ABSTRACT
Although scholars have been studying graffiti found in nearly all possible venues, bathroom graffiti, or latrinalia, has received a fair amount of scholarly attention because the privacy made possible in bathroom stalls assures the highest degrees of anonymity and also allows us to explore differences in how men and women relate, consume, and produce graffiti. However, in highlighting many diverse theories and methods of inquiry, certain questions remain; for example, why do human beings produce, engage with, and validate these marks on walls? Queries about how the context affects the function and meaning of graffiti or, more specifically, latrinalia, deepen our understanding of this very human practice. (In chapter 2 of this volume, Melissa Meade explores latrinalia from a women’s bathroom and engages with questions of identity, metaphor, and communication.)
