Degrading stereotypes on halloween

By Talia Kollek

A few years back I attended my first university Halloween party. I fully expected it to be just like the movies, with togas and a never-ending supply of beer. What I actually encountered was questionable attire.

My one friend had decided to dress up as an Indian. The tasseled costume was complete with lines of face paint, cleavage, a hand made headdress, and the occasional joke about alcoholism. At the time, I remembered being taken aback. My friend had never displayed any racist tendencies before, so what about that night had made her actions feel acceptable to her? Why had this particular costume crossed from “dress up” to discrimination?

Unfortunately, my friends’ costuming was nothing new. Non-Natives have been impersonating First Nations people since as far back as the 1830s. An image of the First Nation’s lifestyle was built up by Europeans and perpetuated through artwork, stories, and media. To be a real Indian included living in harmony with nature, tipis and wigwams. This concept of the Noble Savage painted all First Nations people with one brush, ignoring the immense diversity of tribes across North America. It reduced an entire continent’s culture to one incorrect image.

To take this offensive caricature and wear it on a day designated for silly dress up has deeper meanings and ramifications than just a costume.

When it comes to Halloween costumes, an important issue to address is inappropriate sexualization. As if mockingly representing a culture with a costume is not offensive enough, outfits will often exploit sexuality and simultaneously skew gender roles.

Similar to the image of the Noble Savage, the image of the Sexy Squaw (or any hyper-sexualized Native woman) is a terrible misrepresentation and fetishization of a demographic. To reduce First Nations women to sexual objectification ignores the fact that they are three times more likely to be victims of violence and sexual assault (according to Statistics Canada). There is also a prominent history of sex slavery and subjugation of Native women by European colonizers. Mockingly dressing up as an at-risk population should not be considered appropriate Halloween behavior.

However, an important distinction should be made between cultural appropriation and cultural sharing. A fantastic example of cultural sharing on Mac’s campus was the Powwow held in September.

The event was organized by the McMaster First Nations Student Association and was open to the public in the spirit of sharing and education. In contrast, cultural appropriation would be for a non-Native individual to take an item with significance (such as something resembling a headdress) and wear it in jest or as part of an ensemble. Dressing up as another culture does not necessarily relate to genuine appreciation.

Suppose you disagree with me. Suppose you think that dressing as Pocahontas, a “sexy gypsy” or painting your face to look more like Kanye West isn’t offensive. Even if you don’t think that it is doing anyone any harm, there are still other aspects to consider. Most importantly, you have to keep cultural identity in mind.

You have had your own unique experiences in your lifetime, and each of those experiences is somehow influenced (for better or for worse) by your age, gender, sexual orientation, location and culture. Halloween rolls around, and it all seems like fun and games.

You get to dress up and “play” as an “exotic” culture, and then at the end of the night you get to go back to whomever you were in the morning, without experiencing any of the oppression or discrimination faced by others. Before ignoring the experiences of other people and wearing their identity as a costume, please consider that you may cause someone to feel alienated or deeply insulted by your light-hearted or well-intending theatrics.

At this point, you may be wondering exactly what you can dress up as this year. The options are endless. If all else fails, cut your losses and buy some eyeliner to draw on whiskers and go as a cat.

If you are truly having trouble thinking of dressing as anything other than a Native American then it may be time to reassess your creative thinking process.

A good start is to avoid anything that reaffirms cultural stereotypes. Is your costume something specific? Or is it a generalization of someone else’s heritage? If you are dressing up as favorite cartoon character you are doing a great job, if you are dressed as a “sexy insert-culture-here” it is time to go back to the drawing board.

What I would like you to take away from this article is the idea that costumes have significance. Do yourself and everyone else a favor this Halloween and choose something respectful.

Dressing up as another culture isn’t appreciation, it isn’t just a pretty outfit, and it isn’t something to be taken lightly or as a joke.

When people dress as a stereotype they are perpetuating deeply rooted racism and the misrepresentation of a population that is still dealing with discrimination, partially as a result of actions such as Halloween dress up. This year, please dress respectfully.