Answering the call of nature

This crip body oozes, seeps and flows

When you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go

The rivers surge, in spate and flow

Water companies can’t be bothered. Let the sewage go!

The shit gets constipated, obstructed, it doesn’t flow.

The medications metabolised no longer needed into the sea they go

Don’t talk about loos. The shame. The physiology hidden

Capitalism impacts the human body unbidden

Money can be extracted from bodies here

Spending a penny, a pound for a poo

They don’t have to provide, join the paying loo queue

Battle lines drawn on who can enter which stalls

Cameras installed for all

Spending time in nature might be good for your health

But the 'loo leash' gets snagged and pulls people back, unless you’ve got the wealth

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Dock leaf loo roll. Image K. Morley

Further information:

'Loo Leash' is a term described in the Royal Society for Public Health 'Taking the P: Improving Public Toilets in the UK' report.

Their key findings included:

" ‘Loo leash’

Most of us need a public toilet occasionally, but this is a more urgent problem for those with medications or medical conditions that increase the frequency of needing to use the toilet (such as diabetes or bladder, bowel, or prostate conditions). Increasing age can also increase the need, as does the requirement for nappy changing and for young children who can’t wait. Knowledge of the lack of nearby facilities acts as a ‘loo leash’, deterring some from venturing far beyond their homes.

Deliberate dehydration

Deliberate dehydration or ‘holding it in’ to reduce the need for a toilet is commonly practised by those who fear not being able to find a public loo, but this can seriously affect health and exacerbate existing medical problems such as cystitis.

Sanitation

The health impact of public toilet closures includes the problems of street urination and defecation.

Lack of provision

Given the rate of closures, it is unsurprising that 74% of people reported that there are not enough public toilets. Over 60% reported that there are insufficient public toilets in parks"

Further reading:

Crip guts, stomas, and the violence of ‘returning to normal’: a feminist queer crip approach to the gut | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

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This piece was written as a reflection of the discussions I've had this year with fantastic friends and the many conversations about the limitations of access to toilets and the impact that this can have on whether people are able to spend time in nature.