S2-Day 13: God in the Restroom

 

“Instead of walking for 15 minutes and then waiting in the queue for another 10 minutes to be able to access a toilet, I prefer to relieve myself in a plastic bag and throw it on the road,” said a 22 year-old girl who lives in a Delhi slum. Even after the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Mission, the accessibility of toilets is far from reality. I have often seen cis men relieving themselves on the road, but access to toilets is an arduous experience for womxn, transfolx and people with disabilities. I along with many womxn fear using restrooms/public toilets alone because of predatory men; moreover, they are generally filthy. 

Our bodies are leaky; especially women’s bodies, they bleed, lactate, childbirth, urinate, defecate, vomit, sweat, etc., yet we speak of restrooms or what happens there in whispers or bawdy jokes. We are taught to disengage from our own bodies and what flows out of them.  The ‘nether’ parts of our bodies are deemed dirty and we engage a cognitive distance with its functions as well as spaces in which we encounter these bodily functions. Mary Douglas further suggests that our relationship with our physical bodies also extends to the social body. Therefore, dominated castes and Tribals are considered dirty and polluting. Instances of caste Hindus forcing Dalits to consume their shit and urine, the Indian army torturing and forcing Tribals to eat shit, Adivasi women forced to eat excreta are not uncommon, it is as though Dalit, indigenous and women are toilets. Therefore, as Judith Plaskow wonders, “what does our need for excretion say about us as embodied persons?” What will it mean to accept physiological needs as organic and not unclean?

Restrooms are spaces of multiple ambiguities. In the Bible, bodily excretions offer instances of resistance, murder, humiliation, shame, purity, impurity, socialization, power, and privilege. The Bible implies that bodily discharge is ritually impure and that a ritual purity is a conditionality of entering into the divine presence. Therefore, Jesus offering his flesh and blood as bread of life and wine would have appalled the pious. That Jesus was offering life from his leaky body was scandalous to Judeo-Roman dietary and ritual purity laws (John 6: 52). Jesus transgressed social boundaries and was more concerned with the intentions of the heart and actions than what goes into the sewer (Mark 7:19). Jesus cared for those who are considered dirty in dirty places with no access to restrooms. Therefore, when ‘civility’ requires of us to conceal our physiological needs and the need to use restrooms, Jesus shows us that excrement is human and not impure. 

We are called to embody and value our leaky experiences and be in solidarity with ‘dirty people’, with transfolx who are excluded from using restrooms, with those who demand installation of restrooms with proper sewage systems and accessibility for people with disabilities, or even de-gender restrooms in our churches and church institutions.

Prayer

Gracious God grant us the heart and courage to recognize that you have created all things good and that there is nothing that you created that is profane. Let us be led by the visions and aspirations of the most vulnerable. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Author: Inatoli Aye

About the Author: Inatoli is an indigenous woman from Nagaland. She identifies herself as a liberation theologian and counts the dismantling of heteronormative patriarchy as essential to the project of emancipation.

References

Anand, S. (2020). “Holy” Cow And “Unholy” Dalit. [online] https://www.outlookindia.com/. Available at: https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/holy-cow-and-unholy-dalit/217815 [Accessed 18 Jun. 2020].

Bureau (2018). Shocking: Mother, daughter forced to eat human excreta, head tonsured for ‘practising witchcraft’ in Jharkhand. [online] Zee News. Available at: https://zeenews.india.com/jharkhand/shocking-mother-daughter-forced-to-eat-human-excreta-head-tonsured-for-practising-witchcraft-in-jharkhand-2082090.html [Accessed 18 Jun. 2020].

Plaskow, J. (2008) ‘Embodiment, elimination, and the role of toilets in struggles for social justice’, Cross Currents, 58(1), pp. 51–64. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=shib&db=lsdah&AN=ATLA0001726732&site=ehost-live&custid=s3218615 [Accessed: 18 June 2020].

The heart of the matter (2004). Selected by the North East writers forum. New Delhi: Katha.

Upadhyay, Aishwarya (2020) ‘Swachh Bharat For All? Despite Community Toilets Built, Access Remains An Issue For Slum Dwellers In Delhi | Features’ NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth Swachh India, 11 February. Available at: https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/swachh-bharat-abhiyan-access-toilets-remains-issue-slums-41639/ [Accessed: 27 June 2020].