Apparently this design was popular in Germany a hundred years or so ago. Its key advantage was allowing the user to examine their stools for signs of digestive health problems.

Story time: I once briefly lived in a place that had an old toilet bowl like this. You can still find them in older houses. One day I took a massive shit and then found out that the flush wasn't strong enough to get it down from there. And there wasn't a brush. Yikes. Just wanted to share that with you guys.

So your shit just piles up on the upper part till it kisses your asshole?

Yeah but where's your poop knife?

I had these in a few houses in Germany. I call them trophy shelf toilets.

You should see the Dutch Oven….

They had these in Germany, too. If you took a particularly massive shit sometimes the water pressure wasn't enough to shove it into the hole.

American toilets gave me culture shock

They’re so shallow that you can’t even sit down without your balls touching the bowl or the water

Those are actually French toilets. They were designed like this so you can check for blood and other abnormalities. British toilets were designed so the poop would fall in the water, reducing the stench. The British design proved more popular, yet the French design is better with less splashing and for checking. It's important to check, to find out if there's something wrong with your intestines like cancer (black blood) or a tapeworm. The British didn't find this important, just like washing hands after pooping.

The poop shelf makes it easier to use the poop knife.

Pedophiles in the olympics, our strange toilets with the "poop shelf"; I just can't win today.

Edit: it's so you can inspect it. How is everyone else inspecting their poo?

Comments on toilets of France, England, and Germany by Slavoj Zizek: https://youtube.com/watch?v=8mtZmBvat4k

Another good bit (not in the video) is that Zizek thinks that's why Germans can endure great pain and sacrifices for an ideal…if you are strong enough to observe your shit for health reasons, there's nothing you can't do!

It’s so you can examine your stool, you might have some blood or a consistency you don’t like, that way you see it

I’m a bit shocked with reactions I read. You’ve probably never heard of figure shitting. I tried to figure shit some letters of the alphabet. I’m great at the letter P and R.

I know the meme is that people use it to look at their poop, but honestly the main advantage is the 0% chance of water splashing up. I will take this design over the "standard" ones any day.

How do you inspect your stool for blood, then?