---
title: "Chelsea Clinton: “I’m obsessed with diarrhea”"
description: "Chelsea Clinton: “I’m obsessed with diarrhea”"
---

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# Chelsea Clinton: “I’m obsessed with diarrhea”

Posted by [Glendora](https://info.opfistula.org/blog/author/glendora) on Mar 13, 2014 11:22:58 AM

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This week, journalists have been obsessed with Chelsea Clinton’s “obsessed with diarrhea” statement. Which, of course, is exactly what Clinton intended.

The daughter of the former US President and former US Secretary of State has spent her life under media scrutiny. And she’s been behind the camera, too, as a special correspondent for NBC News. So when it comes to knowing how to attract public attention, Chelsea Clinton is about as savvy as they come.

When Clinton began a [SXSW](http://sxsw.com/) interview by stating that she was “obsessed with diarrhea,” she knew exactly what she was doing. She was giving us an irresistible, provocative, succinct (tweet-friendly) sound bite that would grab our attention and boost the click count. She had no intention of approaching with subtlety a topic she believed shouldn’t be perceived as embarrassing. Rather, she set a laid-back tone by saying diarrhea isn’t something that makes her squeamish, and that she tries to talk about it as often as possible.

She knew that if we’re going to have a real conversation about sanitation and clean water, we must, must, MUST acknowledge the diarrhea that is [killing 750,000+ children](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs330/en/) under 5 each year.

At Operation Fistula, we have often pushed for a more honest dialogue when it comes to medical issues (like diarrhea and, yes, fistula) that make us blush ([here](http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/fistula-glendora-meikle-590917-Sep2012/), for example, and [here](http://www.opfistula.org/2013/04/02/the-body-is-weird-and-gross-wanna-talk-about-it/) and [here](%3Cblockquote%20class="twitter-tweet"%20lang="en"%3E%3Cp%3E"Diarrhea...doesn’t%20raise%20alarm%20in%20industrialized%20countries,%20where%20it's%20merely%20a%20nuisance."%20Ditto%20'incontinence.'%20%3Ca%20href="http://t.co/OvWzTLzvJJ"%3Ehttp://t.co/OvWzTLzvJJ%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E—%20Operation%20Fistula%20(@OpFistula)%20%3Ca%20href="https://twitter.com/OpFistula/statuses/352476048958562304"%3EJuly%203,%202013%3C/a%3E%3C/blockquote%3E%20%3Cscript%20async%20src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"%20charset="utf-8"%3E%3C/script%3E)). As we always say, if it makes us skittish just talking about it, imagine what it’s like for people *living* with it. It seems like the least we can do is not add to the stigma with vague, clumsy allusions.

The Gates Foundation has been a fabulous leader in its [willingness to discuss](http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2014/02/Changing-the-Conversation-about-Rotavirus) traditionally taboo topics head-on, and UNICEF's [Take Poo to the Loo](https://www.poo2loo.com/) campaign rocks. But organizations and non-famous faces can only reach so far. A few celebrities have dared to dip a toe into these non-glamorous waters ([Matt Damon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQCqNop3CIg), for instance), but for the most part, candid, plainspoken dialogue on a topic like poop is hard to come by.

So when someone of Clinton’s stature decides to give the conversation a jolt, it matters. It matters because one phrase from her can reach more people than an entire journal article from someone in the public health sector. It matters because in addition to CNN and the BBC, [Vanity Fair](%3Cblockquote%20class="twitter-tweet"%20lang="en"%3E%3Cp%3E“I’m%20obsessed%20with%20diarrhea.”%20That’s%20how%20%3Ca%20href="https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton"%3E@ChelseaClinton%3C/a%3E%20gets%20your%20attention%20for%20a%20discussion%20of%20the%20importance%20of%20clean%20water.%20%3Ca%20href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SXSW14&src=hash"%3E#SXSW14%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E—%20VANITY%20FAIR%20(@VanityFair)%20%3Ca%20href="https://twitter.com/VanityFair/statuses/443469708214276096"%3EMarch%2011,%202014%3C/a%3E%3C/blockquote%3E%20%3Cscript%20async%20src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"%20charset="utf-8"%3E%3C/script%3E) and [Upworthy](http://www.upworthy.com/clean-hands-can-help-prevent-disease-but-get-a-load-of-this-crap?c=tbs) pick up the story. And it matters because we have to be able to talk about this shit (see what I did there?) more openly, and sometimes that starts with a famous person letting us know it’s OK.

You can watch a clip of Chelsea Clinton’s remarks [here](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/03/chelsea-clinton-is-obsessed-with-diarrhea-and-other-things-she-revealed-today/).

You can read some "pooetry" [here](http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2012/10/The-case-for-pooetry-and-silliness-about-a-serious-issue).

And for a superb (and funny!) look at the importance of speaking about diarrhea and sundry other unseemly things, watch journalist Rose George’s [2013 TED talk](http://www.ted.com/talks/rose_george_let_s_talk_crap_seriously).

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