As future leaders pursuing our education it’s important to be aware of our role in continuing a vicious albeit subtle cycle of mocking the diverse identities of our peers and community, even when getting dressed in costume.
Too many Halloween costumes can perpetuate played out and harmful stereotypes of disenfranchised groups such as women, people of color and people with disabilities.
Long Beach City College recently sent out a message titled Halloween Costumes – Impact vs. Intent.
The message read as followed:
As Halloween approaches please be mindful that costumes that may incite fear, create panic, heighten anxiety, or trigger trauma and distress, should not be worn to campus. Additionally, as an educational community committed to civility, we ask that all students be mindful of costumes that may be deemed culturally insensitive. Thank you in advance for your cooperation!
Don’t get me wrong, fake weapons and scary masks can cause a stir.
The prop gun a film professor brought onto the PCC campus last semester led to a lockdown on campus which caused students and employees to brace themselves for a possible school shooting.
It’s important to be aware of the things that may elicit fear or offend our peers.
Costumes or props that are meant to be weapons are obvious displays of a possible threat to others. But there are also costumes that can have an insidious affect even if it’s ‘just’ a sombrero.
The bastardization of a hula girl in a coconut bra further enables others to believe in a caricature of indigenous people that are systematically disenfranchised to this day.
Halloween stores are filled with bags of Indian or Native American costumes that include red face paint and feathers.
Yet many of us may not be aware that the feather headdress they are going to wear is culturally significant across indigenous tribes.
Tribes of people who still continue to face an erasure of their culture every day.
Pop culture sweetheart or bad girl (depending on how you look at it) Lindsay Lohan said it best as her character Cady Heron in Mean Girls, “In girl world, Halloween is the one night a year where girls get to dress as a total slut and no other girl can say anything about it.”
“A sexy mouse? Fine! A sexy native woman? WOMP.”
A lot of people credit being sensitive to other people’s feelings as “snowflake culture” or censorship.
So, it comes as no surprise that people would take offense to others being offended when their culture is mocked during a holiday that is meant for fun.
But let’s face it, most costumes make a mockery of other cultures. And tend to be sexist. When mixed together, you now have a list of popular costumes that beg the question, why?
It is important to exercise awareness when dressing for Halloween because your need for fun may completely undermine a person’s entire identity.
Inanimate objects like food or even a port-a-potty are always safe (and hilarious) choices.
Celebrities and characters from pop culture can still be evoked without having to darken your skin with face paint by focusing on the details of the costume or props.
Claiming ignorance does not save you either. It’s important to ask the right questions and do your research.
Before getting dressed up for Halloween this year, ask yourself if it may offend someone.
If you feel you have to defend your use of any part of your costume, there probably is not any fun in that.
Use your education to create a clever costume or, get this, don’t get dressed up at all.
We are ‘adults’ afterall and can exercise our playful and spooky sides in a plethora of ways.
Geishas, rastafarians, warriors, gypsies, sugar skulls and even ninjas are all costumes that can mock or belittle an entire population. Keep that in mind when deciding on what you want to dress up as this halloween.
We are all collectively gearing up to head into 2020. Let’s do our part as future leaders to show generations before and after us that some costumes, along with their stereotypes, need to just die as we finish out this decade and turn a new page.