Ohio university group's 'We're a culture, not a costume' campaign goes viral
by guest blogger Patrice G.
Halloween. Any costume is okay to were right? According to an October 27, 2011 article by Marlene Habb, CBC News, Ohio University Students Teaching About Racism in Society (STARS) believe it's "NOT OKAY" to wear costumes, which apparently demean culture's and/or lifestyle. The students created poster's declaring "We're A Culture, Not A Costume…This Is Not Who I Am And This Is Not Okay" (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/10/26/halloween-racist-costumes.html). Caucasians in costumes posing as an terrorist, Geisha, and even blackface-Is this offensive to you or funny? When did Halloween become a day for people to have a free pass to be racist in the form of costume? Dressing up to make fun of cultures is definitely not cool, but the costumes do show how racism appears to be the norm in a lot of people's world views.
What the STARS group at Ohio University did is a great example of how language can be used to liberate. The group alone is an awesome concept and I applaud STARS for their efforts.
Is dressing up as other cultures for Halloween offensive to you or funny? Either way please explain.
What do you think about what the student group STARS did?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/10/26/halloween-racist-costumes.html
I heard about this a while ago. It was a nice and informative campaign. I do see how people could be offended by certain costumes during Halloween. For me, I think I only get offended when the display of my culture is done negatively. There are some extremes, and then there are some grey areas in that regard. Basically, if the costume display is done stereotypically (negative) than it's offensive to me. If someone wants to "dress up as" a person from another culture for Halloween, they should be selective or just not do it at all. I cannot speak for anyone else's culture, but what I can do is take their feedback into consideration. When you are not a part of someone's culture/ethnicity/race/gender/sex/religion you really can't say what is or is not offensive to them. I don't think it's appropriate for others to question it (with the purpose of lessening the offensiveness that someone may feel), either. There's a difference between questioning someones reaction for the purpose of learning more and questioning someones reaction to patronize. But, yea, this was an informative campaign. Some times, we just don't know what is offensive to others...especially, when it is normalized.
ReplyDeleteThe STARS campaign is useful but many people will fight it with arguments ad nauseum. Eventually people will say "How little does it take?" The article shows extreme examples, which I can agree with. I worry that this will keep going until someone dressing as themselves is incorrect.
ReplyDeleteI think that it was a great campaign for awareness because like Purple said. Some people only get offended when they are targeted, or maybe they just don't take notice as to how it can be offensive. So the STARS campaing does bring it to the for front. It makes you take a second look and say "hey i never thought about it that way" Maybe you don't mean to hurt people when you dress up in costumes that represent stereotypical traits, but that doesn't make it hurt any less.
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