14 DAY TRIAL // We have been hearing about clown phobia more and more recently. Although it is believed it is mostly experienced by children, adults can also overreact to the sight of the masked, big-nosed, heavily made-up entertainers.
According to Wikipedia, “Coulrophobia” is a term coined in the '80s to describe the fear of clowns. “Coulro” is derived from the ancient Greek word for "stilt-walker."
NewsToday informs that the fear of clowns is one of the most common in Britain, the only things that the British find more terrifying being spiders and needles. Whether it is a legitimate phobia or not, the clowns at John Lawson’s Circus have had enough.
They are tired of being discriminated against, and are taking proactive steps to change the public's perception of them.
Kakehole and Popol, the clowns at John Lawson’s, believe the misconception to be a result of clown characters being a fixture in horror movies, and are holding classes to show people that they are harmless.
“I think the situation has been made worse by the media. There are many horror films such as Stephen King’s It, or even The Joker in Batman, that portray the clown in a sinister light, and have subsequently heightened the fear of the clown,” circus ringmaster Attila Endresz says.
“Even Krusty The Clown in The Simpsons is portrayed as a bad tempered child-hater – and we want to show that not all clowns are like that,” he adds.
In these therapy sessions, they clowns reveal what they look like without make up. They try to make people comfortable by gradually adding face paint and putting on their costume.
“We gently introduce ourselves, explain the art of clowning, and perhaps even help the person to discover their own inner clown,” Kakehole explains.
This laudable initiative will either help people understand what is behind those big smiles at the circus, or backfire and leave them scarred for life. Either way, we have to give clowns a chance.
"We're not all crazed psycho killers,” Kakehole says.