Halloween.... the time of year when we buy unreasonable amounts of candy, embrace the macabre, connect with others by making light of our more unfounded fears, and don a costume to shed our daily identities. It can be a time of creative expression and a way to foster community by getting to know others in a different neighborhood.. For some, however, the Halloween season can bring a sense of apprehension to see what persons, groups, or cultures are parodied for a Halloween costume. Beyond the typical zombies, werewolves, and vampires scampering from door to door in search of candy, one might commonly see a ninja, “voodoo princess” (costume sold by Spirit Halloween), black and white striped “convict” jumpsuits, a Day of the Dead skeleton, or a Pocahontas costume. The idea of a Halloween costume is to become something else for a day, but the fun is lost when we don a costume that promotes harmful stereotypes or presents a look or outfit that makes light of another person’s reality or unchangeable identity. When Halloween ends, we change back into our regular clothes and wipe off the makeup. People who are actually in the US carceral system don’t get to remove that image of the correctional institution black-and-white stripes or the life altering reality of being locked up—justifiably or not.
Some non-Black adults might get a laugh out of dressing up as Bob Marley for Halloween, but a dreadlock wig and Rasta cap is not a costume for some people. There is a long history of punishing Black people for wearing their hair “naturally” or in dreads, and stereotyping their hair by claiming that it is “dirty” or “unkempt.” With that in mind, it is important to ask: ‘What is trying to be accomplished by wearing a costume?” Project Humanities’ most recent Vital Voices event, “Beyond Books: Social Justice through Things and Stuff” was set up as an interactive exhibit of different collections of objects. You can put a book down, but we are all always surrounded by objects that can tell us a story. Who is being represented? Are they being represented in a positive or negative light? Are we seeing a particular group of people being idealized over others? What are the images we see in advertisements, children’s toys, beauty products, or Halloween costumes? The images we see inform us about what to expect from the world. For example, one item on the Halloween costume table was a “Mexican man” costume, featuring an exaggerated handlebar mustache, a poncho and a sombrero. On the front of the packaging, there was an image of a white man donning this costume and wearing a big grin. This costume’s impact lasts beyond Halloween night. There is a strong anti-Latino culture in the US, and we’ve seen this with the construction of a border wall and certain politicians promoting the idea that Mexican American people are criminals and poor. The Halloween costume of a “Mexican man” contributes to this caricature, playing into stereotypes to depict what a Mexican man must look like through a lens of white American idealization.
Recently, memes that focus on creating fake offensive Halloween costumes of gay men have been getting a lot of attention on Twitter. According to the Sacramento Bee, people have been creating fake parody Spirit of Halloween costumes by photo shopping images of themselves, creating a name for the costume, then posting the costume along with their fake outraged/offended reaction. One of the more popular parody costumes was of Lil Nas X photo shopped onto packaging with the title “gay person in a terrible outfit,” which Lil Nas playfully responded to in mock offense, claiming that his two dead grandmothers had hand stitched the outfit. This trend pokes fun at the real responses some people have to cultural appropriation, with one person satirically posting that “my culture is not ur costume.” Where this joke seems to run into some problems is that some people can blend in more easily with the what Black lesbian feminist and activist Audre Lorde calls the “mythical norm”-- white, heterosexual, thin, young, financially stable, able-bodied, cisgender)--than others. Those who do not fit into this norm are constantly ostracized and mocked, so it may land less of a laugh for them when they see someone else putting on a mockery of their identity for a day.
So, while you are listening to “Spooky Scary Skeletons” and browsing the internet for Halloween costume inspiration, take the two minutes to ask yourself these five questions posed by Kim Tran in everyday feminism and reposted by Baylor University about your top contenders.
- To what ethnic/racial/cultural group does the practice or artifact belong?
- How is the group that the practice or artifact belongs to oppressed?
- Do you benefit from doing this? How?
- Why might it make someone uncomfortable?
- What makes it possible for you to engage with this practice, tradition, or material?