Peeing in the Old Days?

[Kirby23 956]

Something I've been thinking about recently is what it might have been like peeing in different situations in the old days. I listen to a lot of audiobooks, especially historical fiction, and the topic is occasionally explored. Authors talk about using a chamber pot, a privy, etc.

I have a few specific examples in mind.

One is the story about Versailles palace, and how it had no bathrooms. See example here:

https://thisisversaillesmadame.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-lack-of-toilets.html?m=1

Some key excerpts:

"There were hardly any toilets at Versailles and with a court counting several thousand people it turned out to be more than a little problem. The servants, the commoners who came to look at their monarch even the aristocrats would occasionally relieve themselves in corners and courtyards..."

"The ruthlessly honest Duc de Saint-Simon once said of the Princesse d'Harcourt that she would often urinate while walking making her hated by the many servants who had to clean up after her."

Another situation is that indoor plumbing in homes (at least in the US) wasn't common until the 1920s - 1930s. People obviously used outhouses, but during the night they used chamber pots in the bedroom. In the morning they would empty their "nightsoil." Did husbands and wives just pee in the pot in front of each other before going to bed? Or frust thing in tge morning? Did the women wipe? Did they squat over the pot, or hold it up to themselves while standing? I'm trying to imagine my wife doing this, and I'm struggling to picture it.

How about longer ago when people lived in log cabins with dirt floors? Was there just a pee corner where people peed onto the dirt floor?

I've also read stories of women peasants, especially field workers, who would just stand and pee under their dresses while working. The long dresses concealed them, and they didn't wear the same types of underwear and undergarments that women do today, so it was easy. 

My guess is that people must have been a lot more open about peeing in front of each other in the old days. I wonder if the concept of bathroom privacy - at least for peeing - is more modern than we might think?

[speedy3471 10,655]

9 minutes ago, Kirby23 said:

 

My guess is that people must have been a lot more open about peeing in front of each other in the old days. I wonder if the concept of bathroom privacy - at least for peeing - is more modern than we might think?

I totally agree with you. I wonder when as a society(at least here in Canada) we became so prudish over this

[oliver2 4,426]

It was in '69, when we suddenly interpreted everything sexually, even innocent numbers.