How do you spit on the ground? (Hocking sounds). I don't have enough saliva. (Choking) Just
made myself gag. Spitting is harder than it looks, okay?
I received an intriguing question from a Stuff Mom Never Told You viewer who wanted to know,
'Curious why men always spit in sporting events and elsewhere and women never do. I know it's
not ladylike, but has it always been this way?' To answer that initial question of whether
women used to spit as much as men it's going to depend on what culture you're looking at
as well as the time period. For instance, in traditional Navajo cultures there are records
of men and women alike sitting and spitting around campfires. Even today in parts of China,
you're likely to see older men and women spit on floors inside and out. In fact leading
up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics the Chinese government instituted a ban on public spitting
in order to break this common general neutral habit. If we look at the west today, particularly
in the United States we are likelier to see men and boys spitting versus girls and women.
Based on my research this probably has to do with certain social functions of spitting
as well as the old-school popularity of chewing tobacco. Chewing tobacco which results in
a lot of spitting was so popular in the nineteenth century that when Charles Dickens visited
Washington DC in 1842 he later wrote that it was the quote 'headquarters of tobacco
tinctured saliva'. Politicians, always keeping it classy. Spitting on the ground or carpet
or tile or even on the floor of the US Capitol building was so commonplace that ornamental
spit buckets called spittoons were installed in most public spaces. And it's really medical
science and a developing understanding of personal hygiene and infection control that's
to thank for those kinds of spitting practices being considered declasse. With the big gendered
exception of groups of boys hanging out together and guys playing sports. When boys hang out
together and spit that's considered social spitting a form of affiliative behavior which
is both wanting to fit in as well as emulating manly behavior because what do big strong
dudes do? Spit? Boise State University sociology professor Robert S. McCarl has also said that
spitting is quote, 'More than just something that comes out of your mouth, it's a way of
making you appear stronger and marking your space. It makes sense then that that spitting
behavior might translate to male sporting events. On the one hand you have baseball
which has a legacy of chewing tobacco and spitting thus making spitting on the field
a bit of a tradition in general. Even in other male sports where spitting is involved it
could in fact be rooted in a little bit of chest puffery, saying hey I'm stronger, I'm
faster, I'm fitter than you and I'm going to beat you. Puh! On top of that too we can't
forget the very real physiological function of spitting because sometimes when you're
exercising you work up extra saliva and you need to hock a luggie. I can attest because
I jog and I hock luggies sometimes. In addition, the dirt and dust and pollutants that we might
be inhaling if we're doing outdoor sports in particular can also create more saliva
that we need to get rid of because who wants to run around with a mouthful of spit. So
to answer the question then of why do men and some women, yours truly included, spit
on the ground, simply look to all of the academically documented reasons why humans spit. There
are the gender-neutral categories of physiology,ritual, showing contempt or disgust and then skewing
a little more masculine-oriented there's the affliative behavior of fitting in as well
as saying hey dude I'm bigger, I'm stronger and I'm going to beat you and you know how
I'm going to show you that? By ejecting some saliva onto the ground maybe in your general
direction, maybe over my shoulder, I don't know you'll just like know it when you see
it and then you'll be like blammo, that guy's going to beat me. I would make such an unconvincing
male sports athlete.