I have a question for any Italians that may be of help to me .

[hahahavefun]

I have been asked to do some research from my boss to hopefully solve a querey  we have and as yet have not found anything to help me .

I mean no disrespect to the Italian community on my question, 

Going back in years was it a natural thing for Italians to stand or partly squat ( females ) over a hole or drain when needing to urinate or do number 2 ?

Reason for question is to understand if this is a behaviour problem or a culture thing ..

[cherry*135]

When I went to Europe in the 1980's they had squat toilets in Bulgaria and Skopje (Macedonia). Those ones were disgusting, filthy things. There would be a blockage and dirty water where you had to put your feet. Better of going in the forest!

Some parts of Greece, you can't put toilet paper in the toilet, have to put it in bucket beside it (gross). I think that is still the same now in some parts.

[aftanas]

---

@hahahavefun wrote:

I have been asked to do some research from my boss to hopefully solve a querey  we have and as yet have not found anything to help me .

I mean no disrespect to the Italian community on my question, 

Going back in years was it a natural thing for Italians to stand or partly squat ( females ) over a hole or drain when needing to urinate or do number 2 ?

Reason for question is to understand if this is a behaviour problem or a culture thing ..

---

I am Italian and it is not "natural" for Italians to squat.  Italians aren't built that way.

Asians are different to Europeans in regards to squatting.  I have a Eurasian niece and nephew.  I noticed that, while playing, they would squat rather than sit or kneel.  My brother said that it had to do with their physiology.  Squatting is a natural stance for Asians whereas Europeans, including Italians, find it painful after a short period. 

As to whether squatting to go to the toilet is a behaviour "problem", God didn't invent sit down toilets. Prior to the invention of toilets squatting was the only option for Europeans or Asians.  Indeed, if you watch toddlers going number 2 in the wild, they will squat without being told.

If you think about the physiology of the alimentary canal, it is kinked at the bottom when standing and straightens out as you bring your knees towards your chest.  It is largely unkinked when sitting, but doesn't completely unkink until you bring your knees into contact with your chest.  Sitting down to go number 2 works, but when sitting the buttocks tend to become compressed, whereas squatting separates the buttocks. 

So I wouldn't characterise squatting while going number 2 as a behaviour "problem".  Squatting better facilitates going number 2 as it completely straightens the alimentary canal and separates the buttocks.  We are hard wired to squat when going number 2 and are culturally acclimated to sitting rather than squatting.  

The behaviour problem is sitting, not squatting.

[pct001wine]

I was in Italy a couple of years ago and I encountered these at a train station (Como I think).

It seemed a fairly recent fitting so I guess they are still in vogue.

I actually slipped whilst using it and got a huge bruise on my hip, which caused much laughter from Mrs Wine 

[hahahavefun]

Ok I'll explain , I have an Italian resident who has gone from using the toilet to doing her buissness standing up over the drain in the shower but not while having a shower . This is her toilet habbits all through the day so we were wondering if it was an Italian way back when she was younger or is it now a behavour problem and I was asked to search this ...

[cherry*135]

Does the woman have dementia?

[the*scarlet*pimpernel]

Is her toilet functioning?

edit:  I was thinking resident indicated a tennant, but then it struck me you might mean a resident of a Nursing Home type facility. If so, the dementia question in the previous post is pertinent. Also, if the person is elderly they may have a urinary tract or other infection that may be impacting on the mental state.

[karliandjacko]

---

@hahahavefun wrote:

Ok I'll explain , I have an Italian resident who has gone from using the toilet to doing her buissness standing up over the drain in the shower but not while having a shower . This is her toilet habbits all through the day so we were wondering if it was an Italian way back when she was younger or is it now a behavour problem and I was asked to search this ...

---

It might be that she had a squat toilet when she was young.  If she is squatting she might be a little constipated and doing what comes naturally to ease that.

[aftanas]

---

@hahahavefun wrote:

Ok I'll explain , I have an Italian resident who has gone from using the toilet to doing her buissness standing up over the drain in the shower but not while having a shower . This is her toilet habbits all through the day so we were wondering if it was an Italian way back when she was younger or is it now a behavour problem and I was asked to search this ...

---

My relatives come from the Campania region (the south of Italy around Naples and Pompei).  All have sit down toilets and bidets.  None of them were confused as to the difference between a shower and a toilet.  And while it is true that Italy is not a culturally homogeneous country, I doubt very much that it would be the usual practice in Venice to **bleep** in the kitchen sink rather than using the toilet.

Italy is not a backward country.  In fact, its GDP is about 30% higher than Australia's.  I find it odd and a little insulting that, in the 21st Century, there are still people in this country who think Italians are all rubes and peasants.  

If this tenant has gone, as you say, from using the toilet to using the shower, then she has suffered some kind of mental collapse.  If she tells you that it is part of her cultural heritage to **bleep** in the shower she is either lying or deranged.

[jpi108]

---

@aftanas wrote:

I am Italian and it is not "natural" for Italians to squat.  Italians aren't built that way.

Asians are different to Europeans in regards to squatting.  I have a Eurasian niece and nephew.  I noticed that, while playing, they would squat rather than sit or kneel.  My brother said that it had to do with their physiology.  Squatting is a natural stance for Asians whereas Europeans, including Italians, find it painful after a short period. 

As to whether squatting to go to the toilet is a behaviour "problem", God didn't invent sit down toilets. Prior to the invention of toilets squatting was the only option for Europeans or Asians.  Indeed, if you watch toddlers going number 2 in the wild, they will squat without being told.

If you think about the physiology of the alimentary canal, it is kinked at the bottom when standing and straightens out as you bring your knees towards your chest.  It is largely unkinked when sitting, but doesn't completely unkink until you bring your knees into contact with your chest.  Sitting down to go number 2 works, but when sitting the buttocks tend to become compressed, whereas squatting separates the buttocks. 

So I wouldn't characterise squatting while going number 2 as a behaviour "problem".  Squatting better facilitates going number 2 as it completely straightens the alimentary canal and separates the buttocks.  We are hard wired to squat when going number 2 and are culturally acclimated to sitting rather than squatting.  

The behaviour problem is sitting, not squatting.

---

I agree with everything you said, but your brother is wrong to attribute the ease or difficulty to racial differences.  All humans are equally designed for squatting. Any difference in "squatting aptitude" is due to how the children were brought up.