Is Your Halloween Costume Offensive?

Ah, Halloween, a time of frights and fun, candy and costumes, ghosts and ghouls, and – cultural appropriation and racism? Halloween is the one day a year you can decide to be something you’re not, to get creative, and try something new without consequence, making it one of my favourite holidays! However, when people take that opportunity as a chance to “be” a race or culture they’re not, that’s when things get tricky.

Of course, the debate of appropriation vs appreciation is one that is reopened every year and yet there is still no unanimous answer. In fact, there might never be one what with ever-evolving pop culture and constantly changing trends. More importantly, what one person may find offensive or insensitive, another may not. The fact of the matter is, the line is blurry and in some cases it can be hard to determine if it’s bad taste, ignorance, or plain ol’ racist. To be frank, anything taken from a particular context can be interpreted to be offensive. However, this doesn’t mean that anything goes on Halloween and people can take advantage of society’s increasing social awareness to make the excuse that “oh, it’s just a costume”, or that “people are too politically correct these days”. No matter how subjective and widespread the conversation may be, I think there are definitely some solid guidelines and questions to consider when picking out your Halloween costume.

Does it involve the darkening of your skin tone?

If your costume involves black or brown face, it is not appropriate or remotely ok to wear. Under no circumstances is blackface acceptable, whether it be on Halloween or not. It is insensitive and demeaning and there is no excuse. If you decide to dress up as a character that happens to be black  or brown(again, it’s a gray area, so be cautious), just leave the skin tone out of it. Most likely, there are plenty of other aspects and facets of the character that you can utilize in your costume because the colour of someone’s skin is not their only defining factor. As long as you’re not taking advantage of hurtful or generalizing stereotypes, it should be alright. For instance, if you’re taking inspiration from FBI agent Alex Parrish from Quantico, maybe try sporting a simple v-neck, jeans, badass leather jacket, and FBI cap. There is no need to try and recreate Priyanka Chopra’s skin tone because her culture is not her character’s only identifiable feature and doesn’t need to be included in the costume.

If it displays or generalizes an entire culture or race in a way that is intended to be comedic or racy, it’s not ok.

Whether it be the “Pocahottie“, “dragon geisha girl“, or “mexican man“, perpetrating hurtful or offensive racial stereotypes on Halloween is never a good idea. Many make the decision to brush it off, justifying such costumes to be “just a joke” or not a big deal, but that doesn’t change the fact that these costumes try and shove entire ethnicities into a box, limiting millions of different and unique people to a slapstick sombrero or a flimsy feather headdress. You can’t just “borrow” a culture for a day. When choosing a costume, it’s important to think of the implications it might have on other people. You may think it’s hilarious to dress up as an “Arab” but after October 31st, you will probably never have to deal with being kicked off a plane, simply for making a phone call in your language. Your huge afro wig might be a hit with your friends, but it’s quite doubtful that you were ever sent home from school because your hairstyle was “unpresentable”. Try and put yourself in other people’s shoes when considering a racially based costume. If you were invited into the home of that certain group of people, would you feel comfortable wearing your costume in their presence? If not, then it’s for the best that you don’t wear that one out on Monday.

Remember different things affect people in different ways and be prepared to respect that.

If you do decide to wear something that’s in that gray area, make sure you know why you decided to wear it and be prepared to accept and respect other people’s opinions on it. If you’re dressing up as someone from a historical context who you really admire and have researched an accurate portrayal of them, that’s great! However, if you perhaps do not belong to that person’s cultural group and someone from that culture expresses that they’re uncomfortable with your costume despite your explanation as to why you chose it, then try and respect their opinion as their experiences and reasons for not justifying your costume take priority. Again, everyone has their own personal experiences that affect how they interpret things and just because your one asian friend said it was ok with them if you dressed up as Bruce Lee, doesn’t mean that they speak for everyone else of their cultural background.

Overall, I think if anything, a good rule of thumb when deciding your costume is to simply ask yourself why you have chosen it. If the answer is one that you’re not sure of or have doubts in its justification, you may want to take some time to consider how your decision may affect or influence others. Halloween is supposed to be fun and lighthearted, so don’t bring yourself or others down by choosing an offensive costume. That being said, don’t be so cautious that you can’t even find a costume in fear of being called out! Worst comes to worst, someone lets you know that they think your costume is problematic, and that’s ok as long as you understand where you went wrong and how to improve for next time. Although it may seem as this kind of scrutiny and analysis of costumes from the media and activists is ruining the spirit of the holiday, it isn’t in malicious intent but rather an attempt to educate and take into account the differences and distinctions in our diverse and forward-thinking society.