Behind Closed Doors: Women’s Latrinalia as Gendered Communication and Collective Voice

Latrinalia, or the study of messages left in restrooms, provides a unique record of shared communication among message writers within gendered spaces. Drawing on a conventional content analysis of 1,378 messages left in the women’s restroom of a mid-sized Midwestern university from January 2022 through November 2023, this study contributes to an understanding of women’s lived experience by identifying themes that illuminate how restroom users enact, resist, or reinterpret gender roles, especially within gendered spaces. Emerging themes include: Affirming ( n = 1040), Negative ( n = 11), Miscellaneous ( n = 8), and Unable to Categorize ( n = 319), with additional subcategories in some areas. The results demonstrate messages of social justice, sharing resources, emotional support, and engagement of religious and political matters. These findings provide valuable insight into topics important to women today and encourage reflection on how feminist scholars might direct this energy toward advocacy and community engagement. Using a critical feminist lens for analysis, the findings of this study challenge longstanding stereotypes of women’s communication as trivial or powerless and instead reveal that communication in gendered spaces is rich, robust, and community-focused.