Man left confused after girlfriend calls him sexist for not liking that she doesn’t wash her hands after peeing, ‘she says none of her friends do’

Washing your hands after you use the bathroom is one of the absolute baselines of personal hygiene. Sure, you might not feel as if your hands have gotten dirty, but you will have touched dirty surfaces.

And yet anyone who’s used a public bathroom will have seen people casually exit a stall and stroll away without so much as glancing at the faucets. Now a man has said he’s shocked to learn that his girlfriend is one of them, and wonders if this is common.

Taking to Reddit’s r/hygiene, he explains that after a year with his 21-year-old girlfriend, he’s finally noticed that she doesn’t wash her hands after peeing. “She says none of her friends do. She says nobody at university, her sports team or on a night out wash their hands. She says her friends at work go with her and walk out together.”

“Water makes her hands dry”

He says he pressed her for an explanation, and she informed him that, as “she doesn’t touch anything except toilet paper and her phone,” it’s okay not to wash. She went on to claim that “water makes her hands dry”, and that “guys don’t after actually touching themselves, so what’s the point anyway?”

This then turned into a battle over whether bathroom hygiene differs for men and women. The boyfriend says that “guys at urinals often only touch skin, often not even a door, whereas girls touch stalls infrastructure”. According to him, he was then told he’s being “sexist for this distinction”. The boyfriend then clarifies that regardless of gender, he believes, “folk should wash, always!”

The comments agree, with one person pointing out that,

“I cannot imagine NOT using soap and water after using the toilet. At home is gross but imagine using a public toilet. The door handle inside the stall has been touched by every single person who used it. It’s been touched by people who just had a poop and have not yet got to the sinks.”

Another woman admits that she might not always wash her hands at home, but would always do it in public:

“So to be honest, at home, i don’t always wash my hands after peeing. It’s not like a dude where you’re grabbing your dong yk. Pooping at home though, yes wash my hands thoroughly every single time n public bathrooms I wash my hands every time, even if I only peed, cause public restrooms are nasty.”

The CDC is also clear about this, with their official guidance underlining that they recommend, “always washing your hands after you use the toilet, whether it is in your home or somewhere else. Germs in feces (poop) can make you sick. These germs can get on your hands after you use the toilet or change a diaper. If you don’t wash them off, you can pass them from person to person and make people sick.”

So, essentially, the verdict from the public that this guy’s girlfriend is “nastyyyyyyyy” appears to be on point.