Flooding the Fraternity House - A Shitty Way to Learn to Embrace My Body

Written Anonymously

When you are a 19-year-old girl in college, the coolest place you can be is a fraternity house on a random night to just hang out with the boys you thought were so cute (yikes, at least I thought this was the coolest place you could be). So there I was, hanging out with some “cool frat dudes” drinking an underage beer, Natty Lite to be specific, when I had to pee. This is a dreaded activity at a fraternity house because those bathrooms hadn’t seen bleach in many, many moons.

I mustered up the courage and asked to use someone’s bathroom. I do my business, use as little toilet paper as possible, and flush. However, this toilet had other ideas and decided instead of flushing, it would just overflow and flood the bathroom. In sheer panic, I open the door and tell my friend that the toilet is overflowing. His first reaction was to ask: “Well did you poop and clog the toilet? What the hell?” If I could’ve melted into the pee water in that moment, I would have. But instead I had to quietly insist that I just peed and that I was so sorry. I left shortly after, had a good cry, and pretended it never happened to cope.

I conclude this story with a huge revelation – everyone poops. I was so, so embarrassed that those boys thought I pooped. A girl pooping? Inconceivable! I was so embarrassed I flooded the fraternity house, I didn’t even consider the fact that maybe THEY should be embarrassed about their ancient, janky plumbing. But why was the idea that boys thought I had pooped in their toilet so mortifying to me? Why are girls taught to be ashamed of their normal and necessary bodily functions and boys are not? Young girls are constantly receiving the message to be pretty, polite, and proper. We are taught to be embarrassed of natural things, like farting, pooping, or periods, that do not fit into the picture perfect idea of a “proper woman.” These messages are not only damaging, but they are ridiculous. Our bodies can do so many wonderful things and I hope that one day, we will live in a society where young girls don’t feel ashamed of the daily miracles their bodies can perform. 

Now as a confident, 24-year-old woman, I look back on this experience and laugh. I feel so bad for the girl who was distraught that a boy had accused her of pooping, but I feel happy for my current self that I appreciate what my body can do, pooping included.