I have started to notice that I use the phrase WIC quite a bit on this blog as a shortcut, and I've never discussed it at length. I think that shortcuts lead to lazy thought, which leads to dangerously sloppy thinking. So. Time to discuss.

What do I mean when I say WIC? In short: I mean the Wedding Industrial Complex. In long form, it's a lot more complicated.

I wish I could tell you the genesis of the term Wedding Industrial Complex, but I can't. I wish I could tell you the first time I heard the term WIC, but I can't, at least not precisely. I do know it was in the 1990's, a time when we spent a whole lot more time talking about the Military Industrial Complex, and I also know that I thought it was hilarious. It was funny in the way a New Yorker cartoon is funny. It was true and ridiculous at the same time. It was layered. It was evocative. The first time I heard the term I imaged factories churning out wedding dresses and massive diamond rings the same way they might churn out missiles or M-16's. I thought that it was correct in that the wedding industry can be destructive and enormous, but it was silly because the Military Industrial Complex was about making war and the Wedding Industrial Complex was (at least overtly) about making love. It was complicated, and I like complicated. It made me snicker, and I like snickering. It made me think, which as you might guess, I like.
Continue reading The Wedding Industrial Complex, As It Were