of odors emitted from body parts.  As much as sex was enjoyed as a recreational activity, the appendages needed for the act didn't get much love from the bath tub.  Due to this transgression 18th-century lovers tended to avoid putting their mouth on anything they didn't have to, and clothing tended to stay on in the bedroom.  If that doesn't leave horrible enough images in your imagination, just ask John Wilkes who was especially harsh on poor Scottish girls,
"it is shocking how much of [the vagina] is neglected, especially in the Northern part of this Island.  The Face, the neck, the Hands, I owe are clean, but of a Whiteness which would rival Leda's lover.  All the rest, alas! is hid in mysterious Sluttishness."  
Wilkes was also known to famously say, "the nobler parts are never in this island washed by women; they are left to be lathered by men." This naturally leaves one to wonder how clean Mr. Wilkes' gentlemen-bits were.

In the last quarter of the century bath basins became slightly more widespread, at least in the homes of the more well-to-do.  Dr James Graham who would be dismissed as a quack (and was Scottish) for his work in the sexual field was a strong advocate of frequent bathing.  When childless couples came to him for help in the bedroom, a relaxing bath was usually part of the procedure.  Graham's novel advice seemed to catch on, for one of the prostitutes in Harris' List of Covent Garden Ladies's trademark was her hygiene which, "from a practical knowledge of its increase of pleasure, from motives of cleanliness, or as a certain preventative we will not pretend to say; but we know it makes her the more desirable bed-fellow."  Based on this evidence it is safe to say that there were prostitutes that were cleaner than heads of state, yikes!

10 comments:

  1. Really makes me glad bathing caught on...

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  2. I hear ya, I felt like taking a shower after just writing it!

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  3. Glamour had a poll about two years ago and used their int'l Glamour mags to ask their readers about their bathing habits. The results were 46% of french women said they bathed daily and though i can't remember the exact numbers for british ladies it was only a little higher than France's. As for Americans they gave a different poll showing how much water we waste:a lot of pollers said in the summer they bathe twice daily and an average american bath was 30 minutes with the second highest answer being 45m- 1hr. But after reading the poll on Europe I thought how happy i was that we overindulged in bathing rather than dismissing it till it was necessary. One French woman's comment was that bathing 3-4 times a week was enough b/c she didn't sweat often. Disgusting!

    I'll never forget my trip to England when the lady i was staying with complained I spent too long in the shower (it was 15 minutes!!!) though that was probably more about her water bill than her having a dirty mentality but still it doesn't help jaded opinions does it?

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  4. The English did, however pride themselves on clean underwear.

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  5. Oh, I am so glad bathing ones own body became the thing to do after awhile....especially one's own private areas. I just could not go without my showers!!!!

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  6. I was at an antiques store a couple weeks ago and found an erotic whaletooth carving that I could easily date to about 1825 by the outfits the lovers had on. Then I started thinking, "Why would someone carving a dirty picture on a whaletooth trouble to draw the people still mostly dressed?" I guess maybe he didn't know any other way to go about it!

    In one of my favorite books of the 19th century, called "My Secret Life" which happens to be erotica but I really liked because it gives so many insights about things like bathrooms that are otherwise never discussed, the man writing this all talks at one point about how women don't need to wash their genitals because their own urine keeps them plenty clean enough. He also describes the public toilets at Kensington Gardens, which is to say, the bushes.

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  7. And to pense that Marie-Antoinette bathed in a chemise. All the more reason to adore her tant.

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  8. I think americans have always bathed more then Europeans. Even back then although im sure its still not as much as we do now. Ive never been to Europe, yet, but i have a very stong scence of, smell. I get pretty sick from the slightest smell of BO or too much perfume. My boyfriend says that I wouldnt be able to stand being around Europeans for to long. Especially on a flight. Lol

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  9. I had a French teacher (originally from France) who told us that Americans bathed too much...of course she clarified "too much" was more than once a day, which is a fair enough assessment!

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