I have observed one strange phenomenon about some French men: they pee easily in public.
I see them everywhere. On the way to work, men pee on the side of the highway and everyone passing by can see him. While discussing with friends outside a restaurant, a man pees beside us. The worst is when coming out of night club, men pee everywhere and some street just smell urine. What amazes me is that, these men don't care if people can see them. They don't give a damn if a woman is beside them. They have no shame.
I try to understand why I don't see this phenomenon in Malaysia. Men I know would go to highway rest area, hide behind a tree or go somewhere no one can see. They do it discretely.
What I can say is, the rest area on a highway in France is quite far from one to another. Maybe these French men just couldn't hold it for too long so they just let it out in front of everyone. It is not so easy to hide behind a bush as the vegetation here is very different and there is no place to hide during winter. Outside night club, these men had just drunk too much beer and they don't want to pay to enter a public toilet. But, why can't they just walk away and do their business where no one can see them?
My carpooler once told me that a man was peeing on the side of a highway and he opened the car door so the upcoming traffic couldn't see him. However, the car door couldn't hide him from the other side. This carpooler just turned his head when he passed by his car, and managed to see his butt. How awful is that! arggg.
It's cute that you are preoccupied by it!
ReplyDeleteI can say one thing, it pisses me off royally to have to pay to pee in France. The French deserve to have men, women, and children peeing in the streets in front of every man, woman, and child in the country if they do not make that most primary of bodily functions free, convenient, and safe to discharge.
And I don't know that I'd want "shame" to get confused with involuntary bodily functions. Everyone has to do it. Just like everyone has to drink water. Free pissing and public water fountains should abound in France and they don't. Perhaps we can start a public health campaign for both next year!