by: Hayley Strahs
Editor in Chief
Most kids don’t poop at school. For some, it’s not wanting to miss class; for most, it’s an issue of comfort. Being a teenager, I laughed at pooping and poop-related jokes before I witnessed a girl get bullied to the point of tears in the bathroom. Pooping at school puts you in a vulnerable position, and as ridiculous as it may seem, members of the LGHS community must help students feel less anxious in the bathroom through removing the stigma surrounding poop and promoting anti-odor practices.
While a poop-positivity movement may not be in LGHS’s future, this natural bodily function shouldn’t be a source of shame. Inquiring “are you pooping in there?” to your friends while they’re in the bathroom might be funny, but asking strangers the same question is highly inappropriate. Yes, this should be self-explanatory, but I’ve watched this exact scenario countless times. The bathroom should be a safe space, and what students do in the stall is entirely their business. I am in no way advocating against all potty humor, but we must keep it within our social circles so as to not alienate others. There is a fine line between bullying and joking with friends, and it is crucial to not cross it.
Moreover, refusal to defecate at school puts students at risk for health ramifications. According to a study in the Journal of School Health, 42% of K-12 school nurses cited bullying as the reason for kids’ not wanting to poop at school, leading to 95% of nurses reporting, at minimum, monthly cases of constipation. And as unsettling as it may seem, constipation is the gateway to more severe health complications like hemorrhoids, fecal impaction, and rectal prolapse, all of which can have highly invasive treatment procedures. As nerve-wracking as it may be to poop at school, enduring an invasive surgery is objectively much more awkward. Normalizing not defecating at school isn’t the social saving grace students often think it is; it’s a slippery slope to health issues.
Unfortunately, the stigma surrounding poop isn’t baseless. Without sugarcoating it, poop stinks. However, LGHS students can easily circumvent this issue by employing scent-reduction tactics. The double flush is a valuable tactic: don’t wait until the end to flush the toilet and instead do so two or three times as you go. Moreover, portable air fresheners like Poo-Pourri are easy to use and prevent foul odor from escaping the toilet. Simply flushing the toilet and waiting a couple minutes for the smell to subside is also an option. Through handling the odor issue, students will feel less awkward using the bathroom at LGHS.
With constipation triggering invasive health problems and smelly stools having numerous work-arounds, pooping at school shouldn’t carry the stigma it does.
(Sources: Healthline, Journal of School Health)