Social Analysis of Graffiti
Author(s): Terrance L. Stocker, Linda W. Dutcher, Stephen M. Hargrove, Edwin A. Cook
Source: The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 85, No. 338 (Oct. - Dec., 1972), pp. 356-366
Published by: American Folklore Society
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L. STOCKER,
TERRANCE
M.
STEPHEN
HARGROVE,
LINDA W. DUTCHER,
and EDWIN A. COOK
SocialAnalysisof Graffiti'
can be used as an unobtrusivemeasureto
revealpatternsof customsand attitudesof a society.Observinggraffitiwill reveal
changesin customsand attitudes.Throughstudyinggraffiti,Lindsaywas able to
reconstructmuchaboutlife in ancientPompeii.2To date,manyprojectshaveused
the thematiccontentof graffitito posit certainmotivationalhypothesesaboutthe
individualsand the societalattitudesthat producedit, but few studies have approachedgraffitiby problemtesting. There have been no diachronicstudies devoted to problemtesting. This articleis a midwayreportof a longitudinalstudy
testingthreeproblemsthatwereformulatedin earlierstudies.
in 1966
conducted
LITERATUREON SOCIALATTITUDES.
andWeltman
Lomas
a cross-sectionalstudyof graffitiin the Los Angeles metropolitanarea.3Correlating the type of graffiti,for instance,outdoorsas opposedto indoors,and the thematic contentwith the class and ethnic compositionof the communityin which
the graffitiwere written,they concludedthat graffiti"reflectsharedattitudesand
values as well as ethnocentricvariationson main cultural themes."4Sechrest
and Floresin 1969 chose graffitias an unobstrusivemeasureof attitudestoward
homosexualityin the United Statesand the Philippines.5Public restroomgraffiti with homosexualcontentwere almostnon-existentin the Philippines,which
coincideswith the relativelytolerantattitudestowardhomosexualityfound there.
In the United States,wherehomosexualityis more sociallycondemned,therewas
a high proportionof homosexualgraffiti.Most of Sechrestand Flores'American
samplingtook place on the Universityof Chicagocampus.In 197i Sechrestand
Olson reporteda studyof graffitiinvolving trade schools, junior colleges, fouryear colleges, and professionalschools. In the latter two types of schools,there
GRAFFITI, AS AN ASPECT OF CULTURE,
1 Grateful acknowledgmentis made to MargaretHorton, BernardLazerwitz,and Bruce MacLachlanfor theiraid in directingthis research.We also thankMilton Altschulerand MichaelRobbins for commentingon thispaper.
2 J. Lindsay,The Writingon the Wall (London,I96o).
3 H. Lomasand G. Weltman,"Whatthe Walls Say Today:A Studyof Contemporary
Graffiti,"
paperpresentedat the meetingof the AmericanPsychiatricAssociation,AtlanticCity, New Jersey
(1966).
4 Ibid., 5.
in the Philippinesand the UnitedStates:The Hand5 L. Sechrestand L. Flores,"Homosexuality
writingon the Wall," The Journalof SocialPsychology,79 (1969), 3-12.
SOCIAL ANALYSIS OF GRAFFITI
357
was a relativelygreaterincidenceof Semite-Gentilegraffiti,and in the former
there was a higher proportionof Negro-White racialinscriptions.This statistic
correlatedwith the socioeconomicbackgroundandeducationof the individualsattendingthe schools.6
The less systematicstudies of Reisner7and Readshave suggestedthat graffiti
can be used to reveal changesin customs.Yet, Rudin and Harlesscontendthat
graffiticannotbe used as a measureof socialand politicalissues.9They collected
graffitiat a Texas college before the 1968 nationalelections.They found a preponderanceof racialitems, but very few graffitirelatingto the nationalelection.
Collinsand Batzleplacedblackboardsand chalkin men'swashroomson a college
campusto increasethe numberof responses;they concludedthe graffiticollected
did not reflectimportantsocialissues.'0
LITERATURE
ON GRAFFITIWITH HOMOSEXUAL
CONTENT.Kinsey's 1953
dataindicated75 percentof graffitiwas homosexualin content.' He hypothesized
thatmanygraffiticoncernedwith male genitaliaand male functionwereproduced
by males who were not consciousof homosexualreactionsand who may never
have had homosexualexperiences.Males who wrote and read these graffitipresumablyexpressedunsatisfiedhomosexualdesires.•2Kinseydoes not list a source
for his data. Lomasand Weltman tentativelysuggest that all sexuallyarousing
graffitiin men'srestroomsarehomosexualsincethey arenot intendedfor a mixed
audience.'"Sechrestand Olson found that tradeschoolsand juniorcolleges had
the highest frequencyof heterosexualinscriptions.The trade schools had the
lowest level of homosexualgraffiti,while the other three types of schoolshad a
high and approximatelyequal frequencyof homosexualgraffiti. Sechrestand
Olson consideredthese differencesto reflectthe "preoccupationand interestof
the groups involved."'4They maintain, following Kinsey, that lower socioeconomicgroupsaremorelikely to havehadmoreand earlierheterosexualexperience than the higher socioeconomicgroups,while the converseis truefor homosexual experience.However, Sechrestand Flores feel that most homosexual
inscriptionsare written by "normal"males, and it is the societal conflictover
homosexualbehaviorthat causesit to be used as an insult device.'"
LITERATURE ON SEX DIFFERENCES OF GRAFFITI. Accordingto Kinsey,women
are not arousedby the samestimuli that arousemen; therefore,women produce
less graffitiand thatwhichthey do producearenot of a sexualcontent.'1Dundes,
6
L. Sechrest and K. Olson, "Graffiti in Four Types of Institutions of Higher Education," The
fournal of Sex Research, 7 (197I), 62-71.
7 R. Reisner, Graffiti (New York, 1967).
8 A. W. Read, Lexical Evidence from Folk Epigraphy in Western North America: A Glossarial
Study of the Low Element in the English Language (Paris, 1935).
9 L. Rudin and M. Harless, "Graffiti and
Building Use: The I968 Election," Psychological Reports 27 (1970), 517-518.
10 T. Collins and P. Batzle, "Method of Increasing Graffito Responses," Perceptual and Motor
Skills, 31 (1970), 733-734.
11 A. Kinsey, W. Pomeroy, C. Martin, and P. Gebhard, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female
(Philadelphia, 1953).
12 Ibid., 674-675.
13 Lomas and Weltman, 9.
14 Sechrest and Olson, 69.
15 Sechrest and Flores, 9.
16 Kinsey, et al., 12.
358
ANDCOOK
STOCKER,
HARGROVE,
DUTCHER,
using a Freudianframework,feels the differencein the amountof latrinaliain
men's and women'swashroomscan be explainedby the lack of pregnancyenvy
in women."7Dundes defineslatrinaliaas that subsetof washroomgraffitiwhichis
traditional.He breakstraditionalgraffitidown into five types,only one of which
will be consideredhere-that concerningdefecation.At least two studies have
noted the greaterincidenceof smoking in female restroomsthan in male restrooms.Landyand Steele suggest that smokingis the woman'ssubstitutefor the
male's graffiti,which they considera form of phallic expression.'8Rudin and
Harlessnote that women'sgraffitioccursin quantityonly in restroomsthat have
no smokinglounges,and suggestthat equatingmen'sand women'srestroomsfor
function might reveal that no significantsex differencein graffitiproduction
exists. Horton reportsa great many documentedstudies which reveal that the
differencesbetweenmale and female behavioris a result of differentchildhood
socializationpractices.'9Although she makesno referenceto graffiti,we feel that
differencesin socializationprocessesbetweensexes can best accountfor the differencesin amountand kind betweenmen's and women's graffiti.Furthermore
she reportsthat aggressivebehavior(like graffiti) "is probablythe most reliable
and durabledimensionof sex-typedbehavior."20Sixteenof twentyobservational
and experimentalstudiesconcludedboys to be more aggressivethan girls. Four
showedno differences,butthosefour dealtwith verbalbehavior.
Fromthis literature,threeproblemswere formulatedto be tested:
PROBLEMS.
(i) graffitiare an accurateindicatorof the social attitudesof a community,and
their thematiccontentwill discriminatesimilarcommunitieswith differentsociopoliticalideation;(2) most homosexualgraffitiare a resultof societalcondemnation of homosexualbehavior,which permitsthis behaviorto be used as an insulting device;and, with Gay Liberationas a liberalizinginfluence,homosexualgraffiti will decrease;and (3) the differencebetweenmen's and women'sgraffitiis
due to childhoodsocialization;and, if there is a changein amountand kind of
women's and men's graffiti,then there has been a change in some aspect of
women'ssocializationpatterns.
These problemswere tested by comparinggraffitifrom
DATAON SCHOOLS.
three universitiesover a two-yearperiod. The universitieswere chosen on the
assumptionthat they ranged from the more liberalto the more conservativein
sociopoliticalattitudes. SouthernIllinois University,Carbondale,was assumed
to be the most liberal;Western KentuckyUniversity,Bowling Green, the most
conservative;and the Universityof Missouri,Columbia,somewherebetweenthe
two, but closerto SouthernIllinoisUniversity.Hereafter,thesewill be referredto
as SIU, WKU, and MU, respectively.The respectiveenrollmentof each school
is 23,000, io,ooo, and 20,000. To validatethe suppositionof liberalityat each
school an unobtrusivemeasureas outlined by Webb and colleagueswas em17 A. Dundes, "Here I Sit-A
Study of American Latrinalia," Kroeber Anthropological Society
Papers, 34 (1966), 9I-105.
18 E. Landy and J. Steele, "Graffiti as a Function of Building Utilization," Perceptual and Motor
Skills, 25 (1967), 711-712.
19 M. Horton, "The Development and Implications of Sex-Role Stereotypes," presented to St.
Louis University Psychology Department Colloquium (January 13, I97I).
20 Ibid., 18.
SOCIAL ANALYSIS OF GRAFFITI
359
ployed.21News reportswere comparedof students'reactionsat eachschoolto the
Kent StateUniversityincidentand the United Statesmilitaryincursioninto Cambodia in the spring of 1970. These reactionswere taken from the files of each
town's major newspaper.Data were taken from the front page of issues from
May I to May 17.
In general,crowdsat demonstrationswere upwardof 3,500 at SIU. Riots resulted in one building being burnedand considerablepropertydamageboth on
and off campus,which was estimatedat $ioo,ooo. There were four hundredarrests,and a stateof civil emergencywas declared.The NationalGuardwas called
onto campustwice, and the universitywas shut down twenty-fourdaysbeforethe
end of the term. At MU, crowds were upward of 2,000. Minor incidentsof
propertydestructionoccurred.Locallaw enforcementofficerswere on campusfor
one afternoon.There were thirty-fivearrests,and a brief stateof emergencywas
declared.At WKU there were crowdsof around500, but demonstrationswere
peaceful.
Anotherfactorthat must be consideredin the SIU riots is the presenceof an
AID-fundedVietnameseCenteron the Carbondalecampus.The presenceof this
centerwaspresumablya pointof crystallization
for the riots.
COLLECTING OF GRAFFITI.Graffiticollecting was done during the last two
weeksof Decemberthroughthe firsttwo weeksof Januaryto controlfor national
politicalvariables.In 1970 graffitiwerecollectedfromall the stallsin men'srooms
in classroombuildingsat all threeuniversities.Women'sgraffitiwerenot collected
in 1970. In 1971 the men's stalls were randomized, and data were gathered from
25 percentof all stallson the SIU and WKU campuses.At MU 25 percentof the
stallsin eachbuildingwere sampled,producinga stratifiedsample.The difference
in samplingwas due to a misunderstanding
betweenthe authors.Graffitifrom all
women's stalls were collected in 1971.
Eachgraffitowas recordedverbatimand drawingsduplicated.The only aspect
of concernwas the thematiccontent. Other factors,such as size of inscription,
mode of inscription,and so on, werenot recorded.In categorizingthe graffiti,the
majoraspectof concernwas the explicit intent of the writer.Thus, "All music
majorsare queer"was considerednonsexualhostile, since the homosexualaspect
was a mechanismto insult music majors.We realizethat some graffitimay have
a latent meaning of which we were not aware,for instance,"The balloonsare
coming";this is possiblya remarkconcerninginflation.Eachinscriptionwas recordedunder a single category,except those which were respondingto another
graffito.For example,"Fuckyou" was a reply to "Kennedyin '72," and in this
case "Fuckyou" was categorizedas a politicalgraffitosince its existencewas dependentupon a politicalgraffito.At the sametime it was separatelycategorizedas
responsegraffito.
The graffitiwere codedand tabulatedin a methodas similaras possibleto that
of Kinsey's and Sechrest and Flores' material. That is, they were categorized
according to percentages in major categories of homosexual, heterosexual, and
nonsexual. Each of these categories was further subdivided (see tables and appendix). However, certain modifications were made to accommodate our data. For
21 E.
Webb, D. Campbell, R. Schwartz, and L. Sechrest, Unobtrusive Measures: A Survey of
Nonreactive Research in Social Sciences (Chicago, 1966).
STOCKER, DUTCHER, HARGROVE, AND COOK
360
example,racistremarks-"All whitesmustdie now"-would normallyhavebeen
classified as nonsexual hostile (a classificationthat includes such graffiti as
"HippiessuckAggies wife's tits"), but racistgraffitiwere so frequentat SIU in
1970 that a separate racist category was formed and further subdivided (Table i),
though in 1971 only eight racistinscriptionswere found at all threeuniversities.
In 1971, we felt that greaterinsights into the communityattitudescould be
gained by breakingdown the statementcategoryinto "statements,""socialstatements,"and "drugstatements.""Stanfordi4-Missouri io" wouldbe a statement;
a social statementwould be "Beautifulpeople! Hear my song, think what I'm
speakin'of, anyonecan let their hair grow long, but few take the time to love";
and a drugstatementwouldbe "STPwill get you free."
Our "trite"categoryis what Dundesterms"traditional."Trite is repetitiousor
inheritedratherthan havingbeen taughtin some systematicmanner.An example
of graffitiin thiscategorywouldbe the following:
"Thosewho writeon shithousewalls
Rolltheirshitin littleballs
Thosewhoreadthosewordsof wit
Eatthoselittleballsof shit."
A "love" statementcategorywas added for the women's graffiti.It includes
of sex differences,this
remarkslike "Bobloves Alice"; and, to add comparability
categorywas added to the male data in 1971.
TABLE I:
MALEGRAFFITI
Number of Graffiti
Heterosexual
i.
2.
3.
4.
Invitations and Requests
Accusations of Others' Behavior
Drawing of Female Genitalia
Humor
5. Drawings of Intercourse
6. Statement or Question
i.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Invitations and Requests
Accusations
Drawings of Male Genitalia
Hostile Comments
Humor
Masturbation
7. Statement or Question
Nonsexual
i.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Other Humor
Cosmic and Religious
Philosophical
Political
Social Satire
Hostile
1970
(710)
1971
(474)
1970
(172)
1971
(115)
1970
(1188)
1971
(770)
9.8% 11.7%
8.1%
9.0%
7.5%
9.6%
8.7%
9.7%
2.0
I.I
.6
1.7
1.7
.4
2.8
.4
2.3
.2
2.3
1.9
2.5
1.2
1.7
.9
.9
.9
2.3
.8
1.7
.6
1.7
1.7
1.9
o
.8
.4
1.4
1.1
i.o
2.3
1.3
o
3.3
6.6
14.3%
7.5
o
2.0
2.3
.3
.0o
1.3
13.9%
1.7
o
3.3
.6
.6
o
7.7
53.9% 55.3%
5.6
2.6
2.6
15.7
6.5
2.3
8.3
1.7
3-9
6.6
o
11.0
2.3
0
o
o
o
o
.5
.3
4.1
5.2
2.3
3.o
16.1%
14.0%
6.1
2.3
.7
1.6
1.3
1.3
2.9
5.1
.1
.6
0
7. Love Statement
Homosexual
1971
(181)
TOTAL
WKU
MU
SIU
1970
(306)
13.3%
12.9%
32.5%
20.0%
4.9
1.5
4.9
.2
2.7
10.5
9.3
.6
1.7
12.2
.i
1.3
2.0
1.7
1.8
o
.2
1.5
3.4
65.3% 69.9%
15.2
4.9
1.5
io.8
2.1
5.1
11.8
3.0
.6
10.3
.4
7.4
.5
.9
0
4.3
o
.6
o
o
3.5
9.9
0
47.7% 6I.o%
5.2
.6
o
8.1
1.7
o
9.6
0
o
3.5
o
13.o
3.1
.1
.3
1.4
3-9
59.7% 65.5%
11-7
3-7
1.6
11-7
3.3
3.6
io.6
2.2
1.3
8.4
.3
9.1
361
SOCIAL ANALYSIS OF GRAFFITI
7. Word
8. Statement
9. Social Statement
io. Drug Statement
ii. Play-on-Words
12. Drawing
Racist
I.
2.
3.
4.
2.6
10o.
1.8
18.0o
2.6
3.3
3.3
4.6
2.0
.7
5.2
10.1
10.3
7.0
15.7
2.2
20.9
8.0
1.9
4.4
10.4%
Elimination
Hostile
Derogatory
Sexual
Racist
Racist
Racist
Racist
3.9
9.4
2.2
2.4
16.4
8.2
11.4
5.4
2.3
1.8
4.5
.9
3.5
7.8
2.9
2.9
1.7
3.4
1.5
1.2
2.2
2.3
4.6
4.7
1.7%
1.1%
0
.3
.3
.6
I.o%
0
.8
.2
0
1.2%
o%
3.6%
0
1.2
0
0
1.0
1.5
0
0
0
0
-7
.5
0
.9
.1
0
.2
0
2.6
.7
1.4
2.3
3.5
5.6
5.2
o
1.7
0
0
i.o%
.7
3.9
.8
Humor of elimination
2.6
8.8
7.7
Trite
2.9
o
2.2
1.3
.4
5.2
.9
2.3
1.1
.4
1.7
.9
1.1
.9
.I
1.5
1.7
.9
1.0
1.7
23.3
26.8
Undecided Sex
Fuck
.7
Fuck you
2.3
2.8
Responses
20.8
26.5
TABLE II:
4.2
27.2
27.5
11.1
27.0
.4
FEMALEGRAFFITI
SIU
1970
MU
1971
WVKU
1970
1971
(o)
Number of Graffiti
1971
(243)
Heterosexual
26.9%
o%
o%
.4
1.2
1.6
.8
0
2.9
19.3
o
0
o
0
o
o
o
o
0
0
0
0
0
1970
I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Invitations and Requests
Accusations of Others' Behavior
Drawing of Male Genitalia
Humor
Drawings of Intercourse
Statement or Question
Love Statement
Homosexual
I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Invitations and Requests
Accusations
Drawings of Female Genitalia
Hostile Comments
Humor
Masturbation
Statement or Question
Nonsexual
i.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
io.
ii.
12.
13.
Other Humor
Cosmic and Religious
Philosophical
Political
Social Satire
Hostile
Word
Statement
Social Statement
Drug Statement
Play-on-Words
Drawing
Scribbling
10.7%
4.9
o
.8
.4
.4
o
4.9
50.3%
2.1
4.5
2.9
4.5
0
.4
9.5
9.1
9.9
0
-4
7.0
o
(18)
0
5.6%
0%
5.6
0
o
o
0
0
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
0
83.4%
0o%
o
0
I6.7
0
0
o
16.7
o
22.2
o
o
16.7
11.1
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
0
o
o
o
o
STOCKER, DUTCHER, HARGROVE, AND COOK
362
Racist
i. Racist Elimination
2.
RacistHostile
3. Racist Derogatory
4. Racist Sexual
Undecided sex
Humor of elimination
Trite
Fuck
Fuck you
Responses
3.7%
o
2.9
.8
o
2.1%
5.6%
o
5.6
o
o
0%
o
o
o
o
0%
o%
o
.4
o
5.6
4.1
o
o
0
o
o
22.2
o
19.3
o
o
Discussion
With regardto the firstproblem,we felt thatin a liberalcommunityaccusations
of homosexuality,such as "Billy Jones is a queer,"would have a low frequency
sinceit wouldhaveverylittle impact.A high amountwasexpectedin a conservative
community.These suppositionswere correct,with no such accusationsat SIU,
9.3 percentat WKU, and i.5 percentat MU. Similarreasoningwas appliedto the
politicalcategory,for instance,"AssassinateSpiroAgnew and becomea national
hero";the socialsatirecategory,for instance,"FuckCensorship";and the philosophicalcategory,as in "The essenceof love is unselfishness."A liberal school
was expectedto have the highestpercentagein eachcategory.Again, SIU had the
highestpercentagein eachcategory,and WKU the lowestin the 1970 results.
The categorymost difficultto interpretwas the racist,for instance,"Blackplus
white equalszero."SIU, ratedthe mostliberalcampus,had the highestamountof
racistgraffitiin 1970. Fourfactorsare proposedto accountfor this. SIU is thirty
miles north of Cairo,Illinois, which is afflictedwith heavyracialstrife. SIU has
the highestenrollmentof blacksof the threeschools,it hasa BlackStudiesCenter,
and in the fall of 1970 there were frequentencountersbetweenblacksand law
enforcementagenciesin Carbondale.Sechrestand Olson also found the greatest
proportionof Negro-White racial graffitiin the trade schools that also had a
greaterproportionof Negro studentscomparedto the otherfour schools-a situation analogousto the populationof SIU as comparedto MU andWKU.
Excludingthe racialfactor, MU had the highest percentageof hostile statementsreflectinga high proportionof interestgroups.Besidesthe common"aggienon-aggie" syndromeand "long hair vs. non-long hair" rivalries,MU has a
schoolof religionand a law school,which the othertwo universitiesdo not have.
Yet, this problemis not easily assessedby merelylisting the numberof interest
groups;the intensityof theirrivalryis obviouslymoreimportantas was manifest
by the racialcategory.At MU thereis a relativelyhigh proportionof "aggies"enrolled, which intensifiesthe rivalrywith "non-aggies."Also, interestgrouprivalries probablyenter into the differentpercentagesof the responsecategory,for
instance,"I feel like homemadeshit," is respondedto with, "Oh, you must be
an Aggie." Rivalriescontributeto the otherhumorcategory,"How do you tell an
Aggie from an engineer?Answer: One has shit on his boots;the other has shit
in his head."
The 1971 resultspresenta somewhatmore complexpicture.Judgingfrom the
decreasein homosexualaccusations,one would be inclinedto say that liberalness
SOCIAL ANALYSIS OF GRAFFITI
363
is increasing at MU and WKU. However, the amount of social satire and philosophical and political graffiti has dropped at all three schools, and MU has a
greater percentage of political and social satire than SIU. Racist graffiti have
dropped at SIU, which is concomitant with a decline in racial confrontations in
both Cairo and Carbondale as reported in local newspapers. In the two new cate-
gories, which were incorporatedin 1971, MU had a greaterpercentageof social
statementthan SIU, and SIU had a greaterpercentageof drug statementthan
MU. The shifting percentagesbetweenSIU and MU would indicatethat the social attitudesof the two schools are convergingwith referenceto liberality.It
should also be kept in mind that two new freshman classes have enrolled since
the Kent State and Cambodia incidents. Any interpretation of the I971 results
must be viewed with the fact in mind that nonsexual hostile rose at all three
schools, with very substantial rises at SIU and WKU. This last point is difficult to
assess.
The frustration-aggression hypothesis, as outlined by Dollard and his colleagues, suggests that an increase in aggressive responses derives from an increase
in frustratingconditions.22When attackcannotbe directedagainstthe frustrating
agent, aggression may be transferred to another, more accessible, target. As Feshbach has pointed out, the displacement hypothesis is limited by its failure to specify the dimensions along which the frustrator and ultimate target must resemble
each other.23 It is possible that recent cutbacksin government spending for education have had a direct and frustrating impact on student welfare, thus
contributing
to outgroup hostility. The continuation of the present longitudinal
study will shed
light on this problem.
The objection may be raised here that random sampling and differences in
sampling techniques may have skewed our results, since different buildings on any
given campus may produce different types of graffiti. Landy and Steele, at the
University of Oklahoma, found that building utilization had very little effect on
the type of graffiti written therein. However, we
suspect that the difference in our
of
male
has
skewed
our
results.
For
sampling
graffiti
example, of the twelve stalls
in the library at SIU, graffiti were collected from only two. The
graffiti in the
library tend to be liberal. On the other hand, three out of seven stalls were sampled
in the agriculture building where the graffiti tend to be conservative. Unfortunately, the structure of the study to date as well as time constraints for each of
us did not permit a reevaluation of this problem. In
1973, stratified sampling will
be employed at all three schools to test the variability of
graffiti on each campus.
When Rudin and Harless' study is considered in light of these
data, one can
see that two factors operated to produce their results. The first was the
socio-political attitude of the community. If their Texas school was similar to
WKU, one
might reasonablyexpect a small amount of political graffiti. Second is the need for
a time lag. Our results show a great fluctuation in
political graffiti. The impact of
any government administration seems to follow a curvilinear function throughout
the term of office. Thus, the graffito "This is a Spiro Agnew Memorial Shithouse"
was more often found two years after the administration took office than in either
22
J. Dollard, L. Doob, N. Miller, O. Mowrer, and R. Sears, Frustration and Aggression (New
Haven, 1939).
23 S. Feshbach, "Aggression," in Carmichael's Manual of Child
Psychology, ed. P. Mussen (New
York, 1970).
364
STOCKER, DUTCHER, HARGROVE, AND COOK
electionyear.The longitudinalstudyis slowly bearingout a curvilinearfunction
explanationfor the fluctuationof politicalgraffiti.Rudinand Harless'studyalso
tends to confirmthis stance.Botkin has pointed out a similartrend for graffiti
satiricalof cars,for instance,"TheEdselof GovernmentPolicy."''2
Thus, this study supportsthe idea that graffitiare an accurateindicatorof the
socialattitudeof a community.
In consideringgraffitiof homosexualcontentin a diachronicframework,there
is a considerabledrop from Kinsey,with 75 percentin 1953 (publishingdate),
to Sechrest and Flores with 42 percent in 1966 (published in 1969), Sechrest and
Olson with 36 percentat the four-yearcolleges in 1971 (publishingdate), and
and still less in
the present study with an overall total of 16 percent in
1970
I971i.
We feel, as Sechrestand Floresmaintained,thathomosexualgraffitiareproduced
by societalconflict.
The largestdiscrepancybetweenthe Sechrestand Flores'studyand ours is the
category.This type of solicitationis perhapsno longer
invitations-and-requests
necessarydue to the impactof GayLiberation,but thereis little evidenceto prove
that such inscriptionsare a valid type of solicitation.Membersof Gay Liberation
interviewedat MU and SIU maintainthat suchgraffitiare not a meansof actual
solicitation.Also, our data would indicate that they are not actual solicitation
devices,since one often finds "Blow job here at nine on May 5" and the reply,
often in apparentlythe same handwriting,"I was here, where were you"; they
are often carriedout furtherto "I couldn'tmakeit; I'll see you on May io," and
so on. Thus, we maintainthat the decreasethroughtime of homosexualgraffitiis
a resultof more liberalattitudestowardhomosexualbehavior.
However,this alone doesnot actuallynegatethe hypothesisthatthosewho write
this type of graffitiare not latentlyhomosexual,sinceone would expectthat,with
a liberalizingof attitudestowardhomosexuals,therewould also be a concomitant
adjustmentof socializationpracticesby parents.That is, whateverfactorsmay
have been producinglatent homosexualitymay also have been altered.However,
it appearsfrom the literaturethat Gay Liberationhas been responsiblefor overturningattitudestowardhomosexuals,and it was not changesin attitudestoward
This is not to say that therewas no
homosexualsthat producedGay Liberation.25
the
Matachine
Liberation.
for
Societyand the influence
Certainly
precedent Gay
of the Wolfenden Report in liberalizingthe laws concerninghomosexualityin
Englandcould be logically assumedto have influencedthe developmentof Gay
Liberation.26However,there does not appearto have been any favorablenationwide sentimentin the United Statesthat gave the impetus for Gay Liberation;
ratherit was an unfavorablesentimentthatpromptedit. Therefore,we join Sechrest and Floresin maintainingthat homosexualinscriptionsare writtenby "normal" males, and it is the societalconflictover homosexualbehaviorthat is the
causalfactorfor its being used as an insultingdevice.We predictthat within five
to ten years homosexual graffiti on the college campus will be almost non-existent.
The difference in the amount of trite and humor-of-elimination category in
24 B.
Botkin, "Automobile Humor: From the Horseless Carriage to the Compact Car," Journal
of Popular Culture, I (1967), 395-402.
25 See Donn Teal, Gay Militants (New York,
I970).
26 The
Wolfenden Report: Authorized American Edition. Introduction by K. Menniger (New
York,1963).
SOCIAL ANALYSIS OF GRAFFITI
365
the men's and women'sgraffitiappears,at first,to quantitativelysupportDundes'
stance that men write such graffitidue to pregnancyenvy. However, the great
fluctuationin the men'sdatafor thesecategoriesindicatesthatcausalfactorsother
than pregnancyenvy may be operatingto producesuch differences.One hypothesis we advanceis that, when there is a lull in local and national sociopolitical
eventssuch that they do not exist to be parodiedin graffiti,then there will be an
graffiti,which entailsthe breakaccompanyingincreasein humor-of-elimination
of
a
A
final
defecation.
consideration
taboo, discussing
ing
concerninglatrinalia
is that we may havemisclassifiedsometraditionalgraffiti.We agreewith Dundes
that it is difficultto determinewhat is traditionalbecauseof a lack of data on
graffiti.
By far the bulk of women's graffitiat SIU was collected from a restroomsmokinglounge areain the main library.Sincethereare no smokingfacilitiesor
restroomson the firstfloor,the restroom-smoking
lounge areaon the secondfloor
is heavily used. There was ample evidenceof smoking and a great amountof
graffiti(132), which requiredover an hour and a half to copy from the lounge
areaalone. However,therewas not an unusualamountof graffitiin the restroom
stalls. Landyand Steele'shypothesisof smokingas a phallic substitutefor graffiti
would not appearsupportedby these observations.A point that should be considered is that, traditionally,smoking in public by women was not sociallyacceptable.
We feel that, when and where graffitiin women's washroomsthematically
approachthose of men's, their socializationprocessesare approachingmen's.
With the liberalityof SIU, we assumethat part of the liberalizingeffect is the
decline of non-aggressivepatternsin women's socialization,wherebyit is more
closely approachingmen's socialization.A more probableinterpretationis that
the SIU campushas been the liberalizinginfluenceon the femalesattendingthat
school. This is given tentativesupportby the increasein "maletype"graffitiin
women'srestroomsat SIU. A valid comparisonof the women'sdataat MU and
SIU cannotbe made since there were only 18 women'sgraffitiat MU. We also
maintainthat the total lack of female graffitiat WKU is due to non-aggressive
socializationprocessesof the female studentbody. This conclusionis of course
purelyhypothetical,andwe intendto testourhypothesisin the futurewith a project designedto measureindicesof women'ssocializationat all threeschools.
APPENDIX
HETEROSEXUAL
Invitations and Requests: I want a good piece of ass. Leave a girl's name on that wall that will
fuck. (M _ W _ C_
)27
Accusations of Others' Behavior:
Ffuck. Tell her Jyou.
Humor: Virginity is not an incurable
D-....disease.
......will
......sent
Statement or Question: Pussy sure is good.
(How would you know)
HOMOSEXUAL
Invitations and Requests:
(Send him to XXX)28 M.-..
27
J...-
would like to meet horny guy, large prick; call oo-oooo.
Statementsin parenthesesareresponsesto graffiti.
28 X's signifya designatedfraternity.
STOCKER, DUTCHER, HARGROVE, AND COOK
366
Accusations: W-_
sucks dicks.
J
Hostile: Screw Homos.
Humor: John, love you, Jim.
(But John doesn't love you, John)
Masturbation: Masterbate Now! You'll never know what you missed. (See what it does? Beat off
and you lose the ability to spell and write)
Statement: Hi HLove, M......;
...... M-........
NONSEXUAL
Other Humor: Robbie S. eats eagle shit. Oh a patriot.
Religion: God is dead; but don't worry, Mary is pregnant again.
(There is no hope)
Philosophical: Hope exceeds Reality.
Political: Nixon pisses fresca.
Social Satire: Ag-new's in 1984.
Hostile: Pop music sucks. Yankee turds like pop music; therefore, Yankees suck.
don't wear socks)
(They also ride hondas)
Single Words: R.O.T.C.
Statement: Zorro was here this year 1970.
Social Statement: Sisters rememberyou are women not men.
Drug Statement: I ain't going to sell drugs no more.
Play-on-Words: Women should be obscene not heard.
(They also
RACIST
Elimination: Niggers shit dog shit.
Hostile: All whites must die now.
Derogatory: Niggers smell white.
Sexual: Black -- White - o.
UNDECIDEDSEX: Use your cock; it's there for a purpose.
We here at SIU would like to know ...:how was your shit?
HUMOROFELIMINATION:
indifferent
wow
bad
good
O
O
El
O
TRITE:Some come here to sit and think; others come here to shit and stink.
scratch my balls and read the writing on the walls)
SouthernIllinois University
Carbondale,Illinois
Universityof Missouri
Columbia,Missouri
(But I come here to