AIBU to expect men to wash their hands after going to the loo?

It's surprising how many people don't wash their hands after using the toilet. We all need to be careful of washing our hands after touching doors,etc. Television programmes don't exactly encourage good hygiene practises....think of how many cookery programmes feature people with hair hanging in their eyes (hair harbours germs and should always be tied back). How many times do you see anyone wash their hands before preparing food in dramas? This is another habit which should be taught in childhood so that it becomes second nature.

Its me again and if I want to use the term willy instead of penis I will. So there.

It is just not possible in this world to avoid all germs.
Door handles, supermarket trollies, bus rails, coins.......and of course toilets. All far dirtier than men’s “ bits”.
The important thing is surely to wash thoroughly before eating or preparing food.

My default position is to assume that everyone and everything else is dirty. I wash all fruit and veg when I get them home, even fruit with skin such as bananas. I always use a paper towel or tissue to open doors in public places, and wash my hands or use hand sanitiser after using public transport. I also sanitise door handles in my own home several times a week. It may sound extreme but I grew up in Africa where you had to be really careful about diseases caused by poor sanitation, and having had dysyntery from poorly washed fruit I prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

Toilet paper as a barrier? It's not exactly solid.

HurdyGurdy I agree hygiene is relative to the risk.

I believe that the comparative risks are well known. Iguess there will be a reliable website that advises on food hygiene, and comparative distributions of pathogens in raw meat, human hands, blood, and so on.

My guess is that discarded syringes are the most dangerous source of pathogens.

Until the lining starts to wear as it ages!!

MissA. Great analogy.

I dunno - I'm a hand washer after the loo. But I do something think "why"? What ARE these germs that we need to banish? And where are they coming from? Urine, as I understand it, is sterile. Even if it stops being sterile when it exits the body, it's only "touching" air once it leaves our bodies.

I don't know about anyone else, but personally, I use toilet paper as a barrier between my hand and whichever "part" needs wiping. I've never wiped with bare hands and I don't know of anyone else who does.

As has been pointed out, germs are everywhere. Not touching a handle of a door when exiting a toilet seems over the top to me. If we are so worried about non-hand-washers, shouldn't this concern filter out to every other aspect of life. How far do you take it? Would you avoid touching, or wash hands after touching, everything you come into contact with?

We'd surely be caught up in a maelstrom of hand washing and unable to get on with day to day living.

I will continue to wash hands after toileting, but I won't get too caught up in worrying if others don't.

?just choked on my coffee again MissAdventure

Too stringent a cleansing routine too.
We're a bit like self cleaning ovens.
A quick wipe..

I actually have Sparkle and can see where you are coming from as E. coli getting in to the bladder is often a cause of cystitis. However I do not believe it is necessary or practical to have a shower before sex, but to maintain normal hygiene standards. Cystitis has many causes, vigorous intercourse, perfumed toiletries, diabetes, post menopausal urethral tissue thinning or even a individual susceptability to name a few, may be to blame in some cases.

Lazigirl Clearly you have never had really bad cystitis!

I think it's weird sodapop but they must think they will catch something - or get pregnant .
Not necessary to wash "bits" before sex. It's not a sterile operation!

very true!

They never say "hang on, i'll just wash me bits first" in films.

MissAdventure They never have any foreplay or contraception in films either, only mutual orgasms

Miss Adventure too true.

They never say "hang on, i'll just wash me bits first" in films.

Sparklefizz I agree if it is planned but what about spontaneous encounters? Not always possible to have a good wash.

And other erotic activities!

Yes Framilode, and I would expect to wash myself too.

Do you expect men to wash their penises before intercourse? If concerned about germs surely that would be more worrying.

Why would one not buy a new lavatory seat on moving house lazigirl I don't understand you ?