And those ridiculous dresses! |
| OMG- the dresses!! The bigger and flashier the better! I find the show fascinating! |
I've wondered about that. Those dresses are custom made and cost thousands of dollars. Self-employment is common among gypsies - many of the men work in construction, carpentry, driveway sealcoating, and the like. Unfortunately, engaging in scams and ripoffs to make money is also very common among them. The women generally don't work outside the home. |
I think it's also very interesting how many of them are local to us. They seem to live in Appalachia between Pennsylvania and Virginia. |
Yes, and there are a number of them in Maryland too. |
Ha! There used to be a show about the Gypsy (Traveler) community in the UK - all about their godawful weddings. The U.S. is certainly not alone when it comes to class-less populations. |
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Here ya go: British gypsy weddings. Horrific.
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/big-fat-gypsy-weddings/episode-guide/ |
Yes the US version is a spinoff of the UK one. |
| There's a sizeable contingent in Maryland. |
| The Irish travellers in the U.S. are fascinating. Many of them live in huge homes in Murphy Village, South Carolina. Designer everything, lots of conspicuous consumption. Other than the usual construction scams, they make lots of money through insurance fraud and near-fraud. For example, they'll take out huge life insurance policies on elderly or ailing extended family members. Very insular, super-devout Catholics. They are much wealthier than their counterparts in Ireland, but have similar beliefs and culture. |
| I love those shows. I find the women really interesting. It’s like they took mainstream misogyny and put it in a pressure cooker. It’s fascinating to watch the women regulate/police themselves. The porn-y costumes mixed with the constant slut-shaming mixed with the torture cleaning…it’s like looking at normal life through a kaleidoscope. I hate when they show children though because I’m snapped back to realizing it’s real life for real people. |
THIS ^^. You beat me to it. I’m embarrassed to say I used to watch that UK Traveler wedding show - it was like watching a trainwreck. Utterly appalling. I always find it amusing that some Americans seem unaware of the *vast* trashy populations in the UK. |
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