Antibacterial chemicals, not antibiotics. But you're right in general. It's something that we do that we have no evidence is actually good for us. We live in symbiosis with bacteria. Sterilizing your gut would kill you.
And if you look hard enough, you can find soap that doesn't have antibacterial chemicals (no triclosan). I carry around a small squirt tube of liquid soap for this reason, and also because most soap in public bathrooms is atrocious in other ways (doesn't lather, dries the skin, etc).
This. Soap isn't an antibiotic as much as something that fatally disrupts the lipid membranes of bacteria, as well as messing with other oils you happen to have on you.
Lots of soap has small amounts of antibacterial agents added not so that the soap gains antibacterial properties (I'm talking about regular soap, not the "Kills 99% of bacteria" varieties that have become so popular now), but to prevent bacteria growing in the soap itself. Apparently lots of public bathroom soap is absolutely filled with e. coli and other nasties otherwise, which does seem quite counter-productive.
