It is interesting and revealing to compare attitudes to the functions of our ‘other end’ with the same activities in other animals. Firstly, let’s think about our attitude to defaecation. All the species of animals we are in close contact with: dogs, cats, cows, sheep, horses, chickens and many others, shed their wastes without inhibition, and we are used to handling and disposing of them efficiently without any restraint. In fact, some of these animals such as cattle, horses and poultry, produce wastes that we regard as valuable in the growing of crops for human consumption. But human defaecation, and urination, is rarely mentioned, and the parts of our anatomy which deal with our waste are regarded with disgust. Our attitude to the passage of faeces and urine is one of embarrassment, and small children, even adults, reflect it in their jokes about ‘poo’ and ‘wee’.

And why are we so reluctant to talk about human reproduction as if sexuality and intercourse are unique to us? We breed domestic animals and enthusiastically create opportunities for reproduction to occur without a blush and discuss these activities in polite society without censure. Yet discussion about our genital anatomy and mating activities is heavily restricted in public and the Media, and tackled only with great hesitation in schools. This prurient attitude to human sexuality is reinforced by the fact that most of us live in cities unaware of what happens between farm animals, and by the remnants of religious strictures. The historical result has been ignorance and insufficient scientific attention to the function of the colon and the control of genital diseases.