Were self-administered rectal temps not common in U.S.?

I always found it strange and also funny how the practice of taking one’s own temperature rectally with a glass thermometer was considered risky and even impossible. Although I’ve read some stories here about how moms or nurses handed someone a rectal thermometer to insert into themselves, that was never an option for me. Perhaps this was something only common in Europe and not in the U.S. Once when I was about to get a rectal temp at my doctor’s office I asked the nurse if I could do it myself and she and my mom started laughing, thinking it was funny and also absurd. Little did they know I was an expert at it since I’d secretly done it thousands of times at home. I remember being annoyed when they laughed at me because taking my own temperature rectally was quite simple and didn’t require much coordination. But I suppose for the uninitiated the thought of inserting anything into their rectum was a little intimidating and was only something to be performed by a trained professional.

During summer vacations in high school I worked part-time at a pharmacy and was privy to some very personal conversations between customers and the pharmacist. One day a young woman came in while I was stocking items behind the counter and I overheard her conversation with the pharmacist. She approached the counter with several thermometers which she got off the shelf and asked the pharmacist which one she needed for tracking her ovulation. The pharmacist who was also female told her to buy the basal thermometer and advised her to use it rectally for the best results. This of course made the woman become slightly embarrassed as she awkwardly joked about not being able to pull that off. The pharmacist responded by cautioning her to avoid taking her own temperature rectally and suggested that her husband assist her. She also recommended that she and her husband practice taking her temperature a few times until they felt comfortable with it. I thoroughly enjoyed eavesdropping on this little conversation and found it quite arousing but I always wondered why the pharmacist didn’t think anyone should ever take their own rectal temperature. I guess it had something to do with thermometers being made of glass and the risk of injuring the rectum.

My male childhood friend and I had been taking our own and each other's Rectal temperatures since age 10. Over the next 3 years, we must have taken our temperatures 100s of times, we loved to play doctor. It's effortless to take your own rectal temp. We were in the USA, in Rapid City SD. this was the late 60s. No adult as I understand it would ever let kids our age take our rectal temps alone if they had known, we were doing it. I also I have read in Europe kids would be given a thermometer to insert under the covers, this would have been unthinkable in the USA. Also, no child would be allowed to not have their bottom in full view for the whole procedure. In the USA bottoms were never covered up. This being said I have read on here of a doctor's nurse pulling underwear back up, but I think this was somewhat rare, and not usually done.

Up until I started to take my rectal temperature as part of my fetish, Whenever I had a rectal temperature taken as part of a diagnostic procedure, It was always by an adult female. I miss those days.

My male childhood friend and I had been taking our own and each other's Rectal temperatures since age 10. Over the next 3 years, we must have taken our temperatures 100s of times, we loved to play doctor. It's effortless to take your own rectal temp. We were in the USA, in Rapid City SD. this was the late 60s. No adult as I understand it would ever let kids our age take our rectal temps alone if they had known, we were doing it. I also I have read in Europe kids would be given a thermometer to insert under the covers, this would have been unthinkable in the USA. Also, no child would be allowed to not have their bottom in full view for the whole procedure. In the USA bottoms were never covered up. This being said I have read on here of a doctor's nurse pulling underwear back up, but I think this was somewhat rare, and not usually done.

Pulling the underwear up may have been to hold the thermometer. Frees up the nurse to do other things..notes, prep etc.

Just a guess.