Getting Tied Up In My Studies
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By Gillian B
Monday June 22nd 1998 02:42:00
This story dates from my final year at University, where I was studying joint honours English and Sociology. (As usual all names and places have been heavily disguised.)
I had to carry out a small research project as part of my sociology course. For most students, this involved burying themselves in the library for two weeks, then writing an analysis of something. A few would do some experimental work, usually a preference questionnaire or interview applied to a cross-section of other students. Fewer still would attempt some form of field research, as this was considered to be the riskiest option.
There had been some items in the news about the apparent unwillingness of members of the public to take action when they witnessed a crime or other public incident. I wanted to set up a scenario in which someone was clearly in trouble and see who would intervene.
(You will have worked out by now that it was me who was going to be the one in trouble.) The actual scenario was inspired by Barrington, my local open-all-hours shopkeeper, who was fulminating about a recent spate of shoplifting and what he would like to do to the perpetrators if he caught them. Barrington was a tall and very sweet but rather intimidating-looking black man. He was born and brought up in Brixton (and had the accent to go with it), of Jamaican parents.
Barrington and I set up our experiment early one Monday morning before his shop opened. I had also enlisted the services of Janet, my old schoolfriend, who was at the same university, as photographer, sound recodist and note-taker. (Three other ladies were also involved, but I'll introduce them later.) I was cast in the role of a shoplifter caught red-handed by Barrington and apparently subjected to his home-grown justice. I was tied to an old upright wooden chair next to the end of the shop counter. I was wearing my usual outdoor clothing of the period (jeans, sweater, a slightly grubby black leather jacket and Dr Martens boots) as if I'd been out shopping. (I was also wearing leather gloves to protect my wrists.)
I was tied to the chair with cotton sash cord, which was the only rope I could find easily in quantity. I was tied up thoroughly but not too uncomfortably. My body was bound to the chair back with ropes hitched to the top of the chair, going over my shoulders, crossing in front of my chest and tied off to the sides of the chair back. More ropes went round my waist and over my lap. My wrists were tied together behind the chair back. My legs were tied to the front legs of the chair at ankle and just below knee level. To complete the scene, I was cleave gagged with a bright red cotton bandana. A shopping bag was left on the floor beside me.
Janet hid a microphone and portable cassette recorder on a shelf above my chair and loitered in the shop as if she was another customer.
The shop opened at 7.00a.m. for people on their way to work to buy newspapers or tobacco. The reactions were varied. About half of the customers ignored me. About a quarter asked Barrington why I was tied up and most accepted his explanation that I had been caught shoplifting. A few of of them remonstrated with him, saying things like, "You can't do that in this country, you know." One or two congratulated Barrington on his direct approach. The remaining quarter were a mixed bag of rather more concerned reactions. Some spoke to me directly and said comforting things like, "We'll soon get you free, my dear." Two said they were going for the police. (The police had been already been approached by us and knew what was going on, but told us later that no-one had actually called them.) The remainder demanded that Barrington release me immediately, which he refused to do. No-one at all took the obvious direct action of untying me or even ungagging me.
At 9.00, as soon as there was a moment that the shop was empty, Barrington and Janet moved my chair (with me still on it) into the store room behind the counter. Janet then untied me. I used the toilet and stretched and loosened up while Janet changed the audio cassette.
Stage 2 of the experiment started next. Barrington's 20 year old daughter Leah (also a student) had volunteered to be the second subject. She was a year or two younger than me and wearing slightly less shabby clothes but the main difference was, of course, that she was black. As our agreed "shift" in the chair was 2 hours, I was concerned about her comfort, so Janet and I applied a less strict tie up to Leah than had been used on me. Leah was wearing a black skirt and sweater with a blue denim jacket on top. She was also wearing knee length black leather boots. At my insistence, she borrowed my gloves to protect her wrists. We tied her hands in front of her and tied her legs together at ankle and knee. We tied her to the chair with rope going over her lap and round her waist and chest. She provided us with a large cotton handkerchief to use as a gag. Once we had her tied securely, we waited for a quiet moment then carried her out into the shop.
Leah's spell in the chair lasted from 9.30 to 11.30. Perhaps predictably the mix of reactions was different. A higher proportion of people ignored Leah, slightly more expressed approval to Barrington, some quite strongly, and nobody at all spoke directly to her. The only untoward reaction was from one of Leah's friends who happened to come into the shop, did a double take, and collapsed in helpless laughter.
Stage 3 had Barrington's mother in the hot seat. She was normally extremely smartly turned out, but had dressed down for her role as captured shoplifter in an old beige duffel coat over brown trousers tucked into short brown sheepskin boots, a rather worn chocolate brown woolly hat and matching mittens (probably all bought from a charity shop for the occasion). Her frizzy grey hair and round wire-framed spectacles completed the image of a slightly bewildered elderly lady. Our immediate problem was that Barrington's mother was a very generously proportioned woman and would probably not be comfortable on the quite small chair we had been using. After some rummaging in the back premises Barrington produced a battered old dining chair with arms. It had a broken seat but was still usable. We used fairly minimal bindings on Barrington's mother, partly for comfort, partly I think out of respect. We tied her arms down to the chair arms with rope round her forearms rather than her wrists, the thick coat still keeping it secure. We tied her ankles to the chair legs and tied ropes round her chest and upper arms just above elbow level and below her (rather ample) bosom. We finished off with a few turns of rope over her lap and under the chair seat. Finally, we gagged her with a rather tatty old woollen scarf which she had brought with her for the purpose.
Barrington's mother was on duty from 12.00 to 2.00p.m. Again (and again perhaps predictably) the range of public reactions shifted. As before, the majority ignored her. There was limited approval for Barrington's supposed actions but a lot of comments about dotty old ladies shoplifting, some of them very unkind. There were surprisingly no threats to call the police. The only customer to speak directly to Barrington's mother delivered an appalling diatribe against "immigrants who come to Britain to rip us off".
At 2.00, we took Barrington's mother into the back room and untied her. She was fascinated at the range of reactions she had experienced and said she was really glad to have helped, even though she was a bit stiff afterwards.
The final volunteer was my supervisor from the University. Dr MacLeod is a tiny and very bouncy Scotswoman in her late 50's at that time. She loved the idea behind my experiment, possibly just because it was nice to have a student who didn't take the safest option available. When she arrived Dr MacLeod was wearing a kaftan and a shawl (academics are allowed to dress oddly), but carrying a bag which she explained was her "costume". The costume was perfect; she emerged from the staff toilet at the back of the shop in a smart grey tweed coat with black tights, black patent court shoes, black leather gloves and a huge shiny black handbag. She had pinned her usually unruly mop of wavy grey (nearly white) hair into the semblance of a permed hair-do and was wearing her half-moon reading glasses. She was every inch a rather proper middle class lady out shopping.
We tied Dr MacLeod to the same chair we had used for Barrington's mother using a similar tie up. We tied her forearms down to the chair arms and tied a long rope round her chest and upper arms and one over her lap. We decided that dressed as she was, Dr MacLeod would look more dignified with her ankles tied together rather than to the chair legs. We also tied her legs just below knee level, with the rope tied above the hem of her coat. Dr MacLeod provided a floral print artificial silk scarf as a gag, which was also neatly in keeping with the rest of her outfit.
Dr MacLeod did the 2.30 to 4.30 shift. We couldn't have asked for more public response. Very few people ignored her. Most asked Barrington what was going on. Many became very aggressive towards him and one rushed out to find a policeman (actually coming back with a traffic warden as second-best). For the first time, we had to tell people that it was all a set-up and twice had to ungag Dr MacLeod so she could tell them too.
Dr MacLeod had also arranged some publicity. Just before it was time to untie her, a reporter and photographer from the local paper arrived and also a television camera crew from the local ITV company. Dr MacLeod was photgraphed and filmed tied up in her "little old lady" persona. At the request of the press I was re-tied and sat alongside Dr MacLeod, even though that hadn't been part of the experiment. Finally we were interviewed together once we were untied and Dr MacLeod had changed back into "civvies". We made two columns on an inside page of the next day's local paper and the very last slot on the local television news programme (reserved for humorous, lightweight or downright weird items).
So my conclusions as I wrote them up were unsurprising if disturbing. A young black woman in cheap clothes who had been tied up as a shoplifting suspect was largely assumed to be guilty and her captor congratulated on taking the law into his own hands. A young white woman faired only slightly better. An old black woman in shabby clothes was assumed to be deranged. A smart elderly middle class white woman apparently tied up by a black shopkeeper provoked public outrage. The evidence provided to Barrington's customers was the same in every case, only the "shoplifters" fitted different sterotypes. Thought provoking.
Janet and I spent the evening developing and printing photographs she had taken during the day and then mounting some of them on a big display poster together with a description of the experiment. This poster went up in Barrington's shop window the next morning to allay any remaining public fears about him. Cuttings from the morning paper were also on display.
I said this story had already been published. A version, in more academic language, must be gathering dust on a University libary bookshelf to this day. If you visit Canuck's site regularly, you probably know enough about me by now to date this event to within a year or two, and you know I'm British, but I'm not going to tell you which Univeristy to look in. (And I've planted some disinformation in the story to protect the innocent.)
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Gillian B's stories
- 01 - Jill's Revenge (fF/mm)
- 02 - Murder at the Vicarage (ff/f, f/F, f/ff)
- 03 - Gillian's Birthday Present (*/mf)
- 04 - Peter and Paul (mm/F, F/mm)
- 05 - Tying Myself up in Knots (f/self)
- 06 - The Magic Show (f/f)
- 07 - Tying Myself up in Knots (Again) (f/self)
- 08 - Trouble with Tim (f/m, f/self, m/f)
- 09 - The Great Biscuit Robbery (mf/F, F/mf)
- 10 - The Lamp Post (m+f+/f+)
- 11 - Teacher Torture (or: Ol’ Soggy) (ff/FF)
- 12 - Anna's Story (ff/f, F/ff)
- 13 - A Game of Soldiers (mm/f, Ff/mm)
- 14 - A Good Old Fashioned English Hanging (f)
- 15 - Kidnapping Cathy (f/m, m/ff, ff/m, f/f)
- 16 - A Surprise Party (fff/f)
- 17 - Challenging Mum (F/mf, mf/F)
- 18 - Getting Tied Up in my Studies (f/f, ff/F)
- 19 - Money for Old Rope (M/F)
Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section