A Douche (/duʃ/, French for "shower") in American English generally describes a stream of water or a device used to introduce a stream of water into the body for medical or "sanitary" reasons. In other languages douche only has the original French meaning of shower. In the US English sense, it is similar to an enema, however the term is used colloquially to apply to the use in the vagina for women. A douche bag is a piece of equipment for douching: a bag for holding the water or fluid used in douching.

Vaginal douching has a variety of perceived benefits. In addition to promising to clean the vagina of unwanted odors, it can also be used by women who wish to have intercourse during menstruation, in order to avoid blood smearing the penis. In the past, douching was also used after intercourse as a method of contraception, though it is not very effective (see below).

Douches may consist of water, water mixed with vinegar, or even antiseptic chemicals. Frequent douching with water may result in an imbalance of the pH of the vagina, and thus may put women at risk for possible vaginal infections. Antiseptics may result in an imbalance of the natural bacteria in the vagina, also resulting in an increased likelihood of infection. Furthermore, unclean douching equipment may also introduce undesirable foreign bodies into the vagina. For these reasons, the practice of douching is now generally discouraged, unless under medical supervision.

It should be noted that douching after sexual intercourse is not effective as a means of contraception. The reason this method (as well as a related method, coitus interruptus or "withdrawal") are usually not very effective is that the male ejaculate typically consists of approximately 5ml (1 teaspoon) of fluid carrying in excess of 500,000,000 sperm, of which only one is needed to fertilize the ovum. Thus even a tiny amount of ejaculate can be enough to cause pregnancy. Douching after intercourse is estimated at reducing the chances of conception by only 1/4 to 1/6 (for comparison, proper condom use reduces the chance of conception by a low as 1/100).

The practice of douching is now largely restricted to North America, where douching equipment is often available in pharmacies.

Slang uses

The terms douche bag and douche for short are also popular derogatory terms of insult or ridicule. These terms can mean a variety of different insults, and have become popular in the comedic media (for instance, comic and The Daily Show host Jon Stewart once named conservative columnist and television pundit Robert Novak as a "douchebag of liberty"):

• Someone who is annoying, bossy or even embarrassing.
• Someone who is stupid, intellectually challenged or mentally deranged but less then clinically insane
• Someone who is unintelligently lying or scamming.

"Douching" has also been used to replace the word "lying" in certain areas. For example, the phrase "you've got to be lying to me" has been said as "You've got to be douching me," implying that particular lie may be surprising or insulting to the intelligence of the person who is being asked to believe it.

See also

bidet, sexual slang