These are a couple of examples of culturally offensive costumes [referring to the post from 11/1]. I am surprised that this crap even gets produced, but sadly there must be a market for it.
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These are a couple of examples of culturally offensive costumes [referring to the post from 11/1]. I am surprised that this crap even gets produced, but sadly there must be a market for it.
I saw this today, and thought of this post of yours. Have you seen this site?
http://www.ohio.edu/orgs/stars/Home.html
It’s very timely with your post about offensive costumes.
I think it is not okay to be wearing or even selling thee costumes because many people will get offended by it, it might be okay if you knew the people you’re going to be around and to know that they won’t be offended but on halloween there are many people you will not know and they may get offended by this.
I agree with Maria Strinni Gill’s post. I don’t think it’s offensive to dress as a caricature of a culture. And I find it odd that it’s okay for the people on this blog to say something is offensive and should be removed or not produced but at the same time defend Boo for wearing what he did. (I love his costume!) We can’t just sit back and say there should be acceptance and tolerance for what we believe in while at the same time behaving exactly opposite with things WE find offensive. I’m sure people find homosexuality or transgenderism as offensive as some people find these costumes. Does that mean they should be banned or that the people wearing them be “educated” to see our views as right? No. It’s freedom of expression. As long as you are not causing physical or emotional damage to someone else then deal with it and move on. And by “damage” I’m not saying hurt feelings- it’s the real world and your toes are going to get stepped on - deal with it and move on. I’m referring to physical abuse or severe emotional scarring. You can’t believe in freedom of expression while at the same time supporting censorship of ideas you find distasteful.
Again, I have to disagree with the premise that a boy dressed as a fictional character of any gender is even remotely similar to a grown adult wearing a costume that reduces an entire culture to one historically inaccurate caricature.
Everyone seems to be confused with what is meant by “offensive”. If you are disparaging someone else’s culture or race, you don’t have a right to decide that what you’re wearing isn’t offensive. They do. It goes beyond “hurt feelings” - it is the perpetuation of stereotypes and biases that are systemic. Please give this subject some more reading and consider what a lifetime of oppression and racism can do to someone.
Here’s a good place to start: http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/
And again I will reiterate that you missed my entire point. It’s freedom of expression. If we want to be free to express ourselves then douchebags are also allowed to express themselves. You can label it offensive, racist, or whatever you want. The moment you try to censor it you become a hypocrit. You don’t like something someone else said or how they dress? Get over it. It’s their right to choose. That is why it’s a free country- for better or worse.
No, you missed my point.
I NEVER said we should CENSOR these costumes. (It’s so annoying that every time someone makes the argument that people should try to be more considerate of others someone else has to jump to censorship and freedom of speech.) I never said anything about limiting someone’s freedom of expression.
No one MAKES me refrain from wearing culturally offensive costumes. I make that choice based on the knowledge of what those costumes mean because I have seen firsthand the effect of racism on others. I don’t choose to hurt others, to reduce or belittle someone else’s culture or identity, or to perpetuate racist stereotypes. That’s my choice. I wish others would CHOOSE to be more sensitive.
Many people have no idea that these costumes are insensitive, so I think when we see it we should educate people as to why they are hurtful and offensive. Not so that they can’t wear it ever again - but so that they can make the informed decision whether or not to be assholes.
Maria’s whole point was that it’s about the intention of the wearer. My point is that it is pointed out that the costume is insensitive and/or racist, and KNOWING THIS they choose wear it anyway, then their intention is clear.
Oh good god never mind. I wasn’t saying that you were the person advocating for censorship of these costumes. Note my original post was centered around this key sentence
“And I find it odd that it’s okay for the people on this blog to say something is offensive and should be removed or not produced but at the same time defend Boo for wearing what he did.”
I’m not going to get into an ego war with you because you seem to be taking a simple rebuttal as a personal attack. I made my point and I stick by it. And caps locks doesn’t emphasize your point, it just looks silly (in my opinion). Sorry if that offends you.
Ah ok, I thought you were suggesting that I was one to advocate censorship because you replied to my post saying with “The moment you try to censor it you become a hypocrit”e and saying that I had missed your point. If your point was not to censor these costumes, then I hadn’t missed it at all - I agree with it. But if your point is that we should condone these costumes, I had to disagree.
But I’m not taking anything as a personal attack, not sure why you’d think that. Do I feel strongly about this? Yes, but I’m not getting emotional about this. I’m just making a point that I think NEEDS to be made. I was using my personal experience to illustrate my point because I think there is a big difference between thinking these costumes are totally fine and thinking these costumes should be censored. My stance is somewhere in the middle. Unlike Maria’s opinion that we should just grin and bear it because we don’t know the intent of the wearer… I feel we should inform the wearer of why this is offensive and let them make the INFORMED decision to either learn from that or continue being offensive on purpose.
But again, like I said, I see a HUGE distinction between a child dressing as a fictional character being offensive to people who are bigoted vs. an adult dressing as a caricature of a real person’s culture being offensive to people from that culture.
PS: I used CAPS to emphasize because bold doesn’t work, lol. But okay, we can harp on petty details instead of the real issue if that makes you feel like you won the “ego war” (whatever that means).
How bored are you? For someone not taking this conversation personally you seem to feel the need to defend yourself. Oh well point made, missed,and emphasized. Good day stranger.
Yeah that’s it. I’m bored. I guess Sarah was bored when she wrote this blog too and you must have been bored when you commented on it and responded to me. LOL
But be clear, I’m not defending MYSELF… I’m defending the point. One I will continue to defend for the rest of my life until other people stop defending racist costumes like these. :)
ActuallyIwa.Andyouhavefunwiththat…
Oh good god! That’s the last time I try to reply on this site with my iPod. What I meant to say was ” Actually I was” and “You have fun with that” :)
I appreciate Lillith’s thoughtful response and I do agree that use of hurtful language is far worse than a costume choice. No, of course, racism in any form should be challenged. But “racist” is different from “offensive” and sometimes people are too sensitive and “judge-y” about what they are offended by.
There are definitely race-based costumes that would go too far for me - for example, someone in blackface make up with x’s over their eyes, and dragging a tree branch from a noose around their neck. That’s more than something that just “offends” my sensibilities. But just dressing as something that plays off the culture of an ethnic group … I don’t think it warrants expending offended energy on.
I see nothing wrong with wearing a sombrero, poncho and mustache of a “traditional” Mexican, or even a sexy senorita costume, or a geisha, or a ninja, or German lederhosen, or a Native American Indian. How the wearer behaves in the costume determines whether he is paying homage to the culture or being racist. I just find it ironic that costumes such as those exemplified here are challenged on this particular blog.
But how are you paying homage to a culture by wearing a historically inaccurate costume that reduces that culture to a caricature?
Since the guy in the Mexican costume pinned a “confession” to his chest…he should have been arrested and deported at the earlist possible moment. In fact he should be found now, hunted down ripped from his family and sent back to the country of his origins.
Sorry, But I love that Mexican man one!
Halloween night I saw someone in one of those “Mexican Man” costumes. He’d written UNDOCUMENTED WORKER on a sheet of paper and pinned it to the front. That’s right, folks. He went out of his way to make the costume more offensive than it already was.
These people. They walk among us.
Yeah, there’s def a line. These def cross it.
Seriously? Who cares what costumes people wear? There are so many more things to be offended about, mostly regarding how people behave rather than what they wear. Okay, so no human should be made into a caricature, I get it. But INTENT does count for something. Most people don’t intend to be jerks when buying the costume any more than you intended for your child to be a drag queen when you bought his. As a Mexican woman, I am just not offended by the costumes. Although, I know many others would be. (You wanna blog about inconsistent illegal immigration policy and enforcement? THEN I’ll show you what offends me.) So, you see a costume that appears to be in poor taste? Do what those mothers at Boo’s school should have done - groan inwardly, keep smiling, be nice to EVERYONE and don’t assume you know the intent of the wearer.
I will never understand why people are supposed to get a free pass because they don’t INTEND to be offensive or racist. The point of posts like these are not to demonize people who accidentally wore an offensive costume… it’s to educate them on WHY these costumes are offensive so they don’t continue to make that mistake.
I knew someone who used to use a lot of racist language (including the “N” word) but never in an intentionally negative way. They never INTENDED to be racist or hurtful, they just had no idea that these words were hateful words. (They were raised in a family that used that kind of language freely and in a part of the U.S. where it rarely went challenged, so they never learned why it wasn’t okay.)
Whenever I heard it, I could have just groaned inwardly, kept smiling and been nice… because I didn’t have to assume her intent, I KNEW it wasn’t ill-intentioned. But then she would never learn why it is so wrong. Now that’s an extreme example, more extreme than a Halloween costume…
My point is that if you don’t challenge racism, prejudices and cultural insensitivity when you see/hear it, you are all but CONDONING that kind of behavior/language/thoughts. When I see costumes such as these, I usually DO assume the intent of the wearer - I assume that they just don’t KNOW they’re being offensive. But that doesn’t mean I let it go unchallenged either. There IS a middle ground between calling someone racist and pointing out behavior of theirs that makes them come off as racist.
Here’s a good rule of thumb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc
Not to mention, what a waste of money. If you want to be a “Mexican Man” just throw Mexican blanket on yourself and call it a day.
Yeah, those are pretty insensitive but as long as there are people buying them, they’ll keep making them.