“Their Lives are Little Known”: Nuns and American Reform

Abstract

It is rare to see a Roman Catholic nun in a habit today, but old-fashioned nuns in full dress uniform are the darlings of the novelty business. The windup doll called nunzilla (she generates sparks), the puppet nun who boxes, and Christopher Durang's Sister Mary Ignatius, who explained it all, are just a few examples of nuns in contemporary popular culture. Like most other images of nuns, each of these, to different extents, perpetuates a stereotype of women who never think for themselves, are out of touch with the real world, and are petty and downright nasty. Is this just silly stuff or does it tap into something deeper in American culture? Certainly the fascination with nuns is nothing new. Americans have often expressed strong opinions about nuns, sometimes favorable but more often not.