Cebok
Cebok adalah tindakan membersihkan (membasuh) dubur atau kemaluan setelah buang air. Cebok penting dilakukan untuk menjaga kesehatan.[1] Cebok yang bertujuan membersihkan dubur dapat dilakukan dengan menggunakan kertas (dan bahan sejenis kertas) atau air. Selain itu, di beberapa kebudayaan, cebok juga dapat dilakukan dengan menggunakan batu, daun, kain lap, dan lain-lain.
Kertas
Penggunaan kertas dan bahan lain yang menyerupai kertas untuk cebok pertama kali ada di Cina. Kebiasaan ini kemudian menyebar ke Barat. Di beberapa tempat, terutama di wilayah-wilayah di mana tissue toilet belum tersedia, koran, direktori telepon, dan produk kertas lainnya juga biasa digunakan. Meskipun dapat menyebabkan toilet tersendat[1], penggunaan koran dan kertas lain masih sering digunakan sebagai alat cebok di sebagian Afrika karena—meskipun telah tersedia—harga tisu toilet belum dapat dijangkau.
Water
Using water to clean oneself, often along with toilet paper or sometimes in lieu of toilet paper, is common in Europe, most of South America, the Muslim world and Indian subcontinent where people use their left hand to clean themselves and their right hand for eating or greeting (in parts of Africa, though, the converse is true, and a right-handed handshake could be considered rude).
In France, toilet sanitation was supplemented by the invention of the bidet in the 1710s. With the improvements to plumbing in the mid- to late 19th Century the bidet moved from the bedroom (where it was kept with the chamber pot) to the bathroom. Modern bidets use a stream of warm water to cleanse the genitals and anus (before modern plumbing, bidets sometimes had a hand-crank to achieve the same effect). The bidet is commonplace in many European countries, especially in Spain, France, Italy and Greece, and also in Japan where approximately half of all households have a form of bidet (often combined with the toilet in a single appliance). It is also very popular in the Middle East.
The use of water in Muslim countries is due in part to Muslim sharia which encourages washing after all instances of defecation, an obligatory action during periods of religious fasting.[2] It is not uncommon to find South Asian and Middle Eastern people express their disgust for the use of only dry toilet paper as they doubt the effectiveness of just wiping with toilet paper and feel it is impossible to completely clean one's anus and that washing is absolutely necessary.[butuh rujukan] Toilet paper is more common in large households,[butuh rujukan] where the middle-classes use both methods to cleanse themselves. In many countries, a hand-held bidet (colloquially known as a muslim shower[3]) or pail of water is used in lieu of a pedestal. In Japan, a nozzle placed at rear of the closet aims a water jet to the bottom and serves the purpose of cleaning; however, this arrangement is common only in Westernised toilets, and is not incorporated in traditional designs.
Another popular alternative resembles a miniature shower and is known as a "health faucet". It is placed in an alcove to the right hand side of the toilet, thus enabling the person using it to have it within an arm's length for easy accessibility.
In the Philippines, and other South-East Asian countries such as Thailand, house bathrooms usually have a medium size wide plastic dipper (tabo) or large cup, which is also used in bathing. However, most general households utilize toilet paper, "health faucets", or bidets (in some rich mansions) as well. Some health faucets are metal sets attached to the bowl of the water closet, with the opening strategically pointed at the target anus. Toilets in public establishments mainly provide toilet paper for free or dispensed, though the dipper (or even a cut up PET bottle or plastic jug, or disposed ice cream can) used for this purpose is occasionally encountered in some establishments. Though most Thais find it difficult not to cleanse their anus with water, most of the shopping malls do not provide health faucets since they are considered to be dirty and could make it hard for them to keep the bathrooms clean.
Japanese toilet
The first "paperless" toilet was invented in Japan in 1980. It is a combination toilet, bidet and drier, controlled by an electronic panel next to the toilet seat. This has famously led to tourists accidentally activating the bidet and causing a jet of water to shoot high into the air and spray all over the bathroom floor, usually a result of investigating the unfamiliar fixture's buttons, all labeled in Japanese (the fact that some toilets use a button on the same panel to flush exacerbated the problem). Many modern Japanese bidet toilets, especially in hotels and public areas, are labeled with pictograms to avoid the problem, and most newer models have a sensor that will refuse to activate the bidet unless someone is sitting on the toilet.
See also
Notes and references
- ^ a b Anal Cleansing
- ^ Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah: 259, accessed 29 June 2008
- ^ discussion of the term (as used in Saudi Arabia), GupShup Forums, accessed 29 June 2008
External links
- Anal Cleansing - from the Toolkit on Hygiene, Sanitation & Water, by the World Bank.