See a set of the Daintette vaginal douche,
with pamphlets, etc., 1928-29?, U.S.A.
"Faultless
Feminine
Syringe," No. 240, made by the
Faultless Rubber Company, Ashland, Ohio,
U.S.A., perhaps from the 1960s or 1970s.
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Portable bidet, in the ready-to-use
position (Paris, France, 1928)
A bidet has allowed men and
women since possibly the Crusades
(11th to the 13th centuries) to
wash feet, hair, beards, genitals
and perineum. The bather usually rides it
like a pony; pony is what the
word meant in the French
of 400 or so years ago. Bidets
today often fit onto toilets.
The
beautiful bidet featured here,
below, seems to be made
of oak, heavy enough to withstand
water and usage, and metal painted
a gold color. There are no fancy
jets of water; the user poured
water over her genitals - the
old-fashioned way.
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The user probably
sat like the stick figure, riding
the bidet like a pony - bidet
means pony in the French of
400-500 years ago - and probably
could lie back on the section at
left. Although this bidet belonged
to a woman, men used, and use,
them too.
I might have the bidet's basin in
backwards; rather than under her
buttocks and vulva, the shelf -
see below - may have been facing
her, making a support for a
sponge, soap, etc. A site visitor
commented that the shelf away from
the body would prevent water from
splashing over the far side of the
basin. Sounds right to me.
The section at right seems
designed to support a container of
water; the wood shows water
damage.
The bidet is heavy, about 31
pounds (about 14 kilos),
reflecting the weight of the wood,
probably oak, and metal.
Decades of practice, and I still
make crummy stick figures (above)?
I paint,
too.
All photos are
by MUM director Harry Finley
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A cork plugs the
drainage spout in the center of
the basin of the bidet, which is
removable. The color is actually
silver gray, not gold.
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Bidets for
sale
© 1999 Harry Finley. It is illegal to
reproduce or
distribute work on this Web site in any
manner or
medium without written permission of the
author.
Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org
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