Most college students around this time of year are putting the finishing touches on their costumes and trying to decide which of several Halloween parties they'll be attending this weekend. But a student group at Ohio University is being more cautious about joining in on the fun.
Students Teaching Against Racism (STARS) have started a poster campaign denouncing what they say are racist Halloween costumes. The posters show students of different ethnicities holding photographs of "offensive" costumes -- an Asian woman holds a geisha; a Hispanic man holds a Mexican man in a traditional sombrero; and there are others, too. The posters read: "We're a Culture, Not Costume. This Is Not Who I Am, And This Is Not Okay."
I'm so depressed after flipping through all the posters that I can't help but wonder if we should just cancel Halloween altogether and be done with it.
Here's STARS president and political science major Sarah Williams explaining the goal of the campaign:
We wanted to highlight these offensive costumes because we’ve all seen them ... We just wanted to say, "Hey, this is not cool. This is offensive and this shouldn’t be taken lightly." It’s offending a culture and people should be aware.
While the students are making an important point about the need to be culturally sensitive -- and not just on Halloween but on the other 364 days of the year -- they're doing it in such a way that spoils the spirit of the holiday. In most instances, people dressing up for Halloween are doing it for fun and laughs. Of course, I can't speak for everyone involved, but rarely do people choose Halloween costumes with a malicious intention. This poster campaign suggests otherwise.
Are there people in the world who make horribly insensitive choices because they think they are being funny when really they need a bit of education and a theoretical slap on the wrist? Yes, most definitely. But if I saw someone in blackface or dressed as a terrorist at a Halloween party, I'd either leave (who wants to hang out with people like that?) or, better yet, call them out on their offensive costume (politely, of course, but in a way that gets my point across).
There are ways to have a conversation about important issues like inaccurate stereotypes and cultural insensitivity, but I see super-serious posters that accuse people of using Halloween as an excuse to be racist as a surefire way to shut those conversations down.
Image via STARS
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Comments 199
Jeeze. Since when is dressing up as a geisha for Halloween racist? The terrorist one is tacky but I'd say this is more along the lines of stereotyping than straight-up racism.
What makes you think that a white woman (because that's who we are really concerned with, right?) wearing a kimono or sari is mocking? A lot of women purchase costumes because they want to be beautiful and get to wear something that they would not normally get to wear. Costumes aren't always meant to be a joke just a chance to do something very different for you.
I would LOVE to wear a stunning sari but other than a costume party, when would I get the chance? I would love to wear a kimono. Or those lovely vietnamese dresses. Or a dress from Regency England.
Because they are beautiful and I think I would feel beautiful in them.
this is the wierd part about racism, to most people its only offensive if its black or iraqis. How can you say you would leave a party if there is someone blackfaced or dressed as a terrorist but you think STARS is taking the fun out of this "holiday"??? That's a little contradicting dont you think? you cant find a terrorist or black comstume racist yet mexican or chinese costume in the fun of halloween. You want to make things easy?? Stop all "holidays"!! They have become nothing but for profit anyway. Americans have a tendency to take what was supposed to be a reason to celebrate something and blow it way out of proportion Christmas especially! Its become who has the best/most expensive costume. whos costume can be more offensive. whos costume is most revealing. who has best/most candy. $10 for a little bag of candy really! All holidays do anymore is make kids/parents feel pressured, like we need anymore of that!
I would agree if people were wearing these costumes everyday. But they aren't. It is one day out of the year where everyone gets to be silly. What is so wrong with that? Some want to pretend to be an Asian, what is wrong with that? I honestly cannot think of a costume that I think is offensive and shouldn't be worn.
I used to have a german boyfriend (straight off the boat german), and I remember him being very offended by the german themed 'costumes' in halloween stores.
I guess it's a level of good taste - if you dress up as a geisha because you like japan, thats one thing. If you dress up as a 'black guy holding a bucket of fried chicken' like the poster suggested above, you're going to get laughs at a stereotype that's used in stand up comedy routines. But if you dress up as Hitler and offend people who's families died in the Holocaust, you have more issues. It's your audience, your intention - like a while back when people whore the australian zookeeper's outfit with the sting ray tail in the middle (he died from that attack), that was disgusting.