Caity's Corner

kaylacheri:

thirtyknives:

theeverydaygoth:

I…don’t agree. Halloween is about making costumes, and everything should be fair game. This political correctness grates at my last nerve. No one is meaning to offend your culture, they’re wearing a costume that portrays a person that just so happens to share your heritage. Of course, I’d prefer if they were accurate portrayals, but there’s only so much you can do if you’re already giving in and paying the 20-50USD for a prepackaged costume instead of making it yourself (almost always a better option, IMO.) 

The bolded bit is mine. The reason why these are so terribly offensive is the people in the photos holding the signs are the accurate portrayal. Those sort of costumes are a way of saying “I view your entire culture as something so small and insignificant that I can sum it up with a stereotype, and can put on and discard your history for a frivolous holiday.”

I’m astonished you have to be told that blackface is never okay. It ties into the history of blackface mistrels, who repeatedly stole the songs of ex slaves and made money off them while the people from whom they were stolen were still treated little better than chattel.

The geisha is a continuation of the western sexualization of Asian women, a relic from colonialism where Asian women are small, delicate and easy to push around. It’s something that women of Asian descent in the west, have to deal with on a daily basis.

Likewise reducing all Arabic people to terrorists. Mexicans are not donkey-riding slackers.

It’s offensive as shit because it boils an entire history down to the very worst stereotype associated with that culture.

Of course, maybe I’m biased because I’ve personally never been offended by the Goth costumes hanging around and have a “aw, that’s cute. Wrong, but cute that they’re trying” attitude toward it all, but that’s just me.

Dressing up as a Goth is about on par with dressing up as a doctor. The stereotype for goth is “spooky, listens to depressed music.” Rather than “blows up planes” or “will love you long time for a dolla.” It’s not even in the same league. Furthermore, if you start copping shit for being Goth, or you need to go stealth for a job interview or a housing application, you can put on a bit of colour and you’re free of the stereotypes. None of the people in the pictures up there can take off their ethnicity. If those costumes are fine, then those people are always in costume.

THIS.