I was thinking about this as I cleaned some sweat off of the ear pads of my headphones. People are kind of super gross.
(A very distressed, very pink, child)
But also, are we really? We all sweat, we all use the bathroom, we all cry, we all drool sometimes too. A bit of ourselves being on the outside is natural and an indicator that you’re probably healthy (to a point at least). Despite this, we’re all supposed to keep ourselves inside of us as best we can.
I do understand the public health view on the issue. I also agree with it. This is not a manifesto where I go and propose that we all roll around in our own poo because that would almost certainly be bad. Rather, what I was thinking of was more of a social grossness attached to bodily functions.
The dinner table is a good example I think of social grossness in action. When was the last time you had an honest conversation about body fluids at dinner? Probably… Never. Or maybe when you were a kid but then got told “that’s not dinner table conversation.” It’s this bizarre phenomenon where even the mention of something creates it in front of the person you’re talking to. Which now that I have it written out, that is true in a way with mental images. But still it’s not real right?
This post is more of a question I’m posing to anyone who reads it, because I’ve never been one to be super grossed out by simply talking about gross things. Let me know what you think about this because I legit want to know!
Unruly Bodies 
Mary Douglas (an anthropologist) actually spent a lot of time talking about this. Her basic explanation was that we classify everything and then use these classifications to determine who is in the group and who isn’t. So if you violate these classes, you demonstrate you are an outsider and the group shuns you in order to affirm their own insider status. It is easy to demonstrate with stuff we find ‘gross’ because the reason we find it gross is that it is violating our classification of it. Douglas talked about this a lot with dirt, when is something dirty? It is generally when something is where it isn’t supposed to be, like food on plate vs food on the table or grass outside vs in your shoe.
Last week I talked to a guy friend about my period and he literally recoiled and cringed after I said “I think I’m getting my period soon.” I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or get angry but apparently I made a disgusted look back at him because he quickly apologized for his reaction, which I appreciated.
He explained that he’s trying to work through normalizing periods but he still has these reflexes to immediately think of it as gross. I agree that it’s kind of ridiculous we treat these body functions as gross when they’re something we all have. I think it’s really about how we’re socialized to put out these perceptions of ourselves as “put together” all of the time, even when we’re sick, even when we’re sad, even when we’re anything but put together. Thanks for your post!
I think sometimes there’s validity in being particularly grossed out by and have avoidant reactions to certain bodily fluids. As you stated many can carry pathogens and if handled carelessly can cause issues because of that. Beyond that it’s also valid to be uncomfortable around, let’s say vomit or the sound of wrenching, because of awful past experiences being ill or because it can be triggering for someone who has experienced (or is currently experiencing) eating disorders.
That doesn’t go to say, however, that the functions our bodies carry out should be shamed and viewed as deplorable. That being said, I think we should work to normalize accepting bodies and their various functions so that there is less stigma towards carrying them out (be there voluntary or involuntary) and also less stigma in getting quality health care and intervention when necessary for survival.