diff --git a/README b/README
index 97610ff..ba32c9b 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -49,6 +49,13 @@ Permission.create_or_update(:id => 1, :role_id => role.id, :user_id => user.id)
 If you change your mind about the name for the site administrator, you can just edit the data
 and re-run the task.
 
+By default, create_or_update validates the data (using your model's validations) to ensure that 
+the data in the database is good. You can turn off validations by passing :perform_validations => false as one
+of the parameters to create_or_update:
+
+user = User.create_or_update(:id => 1, :login => "admin", :email => "BOGUS", 
+ :name => "Site Administrator", :password => "admin", :password_confirmation => "admin", :perform_validations => false)
+
 db_populate rake tasks
 ======================
 db_populate includes three rake tasks:
diff --git a/lib/create_or_update.rb b/lib/create_or_update.rb
index 374900a..1e40311 100644
--- a/lib/create_or_update.rb
+++ b/lib/create_or_update.rb
@@ -5,15 +5,20 @@ class ActiveRecord::Base
   # If it exists, it is updated with the given options. 
   #
   # Raises an exception if the record is invalid to ensure seed data is loaded correctly.
-  # 
+  # Pass :perform_validations => false to skip validations in the model.
+  #
   # Returns the record.
   def self.create_or_update(options = {})
     id = options.delete(primary_key.to_sym)
+    validate = options.delete(:perform_validations) || true
     record = send("find_by_#{primary_key}", id) || new
     record.id = id
     record.attributes = options
-    record.save!
-    
+    if validate
+      record.save!
+    else
+      record.save!(false)
+    end
     record
   end
 end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/db_populate_test.rb b/test/db_populate_test.rb
index 36abf7f..bf390cc 100644
--- a/test/db_populate_test.rb
+++ b/test/db_populate_test.rb
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ end
 
 class Customer < ActiveRecord::Base
   set_primary_key "cust_id"
+  validates_length_of :name, :minimum => 4
 end
 
 class DbPopulateTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
@@ -46,5 +47,13 @@ class DbPopulateTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal c.name, "George"
   end
   
+  def test_creates_new_record_without_validation
+    Customer.delete_all
+    Customer.create_or_update(:cust_id => 1, :name => "Me")
+    assert_equal Customer.count, 1
+    c = Customer.find(:first)
+    assert_equal c.name, "Me"
+  end
+  
 end