Ornoth

Let’s talk biological functions, okay? Here’s the deal. See if you can spot the pattern, and the one biological function that breaks the pattern…

Picking boogers: unacceptable in public.
Popping zits: unacceptable in public.
Ejaculation: unacceptable in public.
Vomiting: unacceptable in public.
Defecation: unacceptable in public.
Urination: unacceptable in public.
Flatulation: unacceptable in public.
Vaginal flatulation: unacceptable in public.
Menstruation: unacceptable in public.
Breast-feeding: generally unacceptable in public.
Bleeding: generally unacceptable in public.
Belching: mildly unacceptable in public.
Sneezing: mildly unacceptable in public.
Blowing one’s nose: mildly unacceptable in public.
Spitting: mildly unacceptable in public.
Eating and drinking: often a public event, and socially required.

So this raises the purely rhetorical question: how is it that literally every body function known to man is stigmatized, but eating is virtually required to be a ritualized social event? What’s so special about eating? Why isn’t it as stigmatized as, say, its direct opposite: vomiting?

Yeah, yeah, I know there are arguments to be made about how it needs to be social. Communal cooking and all that rot. And yes, I know of two body functions—breathing and crying—which actually are socially acceptable.

But none of that invalidates the obvious contrast: eating is a social event, but every other bodily function is unwelcome and considered unclean. I could easily envision a society where public eating would be shunned as socially unacceptable, just like everything else. And sometimes I have felt uncomfortable eating in public, or being with someone who was eating in public.

Dunno. It’s just a thought. The contrast between how this bodily function is viewed versus all the others intrigues me, and irritates my sense of order and logic.