Halloween is a fun holiday; dressing up is a staple in Halloween culture, whether you’re going to a party, going trick-or-treating, or even just having a little get-together with friends and family.
There is no problem with dressing up for Halloween – you can be your favorite mythical creature, a character from a TV show or movie, or even a famous icon.
The problem is, some people take this to offensive levels. That is to say, with Halloween, there is always some controversy over costumes. It is nothing new. There have been examples of people being outed for wearing offensive costumes on Halloween. For instance, in 2015, the Call Me Caitlin costume was outed as transphobic and a way to mock transgender celebrity, Caitlin Jenner.
There have been other stories of white people dressing up as Black celebrities and wearing blackface – using the excuse “it’s so people know for sure who I am.” The costumes end up looking like racist caricatures of Black people instead of Black people. As with cosplay, people can identify costumes by clothes, weapons or accessories, and makeup. Skin color comes second unless the character has a special skin tone, i.e., purple, green, etc. Dressing up as an offensive costume is just another staple of racism in Western culture.
The problem with dressing up as foreigners, minorities, or other ethnic groups is that it’s a way of seeing a non-Western culture as fantastical. That is, these cultures are things to be fetishized, ridiculed, or molded to fit White audiences’ pleasure. Whenever there is a backlash about a racialized or homophobic costume, it is met with patronizing responses, such as “It’s just a costume”, “no one really thinks the minority group in question acts like that”, and “stop being such a snowflake.” On the contrary, people who dress up themselves, or even their children, in offensive costumes, can cause a long-standing problem. When a parent dresses their child up as an offensive stereotype, the negative attributes speak for a multitude of different beautiful, exotic, rich cultures. Playing a fictionalized version of real people jeopardizes their dignity and identity. Not only that, but it perpetuates an issue of ignorance in the cultural, historical, and racial sensitivity, which imbues children’s worldviews.
As a society, we should all work on being more progressive and ensure that each generation is more educated and accepting than the last. To ensure that Halloween can be enjoyed to the fullest without any backlash, there are guides to learn how to dress up as a non-offensive person. Ryerson University’s Maxine Kozak has made a questionnaire for those who want to dress up themselves or their children for Halloween while not trying to be offensive:
“1. Are you using makeup to alter your natural skin tone? What Colors are They? Such uses of makeup cannot be separated from their historical context.
2. Does the name of your costume include ethnicity in the title? These are caricatures of a group of people, not costumes.
3. Are you wearing garments or accessories traditional to a culture? Wearing a culture is not a fashion statement. There is a fine line between appreciation and appropriation.
4. Are you dressed as an offensive historical figure? Dressing as offensive historical figures can be construed as glorification, even if your costume is meant to be satirical. Just don’t.
5. Is your costume “funny” because it mocks the real-life experiences of others? Belittling the struggles of marginalized groups is never okay.”
Halloween should be fun for everyone. Don’t try to ruin it by dressing up as something distasteful and ignorant – have fun!
[pum_scroll_trigger popup=”721″]