Cataja,
I had a colostomy at age 2, closed at 3 and then I grew up 90% incontinent, pretty rough for a little kid, worse as a teen...permanent nightmare...and my mother would say when my surgeons would suggest a 'bag' that she would rather see me dead than to have a bag. (she was a nurse)...I may have been able to handle it, I really don't know...But I do know that she couldn't so it was never an option for me...I went through a dzn other surgeries to prevent me from having to face one...then, behind her back I went to see Dr C, agreed to a k pouch (with possibility of a bag if it didn't work)...she never forgave me...I was no longer 'normal'...for her, as long as it was 'hidden' then I wasn't sick...
Some people, even the most enlightened ones, have a viseral prejudice against bags...maybe it is sterotypes from the distant past, maybe it is ignorance...or just plain stupidity...I don't know...But I do know that for now, at least for me...I still cannot face the option...Mommy-scar-tissue I guess...
Most of us react to the prejudices of others on the subject...left to our own I am not so sure that all of us would have the same negative feelings...
Sharon