Forced Retention of Bodily Waste
The Most Overlooked Form of Child MaltreatmentLaurie A. Couture
The practice by school teachers and other caretakers of denying children use of the toilet is commonplace. The so-called "bathroom privilege" in schools is often seen as precisely that: a privilege, not a necessity or a right. Students' access to the toilet is frequently denied for punitive reasons. Rather than coming up with a positive, humane alternative, teachers often punish students who misuse the bathroom pass by denying or restricting their use of the toilet. Most often, rigid scheduling of designated bathroom use times, restriction and denial of toilet use is done for the sake of the caretakers' convenience or their need to assert power and control.The external control of another person's bodily functions is viewed as a human rights violation in the case of adults, but as an acceptable management tool in the case of children (Knutson, 1998; Teachnet.com, 1999):
In 1999, inspectors at the Hudson Foods processing plant in Missouri found the plant in serious violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration codes for denying workers their use of toilet facilities (Repa, 1999). Barbara Kate Repa (1999), author of an article in Your Rights in the Workplace, a legal publication, stated:
"...Few could fathom the human humiliation behind it all. Hudson workers claim they were required to ask permission before being allowed bathroom breaks-- and that permission was denied as often as it was granted" (p. 1).Such a violation of human rights is viewed as such when adults are the victims (Repa, 1999; Knutson, 1998). When children experience pain as a result of mistreatment by school teachers, parents and other caretakers, it is often overlooked, or viewed as acceptable (Teachnet.com, 1999; The Associated Press, 1997; The New York Times on the Web, 2000; Krupinski and Weikel, 1986)."I never let a student go to the bathroom when they ask," instructs Stephanie Brown, a teacher responding to the classroom management "How-to" section of Teachnet.com. Another teacher, Loren Mead, states, "If they need to use the bathroom, sharpen pencils, etc. during class, they need to give me a card. When all three cards are gone, they lose a recess for every time they need one of those things. It allows for three "emergencies" a week" (Teachnet.com, 1999).
Another teacher, L. Shaub, states that unless she receives "doctor's notes", she tells her students that they must pay her "five dollars" in order to use the toilet or the water fountain when they ask to do so. She also suggests docking children's recess time for time spent using the toilet or water fountain (Teachnet.com, 1999).
EducationWorld.com, a website with the slogan, "where educators go to learn", insists on respectful treatment of children and creating a classroom climate for learning. Yet, the authors contracted a classroom management tip from a teacher who advocates for giving students "two bathroom passes" per term. States educator Laura Dowling about her two-pass rule, "They may use them when the need arises, but get no more chances after the passes are gone".
It is unlikely that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would tolerate employers that stated that they denied toilet use, restricted toilet use to "three emergencies a week", restricted toilet use to two visits per term, required that employees submit "doctor's notes" or pay them "five dollars" in order to use the toilet (Teachnet.com, 1999; EducationWorld.com, 2000). Knutson's article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal states, "OSHA... believed that when it required restrooms in all workplaces 20 years ago, it had made clear to all companies that workers had the right to use them as the need arose" (Knutson, 1999).
When the union found out that bus drivers in Palm Beach, Florida were being denied liquids and toilet use, union business agent wrote:
"The school district... is denying adults the basic human right to drink if thirsty, and... the right to eliminate body waste through threats and intimidation... The union considers such directives to be inappropriate and inhumane" [Italics added](Flannery, 2000).Yet children of all ages have been forced to painfully retain bodily waste for long periods of time, to wet themselves, attend school diapered and to urinate in school garbage cans because they weren't allowed the right to use the toilet when the need arose (The New York Times on the Web, 2000; Krupinski and Weikel, 1986). Adults who attended Catholic school in the 1950's and 1960's unanimously report suffering this form of bodily control at the hands of the nuns.One former student of a Catholic school reports severe urinary dysfunction as a result of a school rule that banned use of toilet facilities all day, including during after school hours.
In Houston, Texas, a school principal required students wishing to go to the bathroom to first recite the names of all the presidents of the United States. Students who couldn't do it, weren't allowed to go. ("The Boom-Boom Method," Lisa Gray, with research assistant, Lauren Kern, Houston Press, April 24, 1997.)
Although this form of abuse is widely practiced in educational settings, forced retention of bodily waste is also practiced by parents and by caretakers in other settings such as residential facilities, youth detention centers and day care centers. This form of abuse can range from arbitrary denial of toilet use due to adult power and convenience to severe acts of torture.
It was reported to me that one boy was routinely forced by his mother to stand in the cellar and retain his urine for several hours as a form of punishment.
An adult respondent to a questioner reports urine retention being used as a form of torture to boys living in a group facility in the 1950's. The boys were made to drink large glasses of water at supper time and then were forced to retain their urine into the night if they had presented with behavioral problems during the day. When the children would plead for relief, they were threatened with more glasses of liquid. Boys who wet themselves were severely beaten and made to repeat the routine the following night.
Another adult respondent recalls similar torture at a private school that she attended. Toilet use was designated to certain times during the day, except for children who lost their recess time due to misbehavior. The respondent reports that the teachers would look for children displaying obvious signs of distress and then would keep them inside for recess until they wet themselves. These children would then be beaten with a paddle.
At the El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility in California, juvenile wards were handcuffed and made to kneel until their legs went numb. Some threw up or fainted. Others who couldn't hold out for the infrequent bathroom breaks were left to sit in urine-soaked clothing. (Mark Gladstone and James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, January 9, 2000.)
Interestingly, prisoners of war often suffered forced waste retention, but the same act is generally viewed as "good classroom management" by school teachers.
Two of the most severe published cases of child abuse (Ursula Sunshine Assaid and David Pelzer) each involved forced to retention of bodily waste during periods of isolation and torture by their parents (Krupinski and Weikel, 1986; Pelzer, 1995).
Some sufferers of forced waste retention develop sexual fetishes involving waste and waste retention. The aforementioned adult respondents reported using masturbation as a way to dissociate from the pain of a full bladder. Websites that cater to the sadomasochistic desires of urolagnia ("water sports") enthusiasts are prevalent on the Internet. Urolagnia, a paraphilia, is a sadomasochistic practice in which retaining urine, urinating in one's clothes or urinating upon another person to humiliate or punish them is deliberately practiced for sexual gratification (Goldenson and Anderson, 1994; DSM-IV; 1994).
Adults who engage in urolagnia are often reenacting scenes from childhood, some of which involved denial of toilet use by school teachers or caretakers for purposes of punishment or containment. (Krupinski and Weikel, 1986; The New York Times on the Web, 2000). Due to the close proximity of the urethra and bladder to the sex organs, some adults who chronically suffered this form of bodily control as children developed a conditioned response in which wetting themselves or bladder tension was association with sexual arousal. (Goldenson and Anderson, 1994).
Denying toilet use in children runs contrary to educational goals. A child concentrating on a full bladder or painful bowels is not able to concentrate on class material, nor is he or she able to learn. Prominent behavioral psychologist, Abraham Maslow, stated that unless the basic physiological needs of the body are met, the brain cannot function on higher tasks such as learning (Ewen, 1998). One adolescent boy reported to the author that when his school teachers dened him use of the toilet he had only three options: Bolt from the classroom and into the bathroom, risking receiving detentions; urinate in his seat and risk humiliation; or sit and dissociate by fixating on a positive images as such as "ice cream or a pet."
Denying toilet use and drinks of water in children runs contrary to medical advice stating that to maintain health, people should drink several glasses of water per day, empty the bladder frequently to prevent bacteria from collecting in the stagnant urine, and to empty the bowels when the need first arises in order to prevent constipation (Chalker and Whitmore, 1990; Lohn, 1999). Whitmore (1990), a clinical associate professor of urology considers these healthy habits "common-sense preventative measures" to infections (p. 117).
Little attention is given by pediatricians, child psychologists, child welfare advocates and legal authorities to the physical and psychological health risks to children resulting from waste retention, including urinary tract infections, severe constipation, bowel obstructions, kidney (renal) failure, uremic poisoning, overextension of the bladder muscle and weakening of the brain-bladder/bowel signals (Chalker and Whitmore, 1990; Lohn, 1999; The Associated Press, 1997).
See:
Health risks to children associated with forced retention of body waste: A statement by health care professionalsWe must ask ourselves: What disqualifies children for the protections to health as regards the excretory funtions--protections which are taken for granted by adults and fiercely defended when violations occur? Logically, one would expect greater, not lesser, protection for persons of tender years. But in practice, this logic is turned on its head with horrific consequences to the victims.
ReferencesChalker, R., Whitmore, K.E. (1990). Overcoming Bladder Disorders. New York, NY: HarperPerennial. Court: "No Right to Bathroom Break." (1997, January 14). The Associated Press. Retrieved March 26, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nospank.net/n-fo2.htm
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition. (1994). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
EducationWorld.com (2000). "Creating a Climate for Learning: Effective Classroom Management Techniques." Retrieved July 25, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr155.shtml
Flannery, M.E. (2000, February 3). "Bathroom Policy Labeled 'Inhumane' to School Bus Drivers." The Palm Beach Post.
Goldenson, R., Anderson, K. (1994). The Wordsworth Dictionary of Sex. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Reference.
Knutson, L.L. (1998, April 18). "Bathroom Breaks Mandated." Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved March 25, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.lvrj_home/1998?Apr-18-Sat-1998/business/7290654.html
Krupinski, E., Weikel, D. (1986). Death From Child Abuse...and No One Heard. Winter Park, FL: Currier- Davis Publishing.
Lohn, M. (1999). "The Scoop On Poop." Utne Reader, No. 94, July-Aug., pp. 84-86.
Pelzer, D.J. (1995). A Child Called "It". Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc.
Repa, B. K. (1999). Your Rights in the Workplace.
"Teacher In Urination Flap Jailed." (2000, February 11). The New York Times on the Web. Retrieved March 18, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-BRF-Teacher-Urination.html
Teachnet.com (1999, January). "Classroom Management How-To: I Can't Wait!!!" Retrieved March 25, 2000 from the World Wide Web: http://www.teachnet.com/how-to/manage/cantwait011399.html
Special thanks to Jordan Riak for supporting and engaging in efforts to expose this form of child abuse, and to Steve and Deb for publishing a questionaire in "Cascade" about early childhood experiences.Contact Laurie A. Couture at childadvocacy@hotmail.com
Please forward this page to friends, colleagues and others who care about the rights of children.
For index/links to all messages, go to Reports to Friends
Why does Project NoSpank deserve your support?