Sound of Trumpet
2007-11-02 13:05:47 UTC
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1918396/posts
Sex-related costumes infuriate mom [dress as a pregnant nun, or an
excited priest this Halloween]
Times Herald-Record ^ | October 30, 2007 | Jeremiah Horrigan
Posted on 10/30/2007 8:18:12 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Vails Gate - Halloween is full of shocks. But the shocks Christine
O'Connor experienced at a local party and costume shop were not of the
traditional variety.
Far from it.
O'Connor and her 12-year-old son and 13-year-old stepson were
strolling the aisles in the Party Stop in Vails Gate about two weeks
ago.
It was there she found a rack of costumes she could hardly believe. A
pregnant nun. A costume depicting a Catholic priest with an erection.
"It made me sick," O'Connor said.
The sexual nature of the costumes was bad enough. The fact that they
were visually available to anyone, including children, was worse. She
got her kids out of the store, after complaining to a shop employee
who, she said, just shrugged off her complaint.
But there was another aspect of the incident that upset her.
"It seems it's open season on Catholics. What if it had been a rabbi
or a Ku Klux Klan costume?" she asked.
That concern was echoed by the pastor of her family's church, the Rev.
Robert Hilkiker of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in New Windsor.
"Being anti-Catholic is the last acceptable prejudice," he said.
"Imagine the outcry if this had been Muslims or blacks or Asians -
there'd have been a storm of protest."
Costumes like those O'Connor described seemed no less incendiary to
him than symbolic nooses that have been used in the South and New York
City to inflame racial tensions.
Hilkiker said he understands the supposed humor is the result of some
"very bad press" about factual circumstances involving sexually
predatory priests.
"But perhaps we didn't fight back as much as we should have as a group
- I think it's foolish not using our clout, since we're a sizable part
of the population," Hilkiker said.
Alan Ortner, district manager of the three Party Stop shops in the
region, said he had received no complaints at any of them.
"Obviously, I didn't create these costumes. If I'd gotten a complaint,
I would have thought it over," he said.
Jennifer Holladay, a spokeswoman for Teaching Tolerance, a program of
the Southern Poverty Law Center, encouraged people to ask "What makes
this funny?" She said that when choosing a Halloween costume, for kids
or adults, it's all about stereotypes.
"If it's history, does it deal in caricatures?" she asked. "We have to
guard against stereotypes in the name of humor. It's really that
simple."
Funny or obscene? New Paltz - You can't quite say that writer Mark
Sherman makes his living as a humorist. But the retired SUNY New Paltz
psychology professor, who writes a humor column for the local weekly
here and performs comic songs, has been at it for a long time, and he
knows obscene from funny.
His brand of funny is informed by his understanding of people and
psychology. But when it comes to the border where "funny" Halloween
costumes flirt with disrespect or obscenity, he's not laughing.
It's not funny, he said, if you're not asking to be confronted.
"It's one thing if someone goes looking for something like that on the
Web, but when it's right in your face, I've got a problem, especially
where children are involved," he said.
Sherman said he's sensitive to freedom of speech issues, but feels
that, for example, if a controversial museum exhibit is being offered,
people have a choice to see it or not.
"But Halloween is supposed to be dedicated to kids, isn't it? Why do
they have to be offensive? There's enough unhappiness out there."
Sex-related costumes infuriate mom [dress as a pregnant nun, or an
excited priest this Halloween]
Times Herald-Record ^ | October 30, 2007 | Jeremiah Horrigan
Posted on 10/30/2007 8:18:12 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Vails Gate - Halloween is full of shocks. But the shocks Christine
O'Connor experienced at a local party and costume shop were not of the
traditional variety.
Far from it.
O'Connor and her 12-year-old son and 13-year-old stepson were
strolling the aisles in the Party Stop in Vails Gate about two weeks
ago.
It was there she found a rack of costumes she could hardly believe. A
pregnant nun. A costume depicting a Catholic priest with an erection.
"It made me sick," O'Connor said.
The sexual nature of the costumes was bad enough. The fact that they
were visually available to anyone, including children, was worse. She
got her kids out of the store, after complaining to a shop employee
who, she said, just shrugged off her complaint.
But there was another aspect of the incident that upset her.
"It seems it's open season on Catholics. What if it had been a rabbi
or a Ku Klux Klan costume?" she asked.
That concern was echoed by the pastor of her family's church, the Rev.
Robert Hilkiker of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in New Windsor.
"Being anti-Catholic is the last acceptable prejudice," he said.
"Imagine the outcry if this had been Muslims or blacks or Asians -
there'd have been a storm of protest."
Costumes like those O'Connor described seemed no less incendiary to
him than symbolic nooses that have been used in the South and New York
City to inflame racial tensions.
Hilkiker said he understands the supposed humor is the result of some
"very bad press" about factual circumstances involving sexually
predatory priests.
"But perhaps we didn't fight back as much as we should have as a group
- I think it's foolish not using our clout, since we're a sizable part
of the population," Hilkiker said.
Alan Ortner, district manager of the three Party Stop shops in the
region, said he had received no complaints at any of them.
"Obviously, I didn't create these costumes. If I'd gotten a complaint,
I would have thought it over," he said.
Jennifer Holladay, a spokeswoman for Teaching Tolerance, a program of
the Southern Poverty Law Center, encouraged people to ask "What makes
this funny?" She said that when choosing a Halloween costume, for kids
or adults, it's all about stereotypes.
"If it's history, does it deal in caricatures?" she asked. "We have to
guard against stereotypes in the name of humor. It's really that
simple."
Funny or obscene? New Paltz - You can't quite say that writer Mark
Sherman makes his living as a humorist. But the retired SUNY New Paltz
psychology professor, who writes a humor column for the local weekly
here and performs comic songs, has been at it for a long time, and he
knows obscene from funny.
His brand of funny is informed by his understanding of people and
psychology. But when it comes to the border where "funny" Halloween
costumes flirt with disrespect or obscenity, he's not laughing.
It's not funny, he said, if you're not asking to be confronted.
"It's one thing if someone goes looking for something like that on the
Web, but when it's right in your face, I've got a problem, especially
where children are involved," he said.
Sherman said he's sensitive to freedom of speech issues, but feels
that, for example, if a controversial museum exhibit is being offered,
people have a choice to see it or not.
"But Halloween is supposed to be dedicated to kids, isn't it? Why do
they have to be offensive? There's enough unhappiness out there."