avoiding cultural appropriation this halloween

This post was edited on 10/25/2023 by blondedblogger.

Now that it’s officially October, Halloween is just around the corner. If you’re anything like my friend group, fall nights with a scary movie on, pumpkin cookies in the oven, and an apple cinnamon candle lit have already begun. And most importantly, we have the daily conversation that plagues every college girl–what should our Halloween costume be? Let’s be honest, everyone wants to have the most show-stopping, body-giving, soul-snatching costume at the party, but some costumes don’t always grab people’s attention for the right reasons. 

Whether you find your costume inspiration on TikTok, Pinterest, or borrow a friends’ costume, we all want to feel confident in what we’re wearing. But while we’re searching for or even ordering our outfits, there is something more than confidence we need to consider– and that’s being mindful of how our costumes may portray other cultures. 

Every year, people parade around in costumes portraying a culture different from their own, but fail to realize the harmful effects that their portrayals have on the marginalized communities they are attempting to represent. So, before you decide to leave the house this Halloween, ask yourself, “Is my costume offensive?” to ensure that you are not reinforcing cultural appropriation. How can you tell if your costume is offensive? Let’s dive in. 

What is cultural appropriation? 

According to Oxford Languages, cultural appropriation is “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, or ideas of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.” In other words, it’s basically when people outside of other cultures try to represent a different culture in an offensive or incorrect way. While sometimes people contribute to cultural appropriation out of innocence or ignorance, the costumes recreate harmful stereotypes and narratives about the marginalized communities which they represent. 

USA Today finds that cultural appropriation is extremely common around this time of year. People enter stores like Target, Walmart, or Spirit Halloween or online shops like Shein or Amazon to browse costume options, without realizing that these companies are exploiting cultures for capitalistic gain.

How to avoid cultural appropriation this Halloween

Cultural appropriation happens within Halloween costumes when the costume mimics skin color, clothing, traditions, or hair styles of a particular culture. Common examples of appropriation are Halloween costumes that are described as “Mexican” and include sombreros or ones described as “Native Princess” which include a neon-feathered headdress. 

In an interview with NPR, Henu Josephine Tarrant, an artist and performer belonging to the Rappahannock Tribe, stated, “It goes deeper than what you’re dressed like. When you really look at it and you really study these tropes and stereotypes and what they mean and how they affect us as Native people, you know they’re all rooted in a historically violent past.”

At the end of the day, if you feel the need to ask yourself if your costume may be offensive, it’s probably best to find something else to wear. If you haven’t done enough research to know what is and isn’t offensive, it would be a good time to step back and educate yourself about the values and beliefs of the culture you are hoping to represent. 

Feminist Expansion

Women of color are particularly at risk of the exploitation that comes with cultural appropriation as many of the cultural costumes are labeled as things like “Sexy Native American Princess,” which reproduces harmful stereotypes of women of color by creating the narrative that women of color are more promiscuous or lack the innocence of white women. Woven in with cultural appropriation is the intersectionality of feminism. Intersectionality describes the ways in which peoples multiple demographic identities impact their life experiences. It is important for us to use an intersectional lens when considering feminist issues because each person experiences life differently based on who they are and where they come from. While it may seem harmless to purchase a cheap costume at Target to wear for one night, it is imperative to consider the harmful narratives that the contributing to capitalist ideals reproduce.