五大魔頭
Everyone Poops
What Exactly Is ‘Waste Studies’?
• It concerns the study of man’s relationship to his
own waste, including but not limited to physical
excesses, such as excrement and vomit, as well
as social excesses, monetary interest and
alchemical by-products, as represented in
literature.
• Unlike sin or moral corruption, excrement can be
felt, touched, smelt, and tasted.
The Medieval Perspective
Towards Excrement
• Certain late medieval religious and wealthy
are mocked for their abhorrence of filth as
‘unnatural’.
• The increase in excremental discourse in
the late Middle Ages
• The value of excrement in medieval culture,
collected for fertilizer
• Thinking, even living, medievally may in
some ways be healthier for our culture today.
Sources
• EXCREMENT IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES:
SACRED FILTH AND CHAUCER'S FECOPOETICS
SUSAN SIGNE MORRISON
(LONDON: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 2008)
288 PAGES. £42.50 (HARDBACK). ISBN 9781403984883
• ON FARTING:
LAUGHTER AND LANGUAGE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
VALERIE ALLEN
(LONDON: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 2007)
256 PAGES. £23.99 (HARDBACK). ISBN 9780312234935
HTTP://WWW.MARGINALIA.CO.UK/JOURNAL/09CAMBRID
Human Feces
• Defecation:
In humans, defecation may occur (depending on the
individual and the circumstances) from once every two or
three days to several times a day.
• Appearance:
Human fecal matter varies significantly in appearance,
depending on diet and health. Normally it is semisolid,
with a mucus coating. Its brown coloration comes from a
combination of bile and bilirubin, which comes from dead
red blood cells.
All cultures practice some form of personal
cleansing after expelling feces.
• Western and East Asian
society →toilet paper
• South Asia and Southeast Asia →showers
• Islam country →water
• India →water
• Ancient Rome →sponge
and salt water
• Paper:
The use of toilet paper for
post-defecation cleansing
was first started in China.
It became widespread in
Western culture.
• Water:
Using water to clean
oneself, often along with
toilet paper or sometimes
in lieu of toilet paper
Sources
• Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feces
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anal_cleansing
Menstrual Blood
Ancient Beliefs
• Aristotle:
provides the material for a fetus to form.
• Other Medieval thoughts:
dangerous and polluting the world.
• Christians and Jews:
unclean, a disease caused by God.
The Elizabethan Period
• Beneficial to the route of
pregnancy.
• Medicine for the body (breast
milk is converted menstrual
blood).
• Different backgrounds caused
different attitudes towards
menstrual blood.
Sources
• Project Muse-Journal of Social
History
Http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_soci
al_history/v043/43.1.hindson.html
Ancient People’s view
Scientists tried their best to cure the
“fart disease”
Books about manners admonished
seriously against farting
Ladies in Victorian time strived to shake
their hoops to pretend that they did not
fart
Publishers mentioned fart in an
euphemistic way, or just erased it
Puritans proclaimed farting as sin.
Bedouin regarded burp as a civilized
behavior, but disgusted at the sound came
from belly and ass.
 In 41, Roman emperor proclaimed that”
Due to the fact that some people emphasize
more on their manners than on their health,
which led to the threat to one’s health. So they
made fart legal.
Modern people make themselves smelt like
soap, perfumes, talcum powder, so as to
cover their own smell.
Now People discuss fart in public and do not
evade it.
Sources
• <Who Cut the Cheese?> Jim Dauson
Urine
• Ancient Romans:
Lant had many uses in
pre-industrial households.
Most often, it was used for
cleaning floors. It was
effective because of the
ammonium content.
Urine that was fermented for the purposes of
cleaning is referred to as lant.
• Alchemists:
spent much time trying to extract gold from urine,
and this effort led to discoveries such as white
phosphorus when the alchemist distilled
fermented urine.
Piss > Urine
• The word "urine" was first used in the 14th
century. Before that, the concept was described
by the now vulgar word "piss". Onomatopoetic
in origins, "piss" was the primary means of
describing urination, as "urinate" was at first
used mostly in medical contexts. "Piss" and its
association with vulgarity has led to its current
classification as obscene, as well as its use in
such colloquial expressions as "to piss off",
"piss poor", and others.
Sources
• WikipediaThe history of attitude toward urine
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine
Extra Reading
• 由於性器官往往也是排泄器官，和性禁忌息
息相關的是人類對排泄器官、排泄行為、排
泄物的避諱。
• 因為唯有人類對自己的「卑微出身」──如「
我們都出生於尿屎之間」之嘆──以及對自己
排泄器官與排泄物厭惡排斥。
•畢竟其它動物少有嫌惡自己的排泄物的，即
使是人類的嬰兒，一開始對自己之排泄物並
不嫌棄；只有在大人不斷耳提面命的文明教
化下，才逐漸改掉此一獸性惡習。
•在所謂的文明社會裡，一切和排泄有
關的行為事物全被打人黑牢，見不得
天日。為了顛覆此一人類文明特有之
禁忌，尿屎癖普遍在情色文學中扮演
著相當重要的角色。
•巴代耶也在其作品中刻意凸顯出長期
遭受消音的排泄論述，以挑戰那些鄙
視排斥「骯髒」、「卑下」之主流論
述 。
Sources
• <禁忌與踰越> ──巴代耶的情色觀
• 在歐美學術界，喬治．巴代耶（Georges
Bataille 1887-1962）往往被視為解構主
義、後結構主義、後現代主義等當代思
潮的先知而備受矚目。