The PeeWee Herman Purity Ring: Ironic? Sincere? You Decide
February 4, 2010 - 4:52pm (Print)
The PeeWee Herman purity ring. Is it meant to be ironic? Sarcastic? Sincere? Who can tell? Although it looks pretty ugly, and the "purity" part is hidden by the wearer. Here's the description from his website.
The Pee-wee Herman Show Abstinence Ring is a design collaboration between Pee-wee creator Paul Reubens and sculptor Brad Oldham. They worked closely together to provide you something special.
Oldham hand carved the first ring in his Dallas art studio. Each subsequent ring was hand-cast in lead-free pewter and hand polished to a satin finish. The inset Swarovski crystal provides a glamorous glint. The four-sided design allows the owner to choose what side shows. Of course, the inside of the ring features the promise of PURITY.
Although he just announced it's now for sale from his website, Paul Reubens first showed off his "purity ring" at a party in September.
Paul Reubens, better known as Pee Wee Herman, made a very rare public appearance on Tuesday evening and shocked guests at the ad.ly after party at the Twit140 conference in Los Angeles when he showed up (dressed as alter ego Pee Wee) to announce that he was posting his first ever message on Twitter.
The message invited people to re-tweet what he posted (I'm back! Follow Pee-wee! Someone who RT's this gets a phone call from me tonight! #peewee ) and immediately following his Jay Leno appearance later in the evening, Pee Wee Herman became the number two trending topic on Twitter. In other words, this meant that Pee Wee Herman was the second most talked about item on all on Twitter.
Perhaps it was the 57-year-old's new abstinence ring that had people talking. Reubens showed off the bling and announced that he had been celibate for the past... two days. Apparently this was an accomplishment for the reformed children's show star, and the joke made an obvious reference to Reubens' arrest for indecent exposure at an adult theater in 1991.
Someone who is 18 years old right now was born in 1992. PeeWee's PlayHouse ran from 1986 to 1990. So I have to believe is this meant as some kind of hipster ironic gear like trucker hats, or more likely a desperate plea for money.
Although apparently PeeWee Herman, or Paul Reubens at least, is making a comeback. He appeared, in character, on Conan O'Brian's Tonight Show in its final week.The guy that lost his kiddie show after being caught wacking off in a porno theatre is now selling "purity rings"??? Hey, Pee Wee, it _won't_ convince people that you don't have "urges" anymore, so _what's the point_?Catseye ( (|) )
The four-sided design allows the owner to choose what side shows. Of course, the inside of the ring features the promise of PURITY.
I suppose one of the four available choices of side might be appropriate for such theater visits -- after all, as with abstinence, I suppose one could be pure 'most of the time'.
Maybe he does intend it as a joke. <];-)
Catseye ( (|) )
Hysterically funny -- I love the irony.
I agree with crowepps - those who know of Reuben's conviction will probably see it as a bad ironic joke, sort of like George Bush coming out now and calling for an end to war. It is possible that this is simply a cynical attempt at garnering some money by tying "innocent childrens show" with the craze for sexual abstinence (read innocence). Note that nobody will question why we as a society define innocence as being inexperienced with sexual activity, and why we find this "innocence" appealing in young people.
Main Entry: in·no·cence Pronunciation: \ˈi-nə-sən(t)s\ Function: noun Date: 14th century1 a : freedom from guilt or sin through being unacquainted with evil : blamelessness
b : chastity
c : freedom from legal guilt of a particular crime or offense
d (1) : freedom from guile or cunning : simplicity
(2) : lack of worldly experience or sophistication
e : lack of knowledge
I think adults like to think that children are 'innocent' in the sense of 'unacquainted with evil' although anyone who has knowledge of the social dynamics on a typical playground knows that's a myth, and certainly children who grow up in dysfunctional homes have concrete knowledge of the dark side way before people will admit they do. Why sex is conflated with 'evil' is a different question altogether and one to which I have no answer.
Unfortunately, too many people believe that the way to protect the innocence of children is to maintain a 'lack of knowledge' but ignorance of reality is not a protection but instead prevents the child from having any ability to protect him or herself.
