Talking Trash

“Y’all been lookin’ to show off that sexy new mullet?” read the invitation to a “Trash ’n’ Cash” party last weekend. “Or maybe you players are ready to bust out the new ice.” An accompanying graphic featured a pair of black men surrounded by a Mercedes, a bottle of champagne, the words “bling bling,” and stacks of money—the “cash.” Below them, the “trash” was illustrated by three mulleted white men and an overweight woman by a trailer.

At the party, few seemed willing to touch the more racialized side of the theme; partygoers stuck with the “wife-beater” shirts and aviator sunglasses which manifested the much safer “trash” side.

The idea of getting together to dress up like the poor and disadvantaged for fun isn’t limited to this campus: so-called “white trash” parties are now thrown on campuses around the country. Attendees have been known to black out their teeth, wear shirts with beer and hunting slogans or make pointed jokes about incest.

However, the guests at these parties—especially at Harvard—are likely to be the relatively privileged who might have glimpsed the rural poor on their last community service outing, but for whom perpetuating those classist caricatures seems to pose little of a problem.

This posturing evokes the story of a beruffled Marie Antoinette, traipsing around Versailles pretending to be a shepherdess. The difference here is that such parties dramatize only the worst of what we hear about so-called white trash. Clearly, to be poor and to live in a trailer means to be morally and intellectually vacuous, to be crude and uneducated and to have extremely poor personal hygiene. The white trash parties are not especially appalling or involved. In fact, like many social events round these parts, they’re more self-conscious and unenthused than audacious. Still, why have so few Harvard students, usually quick to protest prejudice, questioned the appropriateness of perpetuating such obviously offensive stereotypes?

By contrast, “white trash chic” appears to be the last semi-acceptable cultural parody, and is sometimes used as a white male claim on authenticity, a way to “be down” without imitating the racist clichés used to characterize African-Americans. Eminem and Kid Rock have been swaggering up the charts for the past few years, marketing their supposedly humble origins. Their macho antics embody the almost nostalgic perception of the tough trailer trash man as misogynist; aptly, the uniform of the trend is known as a “wife-beater,” and on mulletsgalore.com, styles are rated on a scale of “aggressiveness.”

It is jarring that these stereotypes go unquestioned on a campus that prides itself on its diversity and tolerance. Speaking out against such unthinking bigotry often elicits a knee-jerk response, usually featuring phrases like “politically correct” and “thought police,” and the accusation of having no sense of humor. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out where the line is between trying to spice up the party scene and being culturally insensitive. But it’s also true that if we need to get our jollies from making fun of the destitute and poorly educated, the social scene requires a lot more help than a theme party can provide.