Here's the thing: I'm not trying to be the costume police, but you can find funny or one-of-a-kind costume without being offensive or hurtful. In fact, it's probably a heck of a lot easier to find a Halloween costume that isn't offensive than to pick out one that is. When on the search for your perfect Halloween garb, here are seven halloween costumes that will never be funny that you should stay far, far away from.
7 Offensive Halloween Costumes That Will Never Be Funny
Basically, bigotry is never funny. You can celebrate Halloween in style without belittling, mocking, or imitating communities that already face prejudice. Better yet, your costume will 100 percent be better off for it.
Every year, without fail, some college students somewhere take Halloween as an opportunity to wear something breathtakingly offensive, including students at Yale who wore blackface in 2007. So, this year, Yale's Intercultural Affairs Committee sent an email urging students to consider whether their "funny" costumes might not be so funny:
"Let me be unambiguous, I am fully in support" of the email urging students to avoid offensive costumes, he wrote: "We need always to be dedicated to fashioning a community that is mindful of the many traditions that make us who we are."
As if the #MeToo movement was not a give-away, the R. Kelly trial should have serve as a huge red stop sign, but this is still worth mentioning. Sexual harassment jokes are not funny. Someone exposing themselves to non-consenting viewers isn't comical; it's a very real and traumatic form of sexual harassment. These kinds of costumes are not only offensive; they can trigger those who have dealt with harassment themselves.
If your outfit makes fun of a marginalized group of people, it needs to stay on the shelf. Take this "tranny granny" costume, for example. It got pulled from Walmart after consumers pointed out that not only does it mock transgender women, but also uses a transphobic slur in the name. Dressing up as a gender presentation other than your own is not a great idea. Trans people aren't a joke, and these costumes aren't funny.
For decades, dressing up as a "hobo" was considered a harmless outfit. As a child, I remember it being the go-to costume for children when all else failed. But it turns out that the costume in and of itself is a major fail and is offensive. In the U.S. alone, thousands of people are unhoused every day. It's a lived reality for many, not a funny or convenient outfit idea.
In the weeks leading up to Halloween, I have seen countless articles circling the internet calling out a wide variety of tasteless, offensive, and even hateful costume ideas that are sold and worn throughout the country. It may seem obvious what is harmful, and what is in good fun, but do people really understand the damage caused by these costumes that mock entire groups of people? At what point do offensive costumes become oppressive?
The people who don these costumes may think that they are being funny or even just honoring a culture different from their own, but the danger lies in their misconception of cultural appropriation and of the difference between offensive and oppressive.
"Lion-killing dentist"Halloween costume sites usually get pretty creative with the naming of their costumes so they don't infringe on any copyright, so we shouldn't need to point out that a dentist holding a lion's head (with some blood spray, nice touch) is the guy who killed Cecil the Lion. Animal abuse is... not funny. Straight up. Don't wear this, guys.
There you have it, folks. While there are definitely way more costumes out there that people should avoid, let's hope more of us will use some better judgement this year and aim to acknowledge that there's a plethora of things to dress up as that won't get anyone upset.
Varathan offers some insightful guidelines for avoiding offensive costumes. The first, dress as the character, not the race. Hence, dressing as Moana is one thing but dressing as a Hawaiian is quite another (note that this also rules out the cultural genre that was acceptable not long ago: donning a Sombrero to be a Mexican; wearing a headscarf and calling yourself a Sheikh; or putting on a kimono and a bun to become a geisha). The second, more obvious one, is to remember that dressing up in blackface is never, ever okay. Like, never. That includes sleeved costumes that would change your skin color to match that of a given character. It also includes costumes that feature the distinctive hair of another race.
Halloween is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated celebrations of the year. Who doesn't like to get into a costume, party it up and eat all the candy? Well, us humans do, the funny cats in pet costumes, whose pictures you will see below, not so much probably.
It is always fun to celebrate the All Hallows Eve full out, including your pets into the fun. Though dressing your feline in a Halloween cat costume might not be the easiest task, it is so worth it. It turns out that clothes for cats can turn them into the most amazing sharks, spiders, cat-erpillars, famous characters, and the absolute best villains. Compiled by Bored Panda, the list is full of funny cat costumes that everybody will find hilarious. Everybody except maybe for your cat that is.
Erika Christakis sent a controversial email questioning whether there was any room left for the nation's youth to be "a little obnoxious, inappropriate, and even offensive" when dressing for Halloween and it was NOT well-received.ADVERTISEMENT (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle []).push(); A week before Halloween, students were advised to avoid party themes and costumes that have "racial and ethnic overtones" so as to avoid offending minority students. In response to the initiative, Associate Master Erika Christakis wrote an email encouraging the community to consider the issue through an intellectual lens: a day "traditionally used as subversion for children and young adults is also an occasion for adults to exert their control." In American universities, free speech and tolerating offense have diminished substantially - replaced by censure and prohibition, she claims. Christakis pinpoints blame not on the students but on those who have "lost faith" in young people's capacity to self-censure through social norming.
Thank God CNN is on the constant hunt for anything racial. Next, CNN will point out all the black comedians that make fun of the stereotypical white nerd. (Or not, since no one is offended when white people are the target, because they get that it is just a JOKE!!) We will never be equal until everyone can laugh at themselves once in awhile. As someone married to an educated hispanic, I can tell you she would think this is lame college humor that is not offensive in any way. Keep up the good work, CNN!
Here's the thing... Everything is offensive to someone. No matter what you say, or what you do, there is no way to not step on someone's toes. The question is are you going to let it be a bigger issue than it should be. If you can honestly look me in the eye and tell me that this random party picture is the catalyst for a new wave anti-Hispanic sentiment across the country I might be willing to hear you out. At this point however, I honestly don't think this is the case. Keep calm and stop making mountains out of molehills.
Nick,Your'e just as ignorant as the those dumb college girls, for thinking that degrading the hispanic community is hilarious and funny. If you had any common sense, those girls were making fun of your heritage andculture. God, doesn't like ugly and those dingbat's will pay for theirstupidity from the heaven's above.
From his hit song "Never gonna give you up," this kid looks like the spitting image of Rick Astley in that music video. We may be getting older, but this song will never get old, which makes this such a great Halloween costume.
Check out all these Baby Halloween costumes that you can make yourself! With all the ideas below, you should definitely be able to get some inspiration and most of the costumes have a DIY tutorial that will be easy to follow! Enjoy!
If you still plan on going out for Halloween (Monday be damned!) but don't want to invest in dressing up, then any of the above suggestions will work. If, on the other hand, you're disheartened by the thought of boring Halloween costumes, never fear: There are still lots of people out there making a serious effort. Here are a few of our favourites so far this year:
3. Whiskey and cigarettesWe take the campaign to do away with offensive costumes very seriously: Dressing up a nine-year-old as a sexy nurse is just a terrible idea, and the sooner parents come to realize that the better. But what about dressing up your child as a walking health risk? In theory it's inadvisable, but there's still something pretty awesome about this father-son homage to vice: 2ff7e9595c
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