Do aquatic turtles really need baths?

Yesterday I watched a video of my pen pal Tiny Turtle taking a “Relaxing Turtle Bath.”  He’s lying on his back in his humanette’s hand over a sink, all sprawled out as though he’s not the least bit terrified, while she scrubs his tummy shell with one of those things  humans use to brush their teeth.  The thought of a relaxing bath is an absolute oxymoron to me.  Every time my human cleans my tank, he picks me up and scrubs my back with one of those things, and let me tell you…I hate it!  Being picked up in itself is traumatizing enough, but I certainly don’t need to be rubbed raw with those bristles.

So here’s my question to all of you…. Do aquatic turtles actually need baths?  I spend most of my day bathing and the rest basking to dry out and keep algae from growing all over me.  The way I figure it, turtles that live in the wild don’t have humans scrubbing them down, so why should we?    I’d love to hear what you have to say on this topic.  (Take the polls below or leave a comment on the post.) If someone can back me up on this, I can make a plea to my human to cut it out.