I'm doing a final paper on young Irish Traveller girlies. They first popped up on my radar when their tremendous lavish princess-power weddings started gaining Internet notoriety on tacky-wedding blogs and the like. The webs can be a scathing place. To begin, a few examples:
(I think they are darling)
A BBC station did a little docu-feature about them called My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, which obviously had as much face-value as any TLC i-dont-have-skin-anymore show. However, I think I can scrape enough from it, msg. boards, etc. to patch together a short paper. I'm considering going with a bit of a parallel finding between LDS girls sex/marital/family traditions and expectations, but may just leave the Mormons out of it.
But it would be infinitely more awesome to hear what directions you, my fellow comrades in bras, would take this subject, or even just initial reactions or interpretations.
If you would like to watch it yrself (it's pretty delightful) here is a link to pt. 1 of the show
But, if you are pressed for time, here is a little breakdown (remember these are generalizations) with some preliminary interpretations:
1. Traveller families are strictly Roman Catholic. The girls are strongly pressured against pre-martial sex.
2. Endogamous marriage (a Trav. girl + a Trav. boy) is still the norm. But, there is little dating due to that chastity regulation, and they rarely see the pool of potential partners, except at large social gatherings (like other weddings).
3. Girls are regularly stereotyped as lovers of super skanky outfits, flaunting themselves at those social events and all around town, which I see as:
(a) the social event is one of the only times they see these boys so they need to catch a lad's eye
and/or
(b) dressing is another way to distinguish themselves from the hegemony (no good British mum would let her kids hang out with girls like that), or proclaim their abstinence - mayhaps in the same sense that LDS girlies use modesty as a self-identifier.
4. These are very low-income families, living in mobile compounds. The girls often don't have much formal education. They get this one day to live an unreal luxurious fantasy before taking on the adult responsibilities of this difficult lifestyle-- most of them are late teens, veeery early 20s.
OK! I have a few more points but I think that's enough for tonight. Especially because this post has horrible layout and I cannot think of a decent title at this late hour. I'll pretty it up later.
Let me know what you think, or what questions you would pursue or just what parts you think are interesting!! Or, just enjoy the show.
Thank yooooou!
Although I am not a girl, here are my comments:
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a really, really cool topic. Lots of cool stuff here. Here are some interesting (to me) venues of research:
relationship of socioeconomic status to fashion
Traveller attitudes toward marital sex (esp in concepts of birth control, marital rape, etc)
cultural comparison between LDS and Traveller youth (I think you're on to something there)
how does the Traveller community deal with sexual deviation, unwanted pregnancy, and youth who abandon the faith?
That's a whole lot, but those are just my quick thoughts
YOU get a treat!!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE GYPSIES! From the little you've written here, it sounds quite similar to the Gypsy culture in Hungary. The Gypsy women I knew were this really interesting mix of traditional sexuality/gender binary and a kind of sexual power that white women just didn't have. I think they saw their femininity as their power--the more sexy they were, the better off they were.
ReplyDeleteI like your comparison of LDS to Traveller women. Seems to like a lot of solid comparisons could be drawn, especially the idea of "my day to be a princess" (blegh) and the fear of the unknown because of their strictness about premarital sex. Also, the massive communal aspect of it, like the way way Mormons invite EVERYBODY to their wedding and lots of people stop by the reception even if they weren't that close.
This will be a neat paper! With a slideshow, please? I find those photos tremendously endearing.
xoxox
This sounds like the coolest paper to ever exist. I would very very much like to read it when you're done. Also, I didn't know you have a blog! Woo!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, everything I know about Irish Travelers I learned from the tv show The Riches. Not to say it isn't a good show, it's just probably not terribly accurate.
What is most interesting to me is the dichotomy between dressing, uh, skankily (sure. it's a word.) and valuing chastity. It, similar to Mormon modesty, seems to commodify the girls. Branding them in the easiest-translatable way.
Yikes. I'm no help. But man! Awesome idea!
Thank yooou! Everybody gets a treat!! And love. So, soo0osoOO much love.
ReplyDelete