With Halloween being only a day away, you might be scouring your brain or desperately surfing the Internet to find a last-minute costume idea.
Over time, Halloween has evolved into a widely-recognized holiday that allows individuals to play dress-up for a night and have an excuse to devour sugary candy. As I grew up, the special evening quickly became my favorite celebrated holiday, but Halloween might arouse debate over potentially controversial issues for some.
A speedy internet search presented me with many purchasable costumes that could qualify as questionable, and many news articles have been written about companies apologizing for their supposedly offensive get-ups. Which costumes, among so many available, are the ones that are upsetting people?
Costumes that might be considered racist include various depictions of cultures in ways some find distasteful such as Native Americans that typically look like the Disney version of Pocahontas, Mexican outfits that are usually complete with a sombrero and serape, and Asian geisha girl costumes. Although stereotypical portrayals of cultures through Halloween costumes might be offensive, these costumes are intended for people to wear only once a year. I realize that we should wear costumes that are fun rather than costumes that make fun at the expense of a culture, but I believe that the infatuation with these controversial costumes relies heavily on the individuals one surrounds himself with.
More searching uncovered costumes said to fuel stigmas that have been catching a lot of attention recently. These particular costumes portray patients in mental care facilities as bloody murderers who look more like killers in horror films. Two stores in the United Kingdom, Tesco and Asda, removed their mental patient and psych ward Halloween costumes from their websites after the outfits caused a huge uproar from Internet consumers. Both companies stated that their errors were unacceptable and they planned to each make donations to mental health charities. Although these costumes might be shocking and hurtful, perhaps it isn’t realistic to intertwine serious issues with costumes meant to be fictitious.
Many Halloween costumes are also meant to sexualize women, but I think this is a situation that needs to be viewed with caution, too. I do understand that women are sexualized in the world in which we live every day, but how many women buy costumes in the “sexy” section of a store or on a website? Should we, as a culture, be more offended that these costumes are available far and wide or that we, as consumers, continue to buy them? I’m not sure. I do think that we are constantly searching for things in humanity that we easily identify as audacious or objectionable, though.
Ultimately, the society of which we all are a part is going to inevitably be filled with an array of things that are meant and are going to offend us. I think that one progressive step as a society is to be able to differentiate between the societal constraints that bind us and what we rationalize to be acceptable and realistic in our own minds.
After all, we are the ones who have the power to reinforce a stigma by feeling complacent to act a certain way or wear a specific costume because that is what is expected of us. Let us enjoy this holiday that is meant to be fun for all rather than find ways to make it into a night that is viewed as offensive because of the costumes.