2023-09-15 17:17:24
It is well known, princesses never go to the toilet ! And this urban legend is surely not foreign to Princess syndrome. Explanations.
What is princess syndrome?
The poop shaming (literally ‘be ashamed of pooping‘), it is the fact of feel awkward when you have to make a big commission, under certain conditions. And this is not a small temporary inconvenience! For people who suffer from princess syndrome, the discomfort is such that it can have serious consequences. For François Kraus, director of the ‘Gender, sexualities and sexual health’ pole at Ifop, it is even a question of “a socio-psychological phenomenon whose magnitude and consequences on intestinal health can be considerable for the general population”.
Poop shamingwho is concerned ?
If the English version leaves doubt, the French expression is much more gendered. And for good reason: princess syndrome mainly affects women. 69% of French women admit to holding back from making the big commission because of the shame they feel1. The most affected would be women aged under 39 (75% of those under 30 and 72% of women aged 30 to 39 feel embarrassed when having to defecate).
The origin of this discomfort is probably to be found in the look and the society’s judgment on women ordered to be glamorous, feminine and refined… as if the primary need to defecate might simply be denied, through sheer willpower. Like princesses, “women are judged more negatively for revealing [qu’]They defecate, too”notes François Kraus… while we do not hold it once morest the men of having to have a bowel movement. Yet they are still 48% refrain from defecating out of embarrassment. The places that cause the most discomfort among women suffering from this syndrome:
- With a new sexual partner (56%)
- The toilet at a friend’s home (53%)
- Workplace toilets (53%)
- Public toilets (46%)
- At home, when other people are near the toilet (21%)
When you suffer from princess syndrome, the prospect of going to the toilet is generally a source of anxiety. The only place where you feel comfortable enough to defecate is usually your own toilet, at home. Worse, when you don’t live alone, even the toilet in your home doesn’t provide enoughprivacy and comfort so that we feel sufficiently at ease to be able to defecate because we fear the look of the people with whom we share our accommodation (without necessarily this having any basis). Thus, 4 out of 10 French women have already waited until their partner is asleep or far from the toilet to go there…
Note: between women and men suffering from poop shamingwe observe a glaring difference with respect tos public toilets since 62% of women feel significant discomfort at the idea of going there compared to only 28% of men!
Why are we ashamed of defecating?
This is perfectly natural, yet it is almost impossible for people suffering from princess syndrome. What worries them:
- The odors generated by your use of the toilet (91%),
- The noises generated by your use of the toilet (89%),
- The risk that toilet dirt will be attributed to you by other users (74%… moreover, this is the only nuisance factor for which the percentage of men concerned is higher than that of women: 80% for these gentlemen ),
- The wish that people (close or not) do not know that you have had a bowel movement (67%),
- The wish that no one imagines us in the saddle (63%).
Can princess syndrome harm your health?
Yes, yes poop shaming is not a disease, it is still a syndrome, which means that the person who suffers from it presents a set of clinical signs and symptoms which are not necessarily due to an illness. Holding back from having a bowel movement is far from trivial and it even has serious consequences for intestinal health. In fact, it is essential to poop to have a healthy digestive tract because defecating helps eliminate waste and toxins from the body. It is estimated that a ‘normal’ frequency of pooping is between 3 times a day and every 2 days.
This will promote:
- Constipation, i.e. pooping twice or less per week (74% of women) leading to an increased risk of cardiovascular problems,
- Digestion disorders (abdominal crampsbloating, pain in the lower abdomen, etc.) (71%)
- Diarrhea attacks
- Pain when defecating; the stools, harder, become extremely difficult to evacuate, we speak of fecal impaction,
- Colon irritation
- Leaking fecal matter (encopresis)
- Chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, etc.)
- Intestinal obstruction,
- Intestinal perforation (excess accumulated stools puts too much pressure on the intestines causing them to perforate and the stools to enter the abdominal cavity causing serious symptoms and even death).
On the extreme side, the newspaper The Independent reports the case of a woman who died following 8 weeks without going to the toilet ; his stools reportedly caused his intestines to enlarge so much that they pressed on his organs and caused a heart attack.
If you haven’t pooped for a week or more, it may be important to consult a doctor to avoid serious complications.
1. IFOP study for Diogene France carried out online from April 9 to 12, 2021 with a sample of 1010 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over residing in mainland France
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