The Walls Are Talking: Gender Differences in the Thematic Content of Latrinalia in Jordanian Universities

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore gender differences in the thematic content of Jordanian male and female latrinalia. A total of 483 inscriptions have been collected from 24 toilets in two different Jordanian universities. 356 inscriptions are collected from the males’ toilets and 127 from the females’ toilets. The following themes have emerged from the data: tagging, romance, sex, degradation, alliance, philosophy, sports, complaints, and school. The data also reveals consistent gender variation in the latrinalia inscriptions collected from the toilets. The quantitative and qualitative analysis suggests that tagging and sex have been the most common themes in the males’ latrinalia, whereas romance and alliance have been the most common themes in the females’ latrinalia. In addition, the least common themes of the males’ latrinalia are philosophy, alliance, and school, whereas the least common themes of females’ latrinalia are sex, degradation, complaints and sports. Further research on this topic is recommended.