Bidetlity New Standard or Deluxe: Which Bidet Seat Is Right for You?
Since When Have We Actually Sat on Toilets?
In Short
Sitting toilets existed in antiquity, but in Europe they only caught on with flushing and sewers in the 19th century. The older and globally widespread posture is squatting. The height of our toilets follows the living-room chair, not the bowel.
What We've Been Sold as Normal
That sitting on the toilet is the natural posture and squat toilets are backward. For most of human history it was the other way around – and for a large part of the world it still is.
The Honest Explanation
The original posture. For thousands of years, people emptied their bowels squatting. Across much of Asia, the Middle East, and some regions of Southern Europe, squat toilets are still common today.
Sitting isn't new. Sitting latrines existed in antiquity, for example in Roman communal latrines. But they remained tied to particular places and largely disappeared in Europe along with Roman infrastructure.
The technology that changed everything. An early flushing toilet is credited to the Englishman John Harington around 1596. The decisive step was a 1775 patent by Alexander Cumming for a trap that kept sewer smells out of the home. With the expansion of water supply and sewers in the 19th century, the flush toilet moved into European and American homes – as a porcelain piece of seating furniture.
Why the height is what it is. The sitting toilet was conceived as furniture, as comfortable as a chair. Its height is based on sitting, not on the anatomy of the rectum. That your knees stay below your hips was never a design criterion.
What follows from that. When you sit, the rectum stays slightly kinked. Raise your feet, and the posture moves back toward a squat – without having to replace the toilet.
What You Often Hear – and What's True
“Sitting is the natural posture.”
No. Squatting is the older and more widespread one worldwide.
“Squat toilets are backward.”
They're a different design, not a worse one. For bowel movements, their posture is actually more favorable.
“The seat height was chosen for health.”
No. It follows the comfort of sitting.
“You can't empty your bowels properly on a sitting toilet.”
An exaggeration. It works, just with a bit more effort – which is why raising your feet helps.
Putting It in Context
The sitting toilet is an invention for sewers and comfort, not for the bowel. A toilet stool doesn't correct a mistake of nature, but one of furniture history.
