In:
Psychological Reports, SAGE Publications, Vol. 81, No. 3 ( 1997-12), p. 1067-1074
Abstract:
We collected 428 pieces of graffiti from men's and women's restrooms on two American campuses (one college and one university) in a small town in upstate, New York. The graffiti were coded by sex, institution, and type of building, and then sorted into 19 content categories. Chi-squared analyses indicated that compared to women's restrooms, men's restroom graffiti contained significantly more insulting (especially antigay) and scatological references but not more sexual graffiti. Women's restrooms had more political graffiti than men's, but contrary to previous research, very few romantic inscriptions. The university sample from a more diverse student body than that of the college, contained more racist and political graffiti. Compared to residence halls, libraries across both college campuses contained more inflammatory graffiti. Based on these findings, private restroom graffiti appear to provide a useful and unobtrusive method for investigating controversial and sensitive social issues.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0033-2941
,
1558-691X
DOI:
10.2466/pr0.1997.81.3.1067
Language:
English
Publisher:
SAGE Publications
Publication Date:
1997
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2066930-6
SSG:
5,2
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