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Describe An American Toilet

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The Lou, thunderbox, porcelain throne, and John are a few words used to describe the toilet. In America, people take the toilet for granted…I mean they literally crap on it. Over half of the world’s population lives in undeveloped countries without access to basic amenities necessary for daily life. Most Americans don’t think about where anybody else goes to answer nature’s call. Why is that? Is it because it’s gross? Uncomfortable? Or irrelevant? I feel the answer is a combination of all these factors. Americans don’t think about the right to a toilet because they have not been educated on the relevancy of matter. People find the subject taboo because defecation is such personal bodily function. India is a prime example of this toilet phenomena …show more content…

When I looked up India an ad for the Bollywood film Toilet popped up and I was intrigued in finding out what the heck the movie was about. The premise of the film is that a woman refuses to marry a man unless he installs a toilet in his home. It sounds silly but the movie touches on these uncomfortable, and yet highly important topics. My curiosity was peaked so I did some personal research on India’s toilet crisis. Until this point in my life, it never occurred to me that not everybody has the same luxury as me pertaining to bathroom …show more content…

Stripping people of the basic right to a toilet and sanitary living conditions is degrading, and inhumane. In India, the people are forced to publicly pass waste like wild animals. Public restrooms are common in America, but the public is India’s restroom. The Indian government has lax sanitation standards and does very little to fix the issue. Instead, these people are dehumanized for a naturally occurring process. Due to a lack of sanitary measures, disease is a widespread problem and the people without access to running toilets are more susceptible to these different ailments. Some common diseases from constant fecal contact include Hepatitis A, E-coli, and various infections. People perform daily tasks next to the waste products and eat near it, walk in it, and are constantly exposed to the waste. Additionally, exposure to these unsanitary living conditions perpetuates the stereotype that all Indians are

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