While I may label myself as quite progressive, even I had to shake my head at the most recent article written by Alyssa Rosenberg of ThinkProgress, entitled, "The Deluded Person's Etiquette Guide To Avoiding Halloween Racism, Sexism, And General Tastelessness."
In this article, Ms. Rosenberg basically says that if you wear a costume which could potentially offend one person in the world, you probably shouldn't wear that costume. I guess my question would then be, what costumes could we wear? Could we only dress up as Disney characters? Well, so long as the Disney characters were of the same gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religion as us? I'm sorry, but even I think this political correctness is going a little too far.
Rosenberg focuses a majority of her attention on racism, sexism, and "general tastelessness," as the title of her article suggests. Now, I don't believe it would be right for a person to dress themselves in a racist or sexist manner. However, I think Ms. Rosenberg is, no pun intended, looking at matters from a black-and-white perspective, as opposed to seeing some shades of grey. I think it would be racist for a white person such as myself (well, peach-ish) to dress up as the stereotypical African-American male, where I'd paint my face a darker color, carry with me some KFC, watermelons, a basketball, holding a boombox where I'm playing rap music, and whatever other stereotypes I could come up with. I would see this as a very racist costume, since I'd be negatively stereotyping a race other than my own to garner laughs. However, if a person admired another of a different race and wanted to dress like them and do so in a positive manner, I don't understand why some, including Rosenberg, see this as racist. If a Latino-American friend of mine admired Bill Clinton and attempted to look just like him, either through face-paint/make-up or a mask, I wouldn't be offended. My girlfriend dressed up like a male character from one of her favorite movies this past Halloween. I didn't find it sexist at all. I thought it was different, creative, and she did a great job. So, while I can understand Ms. Rosenberg being offended by some such costumes, I don't think it's the costume itself that necessarily makes it racist or sexist; it's the person's intent with the costume and how they wear it and portray themselves in it. If their intent is simply to show admiration, I have a difficult time seeing it as being racist or sexist.
Also, let's get real for a second here. Has Ms. Rosenberg seen many of the additions in recent years to the adult Halloween costume catalog? I'm not saying the recent trend is right or wrong. All I'm saying is if she's offended by some of these "tasteless" costumes now, she may just want to hide herself in the attic when October 31st (and the preceding weekend) rolls around every year, because things will likely only get worse (more offensive). She could do that or lighten up a little on the holiday, dress up (as a nun perhaps), have a few drinks at a party, listen to music, and have a good time. Personally, I'd go with the latter of the two options, but then again, I'm one of those tasteless Halloween dressers, since I went as a character from the Saturday Night Live skit "D*ck-in-a-box" this year.
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/10/29/2848461/halloween-milan-julianne-hough/
In this article, Ms. Rosenberg basically says that if you wear a costume which could potentially offend one person in the world, you probably shouldn't wear that costume. I guess my question would then be, what costumes could we wear? Could we only dress up as Disney characters? Well, so long as the Disney characters were of the same gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religion as us? I'm sorry, but even I think this political correctness is going a little too far.
Rosenberg focuses a majority of her attention on racism, sexism, and "general tastelessness," as the title of her article suggests. Now, I don't believe it would be right for a person to dress themselves in a racist or sexist manner. However, I think Ms. Rosenberg is, no pun intended, looking at matters from a black-and-white perspective, as opposed to seeing some shades of grey. I think it would be racist for a white person such as myself (well, peach-ish) to dress up as the stereotypical African-American male, where I'd paint my face a darker color, carry with me some KFC, watermelons, a basketball, holding a boombox where I'm playing rap music, and whatever other stereotypes I could come up with. I would see this as a very racist costume, since I'd be negatively stereotyping a race other than my own to garner laughs. However, if a person admired another of a different race and wanted to dress like them and do so in a positive manner, I don't understand why some, including Rosenberg, see this as racist. If a Latino-American friend of mine admired Bill Clinton and attempted to look just like him, either through face-paint/make-up or a mask, I wouldn't be offended. My girlfriend dressed up like a male character from one of her favorite movies this past Halloween. I didn't find it sexist at all. I thought it was different, creative, and she did a great job. So, while I can understand Ms. Rosenberg being offended by some such costumes, I don't think it's the costume itself that necessarily makes it racist or sexist; it's the person's intent with the costume and how they wear it and portray themselves in it. If their intent is simply to show admiration, I have a difficult time seeing it as being racist or sexist.
Also, let's get real for a second here. Has Ms. Rosenberg seen many of the additions in recent years to the adult Halloween costume catalog? I'm not saying the recent trend is right or wrong. All I'm saying is if she's offended by some of these "tasteless" costumes now, she may just want to hide herself in the attic when October 31st (and the preceding weekend) rolls around every year, because things will likely only get worse (more offensive). She could do that or lighten up a little on the holiday, dress up (as a nun perhaps), have a few drinks at a party, listen to music, and have a good time. Personally, I'd go with the latter of the two options, but then again, I'm one of those tasteless Halloween dressers, since I went as a character from the Saturday Night Live skit "D*ck-in-a-box" this year.
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/10/29/2848461/halloween-milan-julianne-hough/
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