Garbology Analysis: Determining The Gender, Age, And Lifestyle Of The Person By Examining The Garbage

Hypothesis: I propose that by studying and examining human garbage, I will be able to determine the gender, age, and lifestyle of the person or persons’ who created the garbage on the list I am analyzing.

Gender(s)

Most of the garbage remains on the list given to me consisted of food wrappers and normal household items that both males and females use on a daily basis; however, a few items helped me determine the gender. On the list, there are many items that indicate a male creating this garbage. For example, the magazines listed consist of “Super Street” and “Maxim” so I decided to research more about both of the magazines that were thrown away. While researching, I learned that “Super Street” is a magazine aimed to sell to men. With women in bikini’s and expensive cars on the front cover, it is easy to assume a male threw this away. After realizing that this magazine was aimed towards men, I found that on the list there was also old car speakers and wires. Based off my own experiences, most women are not willing to learn how to work on their cars, especially to replace car speakers and wires, which gives me reasonable evidence to believe that at least one person in this household is male. Now, “Maxim” Magazine is also aimed to sell to males. After researching the magazine, I found the Mission Statement for the company. The Mission Statement states that “Maxim creates a richly visual journey that’s part fantasy, part aspiration and part attainable for the millennial man who believes everything worth doing is worth overdoing”.

Having these clues made it easy to tell that there is at least one male living in this space. On the other hand, there were a few items that indicated that a female could also live in this space or is a girlfriend to the male. Items like a tampon wrapper, a Maurice’s bag, and the wrapper to the movie “50 First Dates were also on the list. Tampons are normally used by females to have good hygiene during their menstrual cycle. As a twenty-year old woman myself, I can conclude that this wrapper of the tampon was used by another woman, not by a male. Most men I have known and spoke to throughout my life cringe at the thought of menstrual cycles and feminine products like a tampon.

Now, Maurice’s is a store that specifically sells women’s clothing. Directly on Maurice’s website, there is a quote that states that “We inspire women of all ages to look and feel their best – just as they are”. The store sells from sizes 2-24 which means the store is available to most women who want to look and feel their best in any clothes they wear. Since starting work at the local Plato’s Closet in Muncie, I have realized that Maurice’s is one of the most popular brands among young teens and middle-aged women in this area. The movie ’50 First Dates’ is a chick-flick mixed with comedy making it appealing to both males and females, but after doing some research, I found that females enjoy the movie more than most men do. This is mainly because of the fact that it is a chick-flick and most men want action and comedy while watching movies. I believe that these items show ample evidence that both a male and a female are living in this space.

Age

In order to determine the age of these individuals, I decided to focus on a few items such as; bill envelopes and stubs, credit card applications, and surprisingly Top Ramen Noodles. Bill envelopes/stubs and credit card applications lead me to believe that these individuals have jobs to pay for their bills and believe they are financially stable enough to receive a credit card. From personal experience, I was told by my parents that I would not have to get a job until my sophomore year of college so I could focus on my schooling. Now, my parents are not the only ones, many other parents of today’s teens believe that school is their child’s number one priority. Stageoflife.com states that “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2008, 32.6 percent of teens ages 16-19 were employed, a historic low, down from 45.2 percent in 2000. Fewer teens have part-time jobs today because they stay in school longer, spend more time studying and have less free time”. Having these statistics helped me narrow down the age range of these two individuals. Since most teens 16-19 do not have jobs; I can conclude that these individuals are upperclassmen that are in their early twenties. Now, to back this up I did more research into the age group that eats the most Top Ramen Noodles. According to finedininglovers.com “In Japan, Ramen is often called “Gaksuei Ryori,” meaning “Student Cuisine,” which actually makes a lot of sense. Each packet of Top Ramen Noodles is just thirteen cents and can feed one person for a whole year for about $142.65, according to fine dining lovers.

Now, most freshman and people living in the dorms do eat Top Ramen Noodles, but they also have meal swipes they have to use or the money goes to waste; there is no need to eat Ramen Noodles as often as someone who is living off campus in a house. Most people who live off campus are 19 and older and eat as cheap as possible, leaving Ramen Noodles as the perfect meal for us broke college students who now have to pay rent and bills. This leads me to believe that my assumption of these individuals being upperclassmen in their early twenties is correct.

Lifestyle

Coming to college and moving away from family causes everyone’s lifestyles to change a significant amount. Things such as food consumption, hobbies, and activities change. These individual’s garbage showed me that their meals consisted of simple and fast meals to keep up with their hectic life as a student. Items like Mac and Cheese boxes, leftovers from Rancho Viejo, and a peach core are quick meals and snacks that every student has. If these individuals were to live at their parents’ households the meals would most likely be more nutritional and filling than the ones displayed on their garbage list. These foods lead me to believe that the trash can that was used was in one’s kitchen. Food containers and things one would normally throw away in one’s kitchen trash like newspapers, magazines, animal accessories, and old school papers is what also helped lead me to believe that is where their trash can was located. Other items like toilet paper rolls, an empty Windex bottle, and dirt sweepings from the floor tell me that these individuals likely to be tidy and clean. Having toilet paper rolls on the garbage list helped me figure out that these individuals live off campus, but I could not tell if it was an apartment or house. While continuing to read through the list I noticed that dog fur and an empty bag of cat food was listed. Throughout my time as a student, I have realized that most apartments around campus do not allow large or medium-sized dogs or any dogs at all; while cats are normally allowed. With knowing that they have both a dog and a cat I believe it is more likely that these individuals live in a house rather than an apartment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I have identified that both a male and a female live in this space. I have also concluded that they are both upperclassman in their early twenties, living in a house off campus. Although I believe that the deductions I have made from the list of garbage I received are accurate, there is still room for misunderstanding. With Archaeology, you are given items and artifacts and are told to analyze them and basically give your best-educated guess as to what it was used for and who used it, but there is always room for mistakes. Yes, many things may lead to one assumption, but while writing this paper I realized one cannot always automatically assume something about an object or artifact because the research and statistics can prove you otherwise. Remaining unbiased throughout this project has been the most difficult part of this paper, and I now realize that Archaeologist must be unbiased about everything they study so that they can fully understand everything they are studying. I believe that I was able to correctly analyze the garbage and translate it into a story of who these people are. I could relate to these Individuals because I am a twenty-year old student at Ball State University, we have what seems like to be the same diet, and I also have pets living in my house. This project has helped me open my eyes to many possibilities and also how much time and work it takes to really understand something as simple as a list of garbage.