or a good time, go to the bathroom.
And read the graffiti on the stall walls.
Stall walls
Often disregarded as trivial trash, the graffiti adorning the walls of the loo, dubbed
"latrinalia" by sociologists, can be an insightful look into society's psyche.
Lanny Kutakoff, a sociologist at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Mass., and the author of several graffiti studies, said graffit reflect society's stereotypes of men and women.
Graffiti found in Lawrence could imply societal stereotypes of men as insensitive testosterone-charged Neandertals, obsessed with penis size and biological functions.
A wall in a Malott Hall men's bathroom read, "Sex is wonderful, physics sucks."
Women do not escape stereotypes either, Graffiti in Lawrence bathrooms could imply that women are stereotyped as emotionally unstable feminists driven by their moods and menstrual cycles.
in a start at Wesco, readers can find "Women united can never be defeated. We must as a race first learn to protect ourselves."
Kutakoff said the kinds of graffiti that ended up on the walls in bathrooms reflected societal stereotypes.
He said that while the graffiti found in women's bathrooms were more issue-oriented and intimate, men generally wrote for the sake of writing.
Diana Prentice-Carlin, assistant professor of communications studies at KU, said she thought women's graffiti often involved question-and-answer dialogues and were more political. Prentice-Carlin teaches a class in communications and gender, which discusses bathroom graffiti.
Samplings of graffiti found in campus buildings and bars around Lawrence are directly in line with Kutakoff's and Prentice-Carlin's assessments.
One man wrote, "Here I sit broken-hearted. I read a dime and only farted."
Other men's graffiti brag about sexual prowess and conquests.
Sexually oriented graffiti also is present in women's bathrooms but is more common in men's bathrooms and most often found in bars.
Graffiti found in women's bathrooms were concerned with abortion rights, the First Amendment, sisterhood and names of men whom the writers said had raped them.
Some published researchers found women used graffiti to express thoughts that they often felt uncomfortable expressing publicly.
Kutakoff said men had an easier time expressing their opinions in public. Perhaps because men can voice their political opinions in public without fear, they resort to sexual braggadocio in the john. And women, who just have gained political empowerment, still feel safer discussing it in private.
This dialogue in a women's bathroom discussed the importance of graffiti:
"You people should write your congressmen, not on bathroom walls. It doesn't do any good here!"
"of course it does! This is an open forum for debate! When did you last debate your congressmen?"
Kutakoff said men's graffiti average four words per graffiti, while women's graffiti average 26 words.
One male writer, apparently oblivious to Kutakoff's four-word standard, described the rules to a unique game on urinating.
The game, dubbed "Poor man's pinball," tells readers how to tally points: "Pestroyed cigarette butt — 200,000
Melted urinal puck — 1,000,000
West Side Tubes
Wethigh — Tilt.
Newhaven
Spot in front of trousers — Lose ball.
Continue stream for 60 seconds - Replay."
One reader, failing to see humor in the game, wrote, "Write something stupid on the wall — Go Home."
While those graffi fit into the stereotypes, some men dare to be different, allowing their writings to cross into "women's territory."
One writer pondering the irony of early U.S. tolerance for slavery offered, "The country was founded by slave owners who wanted to be free. You figure it out."
This statement was just one response to the numerous racist and anti-homosexual scrawlings in Wescoe Hall bathrooms.
Kutakoff said that because of societal pressures, people were never really alone, even in the bathroom. He said edicts of society were so powerful that they controlled people's behavior, even in the most private settings.
Society often sees women as being more apt to discuss personal issues with other women and men as being tougher and more reserved about sharing their feelings.
These ideas about men and women control what they write in the toilet stall, Kutakoff said.
"It doesn't matter that you know you won't be identified," he said. "Societal values are so ingrained into you that you won't break them, even when you're alone."
Terrilyn McCormick contributed graffiti to this story.
Issues and trends at the University of Kansas.
Lead Story
At a November public meeting of Los Angeles County government's four-year-old Ritual Abuse Task Force, several members of the 14-person commission renewed their claims that satanic forces were spraying a pesticide into their offices, homes and cars to prevent them from revealing their experiences of human sacrifice, torture and sex orgies. One member said she was poisoned during a task force meeting in the Los Angeles Hall of Administration. But none of the members has given medical evidence of poisoning.
November Election Recap
New York state Sen. Howard Babbush won re-election despite efforts by prosecutors during the last five years to bring him to trial on charges of corruption. Babbush has claimed for the last two years that he is too ill to stand trial.
"There is a big difference between standing trial and taking care of the needs of my constituents," he said.
Bernard Hale, candidate for treasurer of Cannon Township in Michigan, was arrested in July when his car was stopped at 5 a.m. and found to contain 31 political yard signs, most of them promoting his opponents. Hale said he was just trying to clean up the neighborhood.
Al Thea Garrison, 52, an African-American female Republican, was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature. According to records obtained by the Boston Herald, Garrison was a man known as Al Garson before 1976.
In North Bend, Ore., Arlis Akin won a city council seat by winning a dice roll. He and Dean Smith had tied with 2,236 votes each. Akin had been charged in October with the rape of a 20-year-old woman in Coos Bay, Ore., and will stand trial in March.
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