Where I live, Halloween is an excuse for chicks to dress in the least amount of clothing as possible.
My daughter's Christian pre-school wouldn't let them dress as witches or ghosts, so as soon as she got to public school, I let her be a witch for Halloween!Read also the 'naughty kitten' thread.
'Offensive' Halloween costumes banned by US university
University of Colorado Boulder tells students to avoid costumes including cowboys, indians, white trash or anything potentially deemed offensive.
University students in America have been told not to wear "offensive" halloween costumes including cowboys, indians and anything involving a sombrero.
Students at the University of Colorado Boulder have also been told to avoid "white trash" costumes and anything that portrays a particular culture as "over-sexualised" - which the university says includes dressing up as a geisha or a "squaw" (indigenous woman).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...lloween-costumes-banned-by-US-university.html
I used to dress up as a cowboy. These PC people are whacked IMO.
It's Halloween. I think you could probably 'sexualize' any costume.
They didn't tell students not to wear sombreros on Cinco de Mayo or green derbys on St.Patty's Day.
The thing people forget is that there's a line between mocking a culture and imitating it.
I see no problem with dressing up as a culture. It's not hurting anybody.
If someone dresses up as a culture then proceeds to use their costume to mock the culture itself and such, then that's what I have the issue. For example a girl at a party I went to dressed up as a geisha and then went around asking guys "sucky sucky love you long time" - that's crossing the line and she was rightly called out on it.
The costume isn't the issue IMO, it's the actions some people do when they've got the costume on.
A culture is not a costume. There's a difference between dressing up like Beyonce, and putting on blackface, and being a black woman for Halloween. Or dressing up like Pochantas vs. a Native American woman. And like you said, it's how people behave when they have the costume. People who like to dress up like an entire race for Halloween are going to behave in a very stereotypical, and racist way. Also, I don't really understand dressing up like a culture for Halloween, and then getting defensive when people who are of that culture are offended. How dare they not like my costume where I mock their entire race/culture! Basically, when the entirety of your costume is "I am a person of another race"---that is a racist costume.
Pot is legal here and there's a dispensary on every corner. I highly doubt anyone at CU in Hippy Town is going to be offended by a sombrero. JMO.
Where where where? :floorlaugh:
He wouldn't be mimicing another race. He's himself as if he were a negative. I think you're confusing race and the photographic process.
I do understand and appreciate this discussion for its cultural and political value though. Now, if someone wearing a native outfit had something negative attached to it, such as a racial slur, that would be something else. JMO.
It's the opposite of a film negative.
ETA: In other words, is it okay to paint your face a different color as long as you claim your costume isn't racial?
I work with a man who says his children are going as two black sports stars. The kids are white. Is it offensive if they paint their faces or wear a mask likeness of a black celebrity?