Students give opinions on controversial Halloween Costumes

As Halloween approaches closer and closer upon us, the mainstream media is using its time to debate whether kids can or can not wear a Moana or Black Panther costume. It’s a term anyone that has traveled the depths of the political community has heard of— cultural appropriation. A definition from the Cambridge Dictionary states that cultural appropriation is, “the act of taking and using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture.” This topic comes up year round, but there is no other time that it comes up prominently than the spooky holiday of Halloween.

It has been taken seriously to the point where several schools have prohibited certain Halloween costumes from being worn. Others schools went as far as banning Halloween altogether in fear of cultural appropriation, such as a school is Massachusetts which dropped Halloween in favor of an “orange and black spirit day.”

Due to the popularity of the topic and my morbid curiosity, I sent a survey to every student of Aurora High School to get opinions of 12 different Halloween costumes that have been deemed “offensive” at some point. Each costume contained a simple question: “Is this Halloween costume offensive?” Students are then asked to explain their reasoning(s) after they have decided the level of offensiveness of each costume.

I was beyond surprised by the amount of feedback I had received. From those who defend the cultural appropriation argument to those who simply shrug and say, “It’s just a costume!”, our school appears to be divided on these “offensive” Halloween costumes.

The first costume pictured is a costume depicting Native Americans. Out of 69 students, 19 said yes to offensiveness and 50 said no.

In defense of this costume, one student states, “It is part of a culture and I think it’s great people want to celebrate it. They are not making fun of the amazing clothes.”

“They are an almost accurate representation of how they actually dressed so no it isn't offensive,” one student voices.

On the contrary, one student says, “Yes because these costumes promote the stereotype that Native Americans all dress like this and (in the case of the men's costume) that they are aggressive.”

Deeply analyzing the costume, another student says, “If the costumes were accurate, and people understood the meanings behind different feathers/accessories/beadwork patterns, than I think it would be ok as long as it is done with respect. But this is inaccurate, just another stereotypical Native costume with no thought put into it.”

The second costume features a man dressed as a grandma in a fat suit. Out of 69 students, 8 said yes and 61 said no.

“This costume does not seem to intend offense towards any particular group. In the United States, the image of a fat grandma is well known, and though it may cause offense to some overzealous body positivity advocates, it would be unwarranted,” claims one student

Another student states, “It's definitely supposed to be for a joke and it's not targeting a specific group with mocking.”

On the contrary, one student says, “People who don’t understand the struggle with weight make fun of those who do.”

“Grandmas aren’t all fat and this implies that they are,” states another

The third costume features a traditional witch costume. Only 4 students voting yes and a whopping 65 voting no.

“Nobody is actually affected by Salem Witch Trials these days or punished for being considered a witch,” states one student.

“This costume does not attempt to appropriate the beliefs of actual practitioners of magic-based religions, rather representing the "character" of the witch which is popular today,” claims another

Of all of the responses, one student gives detail as to why the costume could be deemed as offensive.

“I know I'm the only one who would probably know this but our idea of a witch (i.e. green skin, pointy hat, warty nose, eats children, worships the devil, etc.) comes from the efforts of people to wipe out Paganism back when Christianity was just beginning to become well-known. Witches exist and don't worship the devil. They hold reverence for nature and what we see people dressing up as during Halloween come from stereotypes used to make real witches look back and deter people from leaving Christianity. I’m not saying that nobody should dress up as a witch for Halloween, I just think that people have the right to know the history and make their own opinions.”

The fourth costume features a Mexican riding a donkey. 29 out of the 69 students deemed the costume offensive.

“This one is iffy depending on your audience but I don't believe the intention is to belittle Mexican culture. The costume appears to be self-aware that it is a stereotype and means no harm,” claims one student.

Another student says, “No, it's a funny costume, Halloween is meant for fun and jokes, not debate and vitriol.”

An opposing viewpoint states, “It is clearly mocking of and disrespectful towards Mexican people and their culture, not to mention it portrays a harmful, racist stereotype.”

“Stereotyping a race/ethnicity is not uncommon in the costume department, nor is it okay. This costume basically describes the basic generalization of Mexicans, and touches upon a sensitive topic, one best left out of costume production,” says another.

The fifth costume featured in the survey is one of our president, Donald Trump. Out of the 69 people that responded, 17 said this costume is offensive.

“Maybe I'm biased because I really don't like Trump, but he actually looks like this. It's accurate,” says one student.

“It's satirical. It's targeting one person (who is unlikely to ever see it). No one else should feel bad because of this costume and its target wouldn't feel bad if he were to see it (that's the idea, right?).”

On the contrary, one student says, “This costume is mocking the President of the United States and his supporters.”

The sixth costume listed is one of a pregnant nun, which is marked as the second most offensive costume of the 12 costumes featured in the survey, with 32 answering yes and 37 answering no.

One student claims, “This costume seems to be aiming for shock value, but while it isn't in necessarily good taste, it's not directly offensive.”

“It is a pregnant nun- this is a (juvenile) joke about the absurdity of a pregnant nun, given that nuns are to be celibate.”

An opposing viewpoint states, “If it weren't for the obvious pregnancy, this costume would be a boring, if slightly inflammatory, appropriation of nuns, but they had to go and add the pregnancy, implying that this nun broke the rules and applying that implication to the group as a whole.”

As Mr Snider says, "Don't screw with religion!"

To anyone who knows anything about religion, that just makes you feel uncomfortable. It doesn't have to be anything specific, it just comes off as wrong.

The seventh costume pictured is of Dia de Los Muertos. Out of the 69 students who responded, 5 people said yes and 64 said no.

“I don't personally see anything to be offended by, unless it's a Day of the Dead costume in particular, but I still don't think that would be particularly offensive since it's a holiday,” states one student.

“The Day of the Dead is a holiday and no one is offended when someone dresses as Santa.”

On the contrary, one student claims, “Dia de los muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a widely celebrated holiday/religious event in Mexico. Sugar skulls are not costumes, they are made for remembrance of loved ones, and are not to be shown off like a fashion trend.”

“Unless the person wearing this costume is of Mexican or Spanish descent, or celebrates Día de los Muertos, this is an example of cultural appropriation. However, it does seem to seek a less offensive end than the other Mexico-centric costume above.”

The eight costume is one of a Geisha. Out of 69 students, 20 students answered yes and 49 answered no.

In defense of the costume, one student says, “It portrays a historical character without mocking it, so I don't see a problem. Of course you shouldn't wear it to make fun of it, and it doesn't hurt to know a bit of the historical background, but overall it's a very pretty costume.”

“Pretty sure people don’t care when you “appropriate” their culture. It’s all the media telling us how to live our lives,” another student claims.

On the contrary, one student says, “This is appropriating Asian culture and stereotyping. Unless you are Asian, this costume is inappropriate and offensive.”

Another following statement claims, “A tradition in itself should not be demoted to a costume.”

The ninth costume pictured is one of a Sheikh Arab costume. 31 of the 69 students who responded deemed the costume offensive, making the costume the third most offensive on the list according to the responders.

“This is obviously meant to be offensive or make a joke of this culture. It portrays western stereotypes of this culture and is not respectful. It, once again, is mocking,” one student claims

“This is another costume featuring a white person dressed in the religious and cultural garb of another (widely hated in the US) ethnic and religious group than his own. This time, it does not even look like a costume- this is an ordinary thing that many people wear.”

One student on the opposing side says, “Unless you are Arab, this costume is offensive. If you dress as another religion/race/culture etc then it is stereotyping, racist, and offensive.”

“I looked up this costume and it is called an 'Arab' costume. A tradition in itself should not be demoted to a costume,” states another.

The tenth costume is one called an “Anna Rexia” costume which features a woman with a skeleton dress with a tape measure around the waist. 36 of the 69 students who responded deemed the costume offensive, making it the most offensive costume of the twelve and the only costume to receive more “yes” votes than no” votes.

Two respondents of the survey have either suffered from the eating disorder or know someone who have.

“As a person who has personally struggled with anorexia and been through months of rehab and years of doctors visits and therapy appointments for it, I cannot put into words just how absolutely repulsive and offensive this costume is. It portrays the mental disorder with the highest mortality rate, the disorder I almost died from, as nothing but a joke…”

“Having a sister with heart problems and being at a weight as low as 75 pounds is scary, no jokes should be made about it nor should it be a costume presented to little kids showing the next gen that this is okay and this is something to joke about.”

The next costume features is an Irish costume. Out of 69 responses, 12 people said the costume is offensive.

“The leprechaun is silly and not really bad alone. Combined with the beer, it becomes an Irish stereotype, but neither of these factors would be derogatory (or easily distinguishable) on their own,” claims one student.

“This costume would appear to lampoon German culture (though I am not certain of this) and though not as serious an affront as other costumes shown, I would probably opt for a different costume in the same style,” says another.

The last costume is one of a risque Handmaid’s Tale costume. Out of 69 responses, 15 people deemed the costume offensive.

A few students confused the costume for a red riding hood costume.

“It is certainly distasteful, but it isn't offensive. A Handmaid's Tale, the basis of the costume, is a work of fiction that people can portray any way they like. However, given the themes discussed in the book the costume clearly misrepresents those values,” states one student.

On the contrary, another student says, “Did the designers of this stupid costume even bother to read the book? Glance through it? Skim it? Read the sparknotes? This costume has less effort put into it, less understanding of the story behind the original costume, than a book presentation put together the night before by a drunken frat boy who didn't even read the book description.”

Another students claims, “It is disrespecting women and objectifying them.”