© REUTERS Jeenah Moon / © IndyStar / Michelle Pemberton
(New York, NY) – The bidet is a foreign thing for many Americans. Some may have seen them at hotels during European vacations and wondered — what’s that thing? Bidets are small sinks or basins that have water spouts — designed to clean one’s backside after going to the bathroom. It’s considered more hygienic and maybe more comfortable.
In terms of his official move into Gracie Mansion, Mayor Mamdani wants to step up the bathroom experience — and bring in bidets.
For those in the USA who are uninitiated, bidets are a bathroom fixture — or attachment — that uses water clean private parts. Used instead of (or in addition to) toilet paper, the bidet was invented in France sometime in the late 1600s. Wealthy royals and other aristocrats used them to clean, typically after using chamber pots. The word translates to “pony” or “tiny horse” — potentially because people straddle the tiny basin when using the device.
By the late 1700s and early 1800s, bidets became common in the homes up upper-class Europeans. As indoor plumbing became more commonplace, the bidets shifted indoors — to bathrooms. Even Marie Antoinette — of “let them eat cake” infamy — was granted the use of a bidet in her prison cell, prior to her execution in 1793.
Nowadays, bidets have been widely adopted — not just in Europe — but across South America, the Middle East, Asia, and elsewhere. Close to 80% of the world views it as a standard bathroom accessory. And in Italy, bidets are legally required in all homes and hotels — as they have been since 1975.
Americans have historically been slow to adopt bidets, with just 6% of American households having them in use. During WW2, American GIs encountered them in brothels — furthering the stigma associated with bidets — as they were then linked to prostitution.
It’s not clear if Mayor Mamdani’s personal experience during COVID impacted his preference for a bidet, but the US has seen a rapid rise in bidet-popularity since 2020. Back then toilet paper shortages influenced people’s willingness to use a bidet. Plus, with more people working from home, Americans are upgrading bathrooms. The trend has reduced toilet paper usage, and cut down on the use of “flushable” wipes — which have contributed to “fatbergs” in London and New York City.
