The first few weeks of school have passed and the excitement for the big three holidays have come upon us. Now is usually the time to start thinking of costumes for Halloween. While there are many do’s for Halloween costumes, there are also don’ts that many people don’t discuss. Halloween is the night where people are supposed to dress up for fun and for their enjoyment as well as others. Here are 3 do’s and don’ts to make your Halloween more inclusive for everyone:
1. DO Dress up as POC (People of Color). DO NOT Dress up as stereotypes.
There is nothing wrong with dressing up as your favorite celebrity or character that is a different race from you. It shows that you’re a very diverse person who enjoys people/ideas from other cultures. However, dressing up as a stereotype, often promotes prejudice and dehumanizes that particular race. Stereotypes, often, are stated as a reason for the injustice towards that race. It’s better to not promote these stereotypes further, knowingly or unknowingly.
2. DO wear make up. DO NOT black/yellow/red/brown face.
This tends to go along with part 1 but not all the time. Wearing make up is a beautiful thing, however, painting your face one of the colors above to promote stereotypes is extremely bad. Even if it’s to accurately represent a character, you can still be the character without actually having to be in their skin color.
3. DO show diversity/representation. DO NOT make it a joke.
It tends to be quite a dull Halloween if everyone is dressed up as the same exact character (or interesting if it is a party where everyone has to be that character). There are thousands of ideas that could make great costumes that haven’t even been explored yet (such as unique tv shows, mythological creatures, and background characters) for anyone to try. But dressing up as disabled people/lbgt+/racial troupes on purpose to make joke, isn’t good at all. There’s no need to be rude or make anyone feel less confident about themselves.
Halloween is the time for fun jokes and a good time, not to isolate people into feeling they shouldn’t be themselves, especially if they are uncomfortable with their identity. The upcoming holidays are exclusive towards many people, let’s make Halloween the one holiday that isn’t.