Playing Mrs. Claus made me embrace feminism (Ann Votaw's Version)
Photo: Tim Darwish
For a long time, I struggled with that word — “feminist.” I’m from a conservative community in Indiana. And I am an artistic person who lives in New York City. The term didn’t capture my full experience or that of those around me.
Since becoming Mrs. Claus in 2017, I know feminism is necessary and say so here in (Ann’s Version) of this blog and in my standup commentary. You can read Mrs. Claus NYC’s version here as she recommends ways male colleagues can save Christmas.
In costume, I’m an exaggerated version of myself, a receptacle for people’s unvarnished thoughts. Having heard a giftbag of cringe-worthy statements, I’m more comfortable identifying as a feminist.
When I started portraying Mrs. Claus, marketers had a hard time understanding that a female cartoon could perform similar functions as a male cartoon. They just couldn’t wrap their minds around this, although they had no problem imagining a 300-pound man who flies in the sky, defying gravity.
A woman was a harder concept in MAN-hattan. Therefore, I didn’t get paid gigs right away. So I took to the subway, to “get out there.” This research was freeing! I observed New Yorkers’ reactions, all from the innards of my wig. And you know what? New Yorkers are actually NICE.
Some riders instinctively straightened their spines, as if I were their school teacher. Sometimes, people bared their souls. More than a few didn’t care at all. To them, I was just another clown going to work via public transit. Ho-ho-hum.
Now that I work more regularly in department stores, clients often say, “Mrs. Claus? I’m not used to seeing you!”
This honest comment brings me joy. Most venues only hire Santas and elves, sometimes Grinches. I would love to see more Mrs. Clauses out there in NYC because there is a massive void. In all of Times Square, I’ve never seen her drive in car ads. That’s a shame, since she’s been vying for the reins since the 1880s. Nor does she ring the bell to the New York Stock Exchange, even though she deals with sexism as she succeeds in business.
My favorite is when males talk to Santa about me. With raised voices, they say: “You’re a lucky man, Mr. Claus, if you know what I’m saying?”
Oh, I think we all know the implications, exclaimed loudly and too easily. Man-hattan, what’s it going to take?
I can overlook a misguided stranger.
I have less patience for ignorance in the Claus community.
A Kris Kringle once told me that Mrs. Claus is supposed to be “modest” and “ladylike,” suggesting I’m not and that he, the speaker, was my mentor and spiritual leader.
Strange. We barely knew each other. I would never dream of evaluating his portrayal, which I thought looked natural for him. He was terrific! Yet, he felt threatened by Mrs. Claus in the spotlight. As a Santa agent, he may have also worried about losing control of the money. And clients spend a lot on Christmas, with Mrs. Claus often expected to glean through the pickings, cheerfully.
My character is simple and just wants to finish that next batch of cookies, a Proverbs 31 woman “who provides food for her family.” Listen, I love baking for my sweetheart and consider this biblical passage to be an influence on my portrayal of Mrs. Claus. We should lift up our partners and colleagues.
But sisters, she’s not stupid.
She knows there are men out there whose actions threaten a good Proverbs 31 woman, someone who not only maintains a house but leaves her domestic sphere as she “considers a vineyard and buys it.” As the late writer Rachel Held Evans explained, a MOTHER wrote Proverbs 31 as a poem for her SON, making MEN the target audience. Additionally, the passage isn’t meant to be a job description or a hazing for a cult.
I already hear an argument, that Mrs. Claus is not political.
But she is whether she wants to be or not.
Just by being a woman in the public eye, she is political. Every beauty choice is up for debate, every personal triumph something to be bought and sold without giving her credit or control.
And that is why I (and she) are feminists with different ways of saying the same thing. Feminism is essential.