The Anus — and Other Body Parts We Shouldn't Have a Hard Time Talking About

KQED's Forum

KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“The appearance of the anus was momentous in animal evolution, turning a one-hole digestive sac into an open-ended tunnel,” writes Katherine J. Wu in her Atlantic piece, “The Body’s Most Embarrassing Organ Is an Evolutionary Marvel,” set to appear in this year’s Best American Science and Nature Writing. Yet societal taboos can keep us from talking about this evolutionary marvel, and that “creates a bit of a blind spot—one that keeps us from understanding a fundamental aspect of our own biology.” Wu joins us to celebrate the anus and its biology, and to hear how you talk about – or avoid talking about – the anus and other underappreciated body parts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for Kikiweedy Podcasts comes from Rancho La Puerta, a resort with 85 years of wellness experience.
0:07.4	Three and four-night August vacations include sunrise hikes, water classes, yoga, and spa therapies.
0:14.2	Rancho LePuerta.com
0:15.7	Support for Forum comes from Broadway S.F. presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:23.5	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:29.8	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an
0:35.5	unspeakable crime, it propels them into an unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion.
0:43.6	The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orpheum Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th.
0:51.9	Tickets on sale now at Broadwaysf.com.
0:56.7	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Mina Kim.
1:16.8	Coming up on Forum, we give an unsung organ, it's due, the anus.
1:21.9	And I'm not talking about the cheeks.
1:23.8	I'm talking about what's in between.
1:26.2	Catherine Wu calls it an evolutionary marvel and her Atlantic piece about how
1:30.6	momentous the appearance of the anus was in animal evolution is now set to appear in this
1:36.1	year's best American science and nature writing.
1:38.5	Wu joins us to talk about all the incredible ways creatures use their anuses and how the social taboo of talking about our
1:46.4	backends contributes to our lack of appreciation for their wonders. Forum is next after this news.
1:56.6	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim.
2:03.6	Bum, bottom, butthole. There are endless euphemisms for our anuses.
2:08.6	And none really does justice to what Catherine Wu learned about them for her piece in the Atlantic last year,
2:14.6	which was just chosen for the best American science and nature writing anthology.
	...

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