It’s that time of year again: Spooky Season. The time when kids and adults alike get dressed up in costumes and either go trick-or-treating through the neighborhood or go to Halloween parties. While the candy was always great, the most fun part of Halloween has always been the costumes. You can dress up in something that’s cute, scary, classic, ironic, or funny – the decision is yours. There are, however, some costumes that you should probably avoid adorning. These are some problematic Halloween costumes that, if you were thinking about using them, perhaps you should reconsider.
10 Problematic Halloween Costumes
I know that there are many people who will just say “It’s just a costume, who cares?”. When you dress up as something that offends another group of people, however, that’s just not cool. I’m talking about racist or costumes that make a caricature of real-life tragic events. These problematic Halloween costumes are ones that you are better off leaving in the costume bin – or better yet, getting rid of altogether.
1. Anything With Black Face
It doesn’t matter if you are dressing up as a character who is black, do not paint your face to match. Want to dress up as the Black Panther? Go for it – put on the suit. Mike Tyson? Why not? Just do not paint your face black in an effort to look more like them. Doing so dismisses the oppression that black people, particularly in the United States, have endured.
2. A Nazi
Kentucky man, son’s Nazi Halloween costumes cause backlash https://t.co/x0eJpWtAk1 #10TV pic.twitter.com/r6N7h7J9lc
— 10TV (@10TV) October 29, 2018
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime are not just the villains in a Marvel film. These were real-life bad guys who committed the mass genocide of an entire race of people. The ripple of their ideology still exists in the world today, constantly putting Jewish people’s safety under threat. To you, this may just have been a chapter in your history textbook in high school. For Jewish people, this was the greatest tragedy of their time. Do not downplay it by turning their oppressor into a caricature.
3. Indigenous Peoples
Whether your costume resembles the traditional dress of the Metis or the Inuit, you shouldn’t wear it. Dressing up as an indigenous person turns their culture into a costume. These are real people with real customs, languages, and more. They have also faced, and continue to face, oppression and hardship to this day. Dressing up as them is not cute, especially the “sexy Indian” costumes, as sexualizing someone else’s culture is especially not a good look.
4. Any Other Cultural Group
Trying to dress up as a culture essentially means that you will ultimately rely on stereotypes of that culture. These costumes in no way reflect the complexities of these cultures, their customs, or values. Often, especially in the attempt to make them “sexy” or more adaptable to a Western society, they completely miss the mark. Put the sombrero down and kimono away – it’s time to get more creative with what you wear this Halloween.
5. Homeless People
Homeless people are not just one big character. They are individuals with names, hopes, dreams, and lives, albeit challenging ones. Dressing up as a homeless person takes away that individuality and completely strips those people of all of their humanity.
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6. Transphobic and Homophobic Costumes
A quick search online reveals plenty of costumes called things like “adult male ho”. These costumes are the full kit for a man to dress himself up as a woman, though they tend to lean heavily towards creating a grotesque caricature of a female sex worker. Not only is this offensive to women who work in this industry, but it also is highly homophobic and transphobic. Also, if you’re looking for a laugh, look elsewhere – it’s just not funny.
7. Rasta Man or Woman
The Rastafari movement is a spiritual tradition that comes from Christianity in Jamaica. Yes, the men do wear their hair in dreadlocks. Yes, there are famous members of Rasta culture such as Bob Marley who dressed a certain way and enjoyed smoking marijuana. Dressing up as “Rasta man”, however, diminishes the whole movement and its values, morals, and beliefs, to just what we’ve seen from one or two famous singers.
8. Anne Frank
Back in 2017, there was a costume online labeled as “World War II Evacuee Girl”. While the website claims these were historically accurate costumes intended for things such as school plays, the internet took one look at that and thought “Are you suggesting that children dress up as holocaust victim Anne Frank?”. Again, I can’t stress this enough: The Holocaust was a horrific part of our world’s history. Do not downplay it, or the struggles of the Jewish people, by turning this into a costume. (1)
9. Terrorist
Terrorists are not characters, they are real people with the intent to harm others. On top of this, dressing up as one yet again paints an entire ethnic group in one light. After all, these terrorist costumes are never white people. No, they are always made to depict what they think someone from the Middle East might look like and wear. This puts forward the narrative that all people from this part of the world are potential terrorists, which they are most certainly not.
10. Religious Outfits
Whether you are dressing up as a catholic nun or putting on a burka, imitating any other religious group in the world is not a “cool” costume idea. Get more creative and think of something else to wear rather than appropriating someone else’s religion.
Bottom Line
Halloween costumes are fun. They can be cool, funny, and beautiful. They don’t have to be hyper-sexualized caricatures of real-life people or make light of really difficult, tragic events. Have fun dressing up, just keep the archaic, offensive costumes away.
Keep Reading: Police Were Repeatedly Called To Man’s Gruesome Halloween Display
Source
- “Retailers Remove Anne Frank Halloween Costume After Backlash.” Time. Katie Reilly. October 16, 2017.