But Mardi Gras is not solely about exhibitionism and one-night stands. Although the participants may not be aware of it, there is a sociopolitical component to the sexually charged proceedings, and it's more affirmative of societal norms than rebellious. At least, that's what Wesley Shrum and John Kilburn of Louisiana State University argued in a 1996 paper focusing on the festival's public displays of nudity. "A practice that seems to be mere debauchery," they wrote in the journal Social Forces, "is an expression of moral commitment to the market economy, as well as conventional notions of ... Read More
Studying Drunken Promiscuity at Mardi Gras
February 14, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
Not surprisingly, researcher Craig Forsyth found alcohol consumption plays a role in the decision to parade one's private parts, and a lot of alcohol is consumed during Mardi Gras. According to a survey of 2004 attendees reported in the Journal of Sex Research, "68 percent of the men and 63 percent of the women reported having at least five or six drinks per sitting. Almost one-quarter of the men reported having at least 16 drinks per sitting; 15 percent of women reported the same." The survey, by Robin Milhausen of the University of Windsor, Canada, found 32 percent of those surveyed ... Read More
Unmasking Mardi Gras Deviants
February 13, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
In a 2003 paper, David Redmon of Emerson College argued Mardi Gras behavior fits nicely into sociologist Erving Goffman's 1963 theory of "backspaces" — places where people can escape the glare of judgmental neighbors and bring out hidden sides of their personalities. Redmon referred to this out-of-town behavior as "playful deviance," noting it usually occurs "when small groups of tourists travel to symbolic spaces of leisure to participate in temporary forms of transgressions." To study this phenomenon, Redmon spent a total of 500 hours at seven New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations, ... Read More
The History of Mardi Gras Beadwhores
February 12, 2010 • By • 9 Comments
In a 1992 issue of the journal Deviant Behavior, Craig Forsyth introduced the term "beadwhore" into the academic literature. The head of the criminal justice department at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, recounts hearing it for the first time at a Mardi Gras parade. He was wondering why the float riders weren't throwing any beads to his 3-year-old son, whom Forsyth was carrying on his shoulders. The ritual of tossing trinkets to the crowd had been part of the Mardi Gras tradition since the 1830s, and Forsyth and his son were yelling out the traditional plea of "Throw me something, ... Read More
The Exonerator
January 5, 2010 • By • 2 Comments
The photographic pose seems a cliché now, given the frequency with which it's been struck during the past 25 years: Jim McCloskey, a self-taught private investigator, stands next to a man or a woman just released from prison after serving time for a murder or a rape committed by somebody else. Sometimes a third person shows up in the photograph, quite likely a lawyer who helped McCloskey expose the incompetence or misconduct of police detectives, prosecutors, crime laboratory analysts, psychiatrists, defense attorneys, judges, jailhouse informants, well-intended witnesses and jurors. There ... Read More
Why It’s ‘OK’ to Leave the Party for a Quick Smoke
January 4, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
The journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence reported in September on a survey of the smoking habits among college freshman at a large Midwestern university. Smoking was "stigmatized" on an everyday level, the researchers found. But things were quite different indeed at parties, where, it seems, smoking was considered "socially acceptable" and "served multiple utility functions for this population," including: • Facilitating social interaction across gender • Allowing one to structure time and space at a party • Enabling "party" smokers to smoke with fewer negative side effects, ... Read More
Question Time for Denialism
December 30, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
The "last Nazi trials" weren't even under way in Europe last October when the BBC put a Holocaust denier from the far-right British National Party, Nick Griffin, on TV. He was clean-scrubbed but nervous, a pasty plump man in a blazer and tie, and since the program was called Question Time, he endured a lot of right-minded abuse from the audience. But why was he on TV at all? The BBC said it let Griffin participate in its political talk show because his party had polled well in a recent election. The BNP, like a German neo-Nazi party called the National Democratic Party, has won some ... Read More
The Revolution Will Be Mapped
December 28, 2009 • By • 14 Comments
To get to the headquarters of the Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities, visitors have to navigate a lengthy dirt road past white picket fences, grazing horses and a variety of outbuildings in various stages of disrepair. Set in a one-room former Primitive Baptist church on a 43-acre spread in rural Orange County, N.C., the institute holds a collection of old, ergonomically incorrect wooden desks and metal filing cabinets. The only signs of modernity are computers atop the desks. Institute founders Allan Parnell and Ann Joyner, who live in a modest country house a stone's throw ... Read More
