World Toilet Day: A Little Potty Humor

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Submitted by WET Science Center

world toilet day“Last holiday, I was given Sudoku toilet paper – it’s useless. You can only fill it in with number ones and number twos!” Cue laughter and groans.

This is comedian Bec Hill’s gag from the first ever World Toilet Day: It’s No Joke! Comedy Festival. The festival features British comedians delivering their best one-liner toilet humor – and it’s a gas. But why all the potty talk? The festival is raising awareness about World Toilet Day, an international holiday founded in 2001 by a Singaporean man named Jack Sim, who is better known by his nickname: Mr. Toilet. The moniker was given to Sim for his work on global sanitation through his non-profit, the World Toilet Organization, and he has adopted it with pride. World Toilet Day, formally recognized by the UN in 2013, is considered an international day of awareness for global sanitation issues, and it all started with Mr. Toilet.

You may be thinking, “What’s the big deal? Do we really need to honor toilets in the same way we honor moms, dads, Martin Luther King Jr., and our founding presidents?” Well, it turns out we do. Many jokes are made at the expense of World Toilet Day, a theme that it has capitalized on with slogans like “#WeCan’tWait” and “Talk S— for a Week.” Still, jokes aside, there are some major issues that the holiday hopes to promote.

Sim’s primary concern, and the reason he started World Toilet Day, is the deadly reality of poor sanitation and untreated sewage. When Mr. Toilet explains the importance of toilets, he uses a metaphor and some colorful language. “S— is like fire. When you manage it properly, the fire can cook your meal,” he says, making reference to using waste as fertilizer. “But if you don’t manage it, then it will burn down your house.”

world toilet dayAccording to UN Water, 2.5 billion people worldwide do not have access to improved sanitation, leading to waterborne illnesses and polluted drinking water. Furthermore, 1 billion people still defecate in the open, causing similar health problems, but also increasing the risk of assault and sexual violence against women. The connection between open defecation and violence against women may not be immediately apparent, but consider that when traveling to and from public toilets, or venturing from their homes to openly defecate (typically under the cover of darkness), women are vulnerable to attack. For example, you may remember the two young girls from Uttar Pradesh, India, who were raped and murdered this year. They were looking for a toilet. Due to the relationship between toilets and gender violence, this year’s 14th Annual World Toilet Day is specifically focused on equality, dignity, and women’s health and wellbeing.

So, how will you celebrate World Toilet Day? For this holiday you don’t have to cook breakfast in bed for anyone, or wait in soul-crushing lines at department stores. Your task is much simpler: become informed and raise awareness. Sites like Opendefecation.org, UNwater.org, and Water.org (founded by Matt Damon) are all great places to start. In fact, speaking of Matt Damon, if informing yourself doesn’t seem radical enough, you can join his toilet strike. In a mock press conference last year, Matt Damon declared, “Until this issue [of clean water access] is resolved, I will not go to the bathroom.”

Of course, he was kidding. But, if jokes can be used effectively to raise awareness about sanitation issues and World Toilet Day, then why not spread a little toilet humor?

 

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