Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Coffee Hour at Street Prophets. This is an open thread where we can discuss what’s happening in our lives, what we’ve been working on, and our opinions on current events. I thought we might talk about coulrophobia today.
Coulrophobia is the irrational fear of clowns. The word seems to come from the Greek word “kolobathristes” which means one who walks on stilts.”
Clowns are found in cultures around the world. In American Indian cultures, clowns have always had an important role in both pushing boundaries and in reminding people about social boundaries. I remember dancing at a powwow over on the Kalispel Reservation on year when the clowns were men who were dressed as women jingle dress dancers. Their jingles were condoms with bullets inside. They could mingle among the dancers and the audience and talk about AIDS and safe sex (they also handed out condoms). Because they were clowns, they could bring up a topic that people didn’t freely discuss.
With regard to the fear of clowns, I actually worked as a professional clown (okay, it was only 2 gigs, but it was still professional clowning). I got to observe firsthand the fear that some people have of clowns. In some cases, well-meaning adults would thrust young children at us and the child would become frightened, possibly planting the seeds of coulrophobia.
This is an open thread. Feel free to clown around, or just talk about dinner and other important stuff.