Because there is nothing funnier than a person, disadvantaged by the perfect storm of race, class, and gender, being forced to give lap dances to feed herself (source):
Also, she’s fat. Hahahaha!
Comments
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Lance
To their credit, they have a section of “plus size” costumes that look, to my surprise, like actual costumes, but made for plus-sized people (as opposed to, I don’t know, “look, you could be a tomato! Or a basketball!”). The “Fairy Tail [sic] Princess”, for instance, is just a straightforward Snow White costume. And much I might hate the oversexualizing of Halloween costumes, at least there are some “sexy” costumes for plus-sized people.
I don’t know if that actually makes up in any way for the “FATTIES” category of costumes, and it sure as hell doesn’t make up for the lap dancer in particular.
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Ryan
First off, I am not defending this costume. It’s horrible and anyone who would wear it has a problem.
But is it a fair generalization to call men (and women) who go to strip clubs perverts?
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The Nerd
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pervert
If you read all the definitions of that word, you’ll see that part of it is to create a distorted way of thinking. In that sense, yes, most people who go to the average strip clubs found today are perverts.
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Joshua
This is a real stretch. I doubt we would apply this same logic and degree of common sense to some of the ways that SocImages picks apart biased language. It was an offensive generalization, plain and simple. We should acknowledge it as such and move on. No hard feelings.
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Jillian C. York
I absolutely do not agree with your statement; in order for it to be distorted, you have to have a norm. Your implication here is that the norm is chastity (or whatever word is more appropriate). While I do think that strip clubs as they exist currently are often demoralizing to women, to assume that all strip clubs are, or that anyone who patronizes them is a “pervert” is tremendously judgmental and insulting.
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Lex
Incorrect, her implication is that creating a view of women as objects available to purchase for sexual gratification is not a ‘normal’ way of thinking. This has nothing to do with lack of sex and everything to do with the ideas associated to sex currently. To assume that there being exceptions to the norm of strip clubs being objectifying – not necessarily demoralising – ignores the structure of the industry, and to argue that some don’t play into this and therefore shouldn’t be tarred with the same brush, when in fact they only occur BECAUSE of this structure, is naive.
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Jillian C. York
The structure of the industry “in the United States” right? You mean, your narrow view of the way one country does things?
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Lex
@Jillian. What? I don’t even live in the US. Regardless, the structures in place which allow industries like the one we’re talking about only occur in a specific setting – one that is exploitive and objectifying, one that sees someone’s sexuality as irrelevant for another, one in which it is seen as acceptable to trade humans for other humans sexual pleasure.
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Simone
I also like that the costume is so much darker in color than the skin of the woman wearing it. At least they didn’t put it on a white woman!
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Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist
anyone who can’t see that this costume is a racist, sexist mockery of black women (whether skinny or overweight) is a fucking idiot.
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pg
“But is it a fair generalization to call men (and women) who go to strip clubs perverts?”
Yes.
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Inky
Woah. That’s a pretty sweeping generalization, there.
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Village Idiot
Perhaps, but going to them is nowhere near as perverted as vows of chastity, or abstinence.
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Lex
Not having sex is more ‘perverted’ than objectifying or exploiting someone? Somehow I don’t think so.
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Village Idiot
Well, if perversion in this context means a sexual pathology, if we are physiologically hard-wired to desire sex, and if we posses specialized anatomy just for that purpose then it seems to me that not having any kind of sex at all is much more contrary to our nature than objectification or exploitation. I’m going with a clinical interpretation more so than a social one, I guess. And I should add that I don’t consider a mere lack of sex to qualify as pathological; I’m talking about intentionally and arbitrarily avoiding sex altogether.
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mordicai
Great! I can get my misogynistic & racist holiday shopping done at the same place! A real time saver.
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Nique
I know, right? It’s like they’re making it easy and convenient for us.
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Ashley
Wow, nice way to unfairly characterize sex workers, there.
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rachel
while that might not be true of all sex workers, it is of some. perhaps, even most. But even the sex workers who love their work STILL don’t deserve to be ridiculed with this “costume” any more than the ones who don’t love it, do they?
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Eve
Are there really fat lap dancers? That seems surprising, given that fat people are not supposed to be sexy. Or is the idea that it’s so ridiculous that it’s funny?
Neither here nor there. The fat lap dancer is oppressed by gender, race, class, and fat. Four oppressions, not three. Also, I’m pretty sure that is a man wearing it.
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rachel
“Or is the idea that it’s so ridiculous that it’s funny?”
That’s what I’m getting from it…it’s a make believe fairy creature! Har har har…This reminds me of the post on Tami’s blog about how large black women who find themselves sexy are a common “joke” in television/movies.
http://whattamisaid.blogspot.com/2009/10/et-tu-amy-poehler-whats-so-funny-about.html
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Jillian C. York
I’m not sure I agree with your implied assumption that lap dancers are always forced…
That said, the costume is disgusting and that appears to be a man wearing it.
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Nick
what the hell is wrong with you people? this costume is hilarious
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Mitzi
I just came in here to see if you had anything of substance to add. Thanks for not letting me down.
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Nick
awww really just for me?
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mirja
Hey Nick, since this blog is for analyzing images, care to explain WHY it’s funny?
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Nick
because its a guy dressed up in a fat stripper costume. its funny because its absurd. i seriously doubt its meant to degrade poor black women. its not meant to be taken as a serious comment on society its a cheap costume.
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Jillian C. York
Then why is it black? Is there a white one too? What’s funny about a fat stripper, exactly?
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Nick
because black people exist? its funny because strippers generally aren’t fat and because a man is wearing it.
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Jillian C. York
But Nick – unless there is also a white edition (which there may very well be) the creator of the costume made a conscious decision to make the wearer of the costume black. It’s not just coincidence, as your comment seems to imply.
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Nick
you don’t know that, the creator could even be black or a woman. i don’t see why just because its black its racist, stripping isn’t even a black stereotype there’s a lot of white strippers.
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rachel
what it’s “meant” to do is of little consequence, there, nick…fact of the matter is the end result is that is DOES degrade poor black women. just because the costume’s creator might’ve been an insensitive, ignorant asshole, who didn’t realize the implications of the costume, does not mean that hir actions don’t have real social consequences. a “fat stripper”, and black, too, can only be considered “absurd” in a universe where fat, black women are considered “absurd”…and if YOU think they are, then I’m sorry to inform you, you are a bigot.
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Nick
i meant its absurd because its man is wearing it… i guess i really just have a different sense of you humor than you people i don’t think that jokes about race or gender or whatever are offensive because i know that you don’t have to take them seriously. i am comfortable with them knowing that i don’t consider appearance when judging character. so although this may be offensive to some people it doesn’t mean that everyone needs to find it offensive or they’re racists. a lot of great comedians make fun of race and gender all the time, that doesn’t mean that they consider certain people to be somehow worse than them. there’s a lot more offensive shit on the chapelle show and i honestly don’t think it degrades anyone except for the people who take it out of context or as somehow a serious offense. so yeah i can see why it offends some people but i don’t think theres any fat black strippers out there crying over this.
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Joey
Nice use of gender neutral pronouns! : D
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Rosa
I went and looked around the site, and not only is there not a lightskinned version of that costume, the model appears to be the only black person on the site, and the only picture of that model.
It makes me wonder if they had it on a white man and someone thouht, okay, that’s even too racist for us, better change that.
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Janey
I don’t see any reference to perverts.
At some point I stated that I like the sight of naked men adn someone called me a pervert, when I argued about this, we looked it up and low and behold, it was accurate. I realized then that the problem is the assumption of negativity associated with perversion. I am now a pervert and proud of it.
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softestbullet
This is the only time I’ve ever seen a costume (or dress, for that matter) with flesh-colored panels that are anything other than pink or light tan, AND OF COURSE IT’S TO MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THEY’RE MOCKING DARK-SKINNED BLACK WOMEN. Aughh.
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withoutscene
I gotta say that body size is in no way secondary here. Just like race, class, and gender, it’s integral. After all, the joke IS the fatness…and the man-dressed-as-woman thing. That’s not saying that without the fatness the costume isn’t still offensive, but “man dressed as disgusting fat woman who thinks she’s sexy (who is typically marginalized by class, race, or ethnicity)” is a prevalent theme in Halloween costumes. I do an class exercise on intersectionality and fat Halloween costumes. Perhaps I’ll send it along.
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