Because of "big toilet paper". They even tried to assassinate a spokesperson for japanes toilets.

Today you have the bidets you can install on your toilet, but traditionally they were a thing on its own, that required about as much space as a toilet and all the extra pipework associated with it.

In some European/ Mediterranean countries (I suspect France may have started the trend) this caught on well, and bidets were a must have in most houses that had toilets as part of their main architectural structure. Most people in South America had bidets this way, it's rare to see a house without at least one bidet, and this comes from the culture inherited from colonial times .

Now, things are different in othe parts of the world. England seems to traditionally have the toilet separate from the house and for some reason the bidet trend never caught on. This is in turn reflected both in USA and Australia. I don't know about bidet popularity across all of Europe, but this is definitely a cultural thing and I suspect distance and language may have kept UK without bidets until relatively recently. And as you know, old habits die hard, so... Yeah in Australia I use the shower.

The utopian city of Atlantis sunk due to bidet overuse.

No one understands what a bidet really is.

In the old days, they were a separate free-standing device. Not a lot of people have space or money to add one of these types of bidets to their bathrooms

Now they make them as toilet seat attachments that don't require extra space and really aren't that expensive.

But people don't know. Older people will be like, "Oh a bidet? No I don't want another toilet like device in my bathroom"

So that gets rid of all those people.

Next you have the people that know about the new style bidets that's just a fancy toilet seat.

Their biggest deterrent is probably cold water. Spraying cold water on their butt doesn't appeal to most people.

You can get bidets that heat the water, but you have to have power behind your toilet, which not everyone has.

Then you have older people that just can't work them or don't feel like they can. Like my grandfather, I installed one with all the bells and whistles for him. Yet hitting a button and doing all that was too complicated. He was 90+ and could barely use a cell phone for basic functions. But he'd rather wipe his butt like he knew than mess with the "complicated" bidet.

Eventually everyone is going to own a bidet, it really is the way to go.

We just aren't there yet.

There are a large number of Americans that think:

1. Anything touching them there makes them gay - still not sure how your hand and TP is any different
2. It will hurt - yeah...... IDK
3. It's gross, or it doesn't get you clean - uh.....wiping some paper on it does? how?!?!!?

I think you me question is missing some key words. “Why isn’t the use of the bidet more widespread in the USA and other western countries?”

I am in Vietnam right now and nearly every bathroom has a bum gun to wash your bits. When I was in Japan nearly every bathroom had bits to wash you built into the toilet seat with digital controls. These are not just in homes and nice places, but also at 7-11, train stations, airports and even hole in the wall places. Wish USA/Canada had this as we all know how much it sucks when out and you have a forever wipe.

I suspect it's a case of "We always did it this way, so it's the superior way".

Because the tradition of wiping until it’s red is deeply rooted in american toilet culture.

It’s refered to as “better red than dead”

toilet paper mafia.

I was overseas and recovering from surgery. I'd never seen a bidet before arriving in Argentina a few days before, so I still wasn't used to them.

In any case, I was sitting on this bidet at 3am or something, on painkillers, and almost falling asleep while I sit there. I'm leaning forward, and turn the bidet, and it turns out this bidet has a jet of water almost powerful to reach the roof. And because of the angle I was sitting at, I get this jet of high pressure water right on my clit. I'm pretty sure the noise I made woke most of the neighbours! It was not a fun experience

That being said, I'd still get one here in Australia if I could :)

It's a matter of planning and availability. In my country people don't renovate their houses often and even rarely build them from scratch. Having a bidet requires planning and leaving space for it. Japanese style toilet seats are easier to install in smaller toilets, but they require electricity and/or hot water.

Americans voted for him though

In the US, mostly because of the associations with prostitutes made by American soldiers in Europe during WWII. They were frequently called "whore's baths". Personally, I love mine and hate having to use a toilet without one.

Big TP conspiracy :)

I once read a book where this particular bathroom appliance was very intimately connected with prostitutes throughout history and that association created a big push against having it in every house. It was an interesting read.

In my country in particular, it became mandatory in every newly built house starting around the 50s and later it became mandatory to have one bidet and one bathtub in every house.

This was pushed to enforce a notion of hygiene that was lacking, as the country was very poor at the time. Paradoxically, it was easier to have higher standards of hygiene in the country, where access to water was easier and the field labour demanded a minimal cleanliness to be at the table and socially than in the growing cities, where poor living conditions made very difficult for the poor to access running water.

American here. Thanks to woot regularly selling them, I have a bidet on each toilet in the house. I have a battery operated travel bidet, because now I'm hooked.

It has certainly led to.... "Interesting" responses from house guests. There's always TP in stock, so it's not required. Butt I'm never going back if I can help it.

Most adults in the west don't even wash their hands after using the bathroom.

IDK because they rock. I love mine. I'm even cool with the water being cold.

I paid for a 250$ bidet toilet seat and i don't even use it. How is it supposed to work? My stool are soft sometimes, and even with the bidet pressure to the max, it doesn't fully clean it. I'm left with dripping wet ass covered with shit. Then i need to use toilet paper that's literally melting from all that water on my ass. As a result i use 3x more toilet paper and my hands gets dirty. Very unpleasant.

Am i using it wrong?

Not gatekeeping, but if you have never seen one, this is a proper bidet https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Bidet_weiss.jpg/623px-Bidet_weiss.jpg

In America? Because we are barbarians.

I kinda think that’s why we are all so pissed and ornery most of the time….because our tushes are dirty.

My nephews thinks it's weird/gay.

They're good boys, they're also idiots though.

Fellas, is it gay to have a clean butthole

Believe it or not. Homophobia plays a substantial part in it.

Hell we got men who refuse to wipe at all for fear it makes them gay if anything touches their anus.