As I'm sure many of us were witness to not just this Halloween, but every Halloween, is the unspoken rule that somehow the more offensive a costume, the better. This celebration of costumes and candy (and sometimes alcoholic beverages, if you're of age of course) sometimes brings out the best as well as the worst of people. Particularly when it comes to costumes.
This year I saw more than my fair share of sexy nurses and adult babies (always a weird choice), yet what I really noticed this year that I hadn't before was all the offensive racial/cultural costumes such as "Indians" (Native Americans), geishas, Egyptians, and the like. Although these costumes are often adorable and not worn with cruel intent of mockery, it may certainly be taken that way by those who belong to the culture one is simply dressing up as for one night of the week.
Offensive stereotype costumes, therefore, fall into a problematic place and may even be labeled as taking place in cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation, in its simplest definition, is taking an act, physical appearance, and/or even the language and dialectic of a minority group without real permission or understanding of what one of the aforementioned might mean and portraying in such a way that seems tasteless and even harmful to the cultural group its supposed to be representing.
One celebrity contantly under fire for being a cultural appropriator is Katy Perry. Now, I'm going to admit my bias here...I am a HUGE fan of Katy Perry. I think she's gorgeous and talented and, well I could go on for days about her awesomeness. However, that being said, the singer has made some not-so-great choices in performance themes in the past few years, and people have definitely noticed.
A couple incidents that come to mind of this are in her "Dark Horse" video, where she dresses up in stereotypical "Egyptian" costume and dances with black mummies with rather large backsides
A live performance that gained a lot of criticism was Perry's American Music Awards performance of "Unconditionally". The performance was "inspired by Japanese culture" yet only really focused on geisha costumes and cherry blossoms. Perry came under fire for using a stereotype that represents a very tiny portion of Japanese culture for entertainment reasons, a sure sign of cultural appropriation and exploiting a part of a culture that wasn't her own to enhance her stage act.
"Between the lack of Asian women on stage, the heavy-handed use of bowing and shuffling around in the choreography, and the ethno-confused set and costume design, Perry presented her viewers a one-dimensional Eastern fantasy drawn by a Western eye right out of the gate," wrote Mic contributor Phyllis Heitjan at the time. Heitjan, who is half-Korean. "Perry's 'geisha' get up is a flat, inaccurate, sexualized identity that has nothing to do with Asian cultures," she said.
As mentioned earlier, sometimes this isn't done (at least I hope not) maliciously, but when someone wears culturally-specific clothing without knowing the cultural significance behind it, it can be taken as perpetuating a stereotype. Furthermore, participating in cultural practices without taking the social responsibility to state it is not the whole culture being represented is important. When one DOES obtain permission from those inside the referenced cultural group to convey this part of their culture to an outside audience for them, it is critical to actually understand where this part of the culture comes from and that one genuinely wants to know about it...rather than just using it as a homage to a foreign, exotic land.So, be aware of cultural appropriation. Knowing it is actually a thing helps avoid offending minority groups and keeps you from perpetuating problematic stereotypes.
Basically, but the sombrero away for Halloween. Dress up as a super hero next year instead.
*Pictures and quote from http://mic.com/articles/95444/5-reasons-katy-perry-is-pop-music-s-worst-cultural-appropriator
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