Lady Julia’s Entranced Realm

It sounds like a TV movie of the week.   Four women – an adulterer’s wife, his two girlfriends, and one of their friends – meet and over the course of months discuss a plot to teach Romeo (Davis) a lesson.   Eventually one of the ladies lures him to a motel where the four women tie him up, blindfold him, and verbally ridicule him.  Then.. one of the ladies (Ziemann) is struck with the bright idea of gluing his penis to his stomach with nail glue (similar to Super-glue).

All four were originally charged with felony false-imprisonment but their charges were reduced to disorderly conduct as a result of plea bargains.  Ziemann was also convicted of battery.  Each received one year probation and community service.

Fair?  Did the fella have it coming?  Too lenient?

If the situation were reversed and the victim had been a female who was blindfolded, tied up, ridiculed, and well -I’m sure you follow.  Would your answer remain the same?

Would the following information change your mind?

“Ziemann said after court that she behaved badly and the sentence was fair. She said she didn’t participate in the attack because Davis was cheating, but rather because her young daughter’s phone number was found in his telephone. Davis was acquitted this year of sexually assaulting a child after a mistrial in 2008.” – Postcrescent.com

According to an article on Cnews.Canoe.ca:

Texas Tech University’s study, which will be published in March in the Social Science Journal, says that people with two or more piercings or tattoos are more prone to deviant behaviour, which includes excess drinking, smoking pot, being promiscuous and being willing to cheat.

To draw such conclusions, researchers must have studied a diverse group of people.

Researchers asked 1,753 students from four American colleges — two state-supported public schools and two highly selective religious institutions — and found 37% reported at least one piercing and 14% were tattooed.

So instead of studying all ages, they focused on college kids.  Are adults 25 and older conspicuously free of piercings and tattoos?

What they found was “sharp differences in the levels of deviant behaviour among those with just one tattoo versus those with four or more, and among those with just one to three piercings versus those with seven or more,” reports sociologist Jerome Koch, the paper’s lead author.

“Results indicate that respondents with four or more tattoos, seven or more body piercings, or piercings located in their nipples or genitals were substantially and significantly more likely to report regular marijuana use, occasional use of other drugs, and a history of being arrested for a crime.”

Perhaps the willingness to “report” these behaviors is the most important aspect to consider when interpreting these “scientific” findings?  Is it possible college students in more conservative areas of the country*, especially those attending religious universities, are less likely to admit doing anything “deviant”?  I drank quite a lot in my early 20s, but I wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone other than the people I drank with.   At that age I was more concerned with what people think than I am now :)

Also, am I alone in my intense dislike for their use of the word “deviant”?  I am aware of the technical meaning, but most people use that word as a way to make others sound terrible instead of different.   Isn’t the occurrence of these acts in college age kids more about curiosity coupled with new-found freedom to explore?

What about you?  Do you think there is any real link to tattoos and deviance in people of any age?

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Thanks to John, Manet, and Bill for sharing their observations about this study.  It’s great to be surrounded by super smart people :)

*Another article I read indicated these colleges were in the South and the Midwest