Surely the line has been moving throughout history and maybe I'm an impatient idealist, but it seems to me the line should have moved a little farther by now. Be Harry Potter, be a Tampon Machine (my friend did that), be a pun - like a binder of women, but how can you be "a" Native American, "a" smart Asian, or "a" hillbilly from Appalachia....these are not specific people or things, these concepts are tied to stereotypes. Does every smart Asian wear big glasses and look like a "nerd"? Does everyone from "hick" states wear flannel and play the banjo? Of course not. These costumes are stereotypes incarnate, they are the micro-aggressions that hurt people and to which the offended may even become numb over time to ignore the pain. That doesn't make it less painful or offensive.
In his chapter Culture, Identities and Meanings in Intercultural Encounters: A Semiopragmatics Approach to Cross-Cultural Team-Building, Frame discusses primary and secondary socialisation and that fact that primary socialisation is really the driving factor in how we assess things as either needing to be suppressed, modified or accepted as "foreign". Could this be applied to our sense of cultural norms and acceptability around how we discuss, treat and respect other cultures? If we are raised in a culture that ignores the micro-aggressions that exist in some costumes, and are later presented with the idea that these costumes might be offensive will we suppress, modify or accept as foreign the concept that costumes might offend? Perhaps may of us are struggling to think differently about something that we weren't raised to believe was offensive. It might seem foreign or annoying, but what if it was you reflected in that costume and everyone was getting a good laugh? Would you speak up? Would you say you were angry or hurt, so that everyone could be defensive and say lighten up??
I'd like to believe that if Victoria's Secret, No Doubt and Paul Frank are all apologizing for offending Native American tribal culture, that the line of "acceptability" is bound to continue moving, just as it has for black face.
Change.org petition for apology to Native Americans
Most of the conversations about racially inappropriate or stereotypical Halloween costumes have been centered on adults. But I think the question of “where do you draw the line,” should be extended to kids, too. When does Halloween stop being fun and when does it begin be a lesson in how to be racist?
ReplyDeleteWhen I Googled “traditional Halloween costumes for kids” these are some of the results that came up: “Princess” (i.e. Asian princess, Spanish princess, the Disney Princesses, etc.), “Indian” (meaning Native American, specifically Pocahontas or Sitting Bull), cowboy/girl, pilgrim, superheroes, witches, or ghosts.
Does anyone think twice when a little girl is dressed up as Pocahontas? If a little Asian girl is dressed as a Geisha, does this bring cries of outrage or cries of adoration? At what point does Halloween stop being childish fun and start being racist? Or is it ever okay to wear this type of costume? By letting children dress up in these types of costume, are we educating them about culture or are we further perpetuating racism?
I don’t know the answer to this question. As a child, my first grade teacher (who just happened to be my mother) taught a section on Asian and Polynesian cultures. She made culturally specific foods and had a party. We all took our pictures in Hula skirts. It was all great fun in an environment of learning. But if I had gone as "a Hawaiian Girl” for Halloween, would that have been culturally insensitive?
Again, I ask, where do you draw the line?
That's a hard question: where should we draw the line? This question has stuck with me all week after our class discussion. According to the president of STARS campaign Keith Hawkins, he believes the line falls into a debatable area whether the costume portrays negative and derogatory stereotypes of a ostracized culture: “It is the act of either using the hero or legend (or constructing a separate costume) that over-exaggerates negative stereotypes that often stigmatize marginalized cultures that makes the costume offensive." Before I knew about this campaign, I have never thought of dressing up as someone’s cultural identity could be hurtful to someone. But if these inaccurate stereotypes are offensive to some people and they get hurt from them, regardless it is just some light-hearted fun or not, we should always respect for how different ethnic groups want to be identified and act accordingly. I still remember going out for Halloween, and being made fun of "why didn't you be a geisha?" First I wished that guy who said that would have known better about Geisha before he made that absurd comment, and second, it shocked me that how people think it is fun and humorous to make comment like that to someone.
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