Featured Image Credit: Tiktok/@rhiannaniffland
Topics: Health, World News, TikTok, Viral
Ella Scott
Women are discovering the reason why they’re banned from using some high-powered waterslides after a video of a diver speeding down Europe’s ‘fastest’ went viral.
Australian high diver Rhiannan Iffland, 32, has sparked concern after she posted a video to social media.
In the clip, the four-time World Championship gold medalist visited Austria’s Area 47 adventure park.
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Among other ‘extreme activities’, the waterpark is home to the continent’s ‘fastest waterslide’ - an attraction that boasts ridiculous speeds of up to 80 km/h, according to The New York Post.
Women are prohibited from using the attraction but that didn’t stop the seven-time consecutive Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series champion from going down.
However, it turns out the signs barring the woman’s entry weren’t being sexist like some claimed.
In fact, there’s a really serious health reason why women are banned from using this particularly ‘extreme’ waterslide.
According to a 1998 study, published in the National Library of Medicine, women can sustain grievous vaginal injuries if high-pressure water enters the female body.
Moreover, if these injuries are sustained, women can become increasingly susceptible to infection due to foreign bodies found in the water.
There's also been previous reports of women being ‘ripped apart’ by high-speed waterslides, prompting slide bans across the globe.
As well as gynaecological issues, high-speed water can cause what’s being dubbed as ‘the waterslide enema’ in both men and women.
An enema is an injection of fluids into the rectum that’s usually used to cleanse the colon and help relieve constipation.
You don’t have to stretch your mind too much then to figure out what those who have experienced a ‘waterslide enema’ are talking about.
“Unfortunately I got a water slide enema. Peed out half the swimming pool in the toilet from my butt. I literally couldn’t stand upright after it happened. Weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced,” wrote one person.
Another said: "I have gone to one of those. [...] Not an enema but the other one. Deep cleaning that baby box. Never again.”
Following Iffland’s defiance, she stated to news.com.au that it was ‘never [her] intent to mock’ the slide’s safety regulations.
“A person’s safety is paramount and I am constantly weighing up any danger with my job,” she added. “To suggest otherwise, is wrong.”
Following the clip being posted to social media, viewers have come out in their droves to debate Iffland’s daring stunt.
One Instagram user wrote: “The amount of people that don’t understand why women aren’t supposed to go on this slide is scary.”
A second typed: “The sign says ‘due to high risk of injury’. Why would you still go down?”