Stop me if you’ve experienced this phenomenon.
Fear of a strange bathroom…
If you’re boomer who grew up in a post-war America, you remember the rapid spin of the mid-20th Century. Our hometowns changed rapidly and evolved quickly in the decades to follow. Vast stretches of land became housing developments, shopping centers, and office buildings. And now, we’re in our latter years with a host of memories from the era – some we’d rather not talk about.
Among my boomer memories is toilet phobia – fear of a strange bathroom.
I’ve learned fear of a strange bathroom is not an unusual phenomenon. Edith Bunker of the popular 1970s sitcom “All In The Family” spoke of husband Archie’s anxiety about using a strange bathroom. Audiences erupted with laughter when she mentioned it because I think they could relate to it. It humiliated poor Archie, who’d rather no one knew about it. Edith just couldn’t police her impulsivity to say things without thinking first.
A former neighbor of mine told me he could not use a strange toilet away from his home. I was surprised he’d tell anyone. He would go to work and struggle with the intestinal distress and misery that go with “holding” it. My youngest son is not comfortable with using any toilet away from the house at age 17.
Because I went through aggressive toilet training at age 1-2, toilets gave me the creeps. I have often wondered why.
I believe because we are so small and seemingly vulnerable during toilet training, there’s something very intimidating about a toilet bowl. At such a young age, your face is close to the rim and faced with that darned trap way, which is larger than life where objects are flushed away and never seen again.
At age two – that’s creepy.
For a two-year old not much taller than a toilet bowl, this was a very intimidating sight, that “one-eyed smile,” especially under the parental pressure of toilet training. I’ve never known a kid who enjoyed potty training.
There was something creepy about that passageway where the contents of a flush vanished with great speed. It was mysterious because I had no idea where the stuff went and my mother didn’t have a suitable explanation for where it went either.
I also never understood why water remained in a toilet when there was an open passage where water flowed out yet always remained. My grandfather explained to me that a toilet passageway was an elbow like the trap you see under a sink where water is there to keep sewer gasses out of the house.
It wasn’t until I entered the Air Force that I got over toilet phobia. There’s a lot to be said for not having a choice. You had limited time to sit on the toilet before it was time to fall out. You sat down, did your business, and joined the ranks.
Boomer Journey... 