Halloween costume - offensive ?

[Anonymous]

Who gives a shit about "culturally offensive".

KID COSTUME. HALLOWEEN.

Whatever she wears, she is PRETENDING and it is HARMLESS for chrissake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I say let your child dress up however she wants, so long as her intent is joyful. That is pretty much the extent of it for a seven year old. I think that we start getting into murky territory when we start legislating dress. Also, when we try to draw bright lines saying, for example, that only Chinese girl can dress up as Mulan, it sends a message that we can't appreciate other cultures.

No one is saying only Native kids can wear Native clothing, or only Chinese girls can dress up like Mulan. We are saying that throwing on a pair of silk pajamas and "binding" your feet would be an offensive way to dress up as Mulan, because it would be a stereotypical and thoughtless "Chinese" costume rather than dressing as either the folk hero or Disney princess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's dressing up as a specific person, I don't think that's offensive at all OP

No, it's actually worse because she's ascribing "generic Indian clothing" to someone who may or may not have worn anything even remotely similar. Native culture is unique to tribes and regions, and throwing on a fringe dress and calling yourself Sacagawea because that's the only Native person you know is absolutely offensive.

If she wants to be Sacagawea, rather than just wanting to wear that specific dress, help her to research what Sacagawea actually would have worn as a member of a certain tribal community.

Oh FFS. It's Halloween, not a dissertation. You sound like someone who hasn't smiled in 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's offensive. I think that it's honoring--she wants to be a Native American, not to make fun of it, but because she is interested in it and likes the idea of it.

And her idea of it may be childish, but she is a child, and this is all about imagination--imagining being a Native American in the past, and with that opens the door to empathy. If it's shut down, then why be curious about what it's like to be something other than what she is? That just perpetuates the 50s "Dick and Jane-- we are all white and girls are all blonde" mentality.

My DDs read the AWESOME American Girl historical book set on "Kaya," and when they were OPs daughter's age, each of them wore some sort of outfit like this. My oldest is a savvy teen now, so I think if she dressed up at all, she would not do something like this for Halloween due to sensitivity, but that too is age-appropriate!

ke
If she's genuinely interested and wants to "honor" Native Americans (who are clearly a big homogeneous blob, despite consisting of thousands of tribes with millennia of history), then she should care enough to do a modicum of research.

What I'm hearing from OP is that her 7 year-old has a costume she really wants to wear, so she's slapping this "It's Sacagawea" idea onto it, despite the dress being nothing like what Sacagawea would have worn. OP knows that dressing up as another culture (one that still exists, by the way) is inappropriate, and likely so does her daughter.

[Anonymous]

With these sorts of situations, I go by intent, and your DD's sounds harmless. Whether her costume from that point forward is more accurate or less accurate is totally inconsequential.

Don't listen to these harpies who get their rocks off by being part of the professionally aggrieved classes.

[Anonymous]

"OP knows that dressing up as another culture (one that still exists, by the way) is inappropriate"

Nope, sorry. It's not.

[Anonymous]

OMG, some of you are so tedious.

[Anonymous]

It's not offensive

[Anonymous]

Those of you who are so quick to say that OP is "over-thinking" this, or that those of us who are explaining why we think her daughter should have a different costume are "tedious' or "haven't smiled in a year" should do some actual research on this topic.

Here's a place to start
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/12/what-exactly-is-cultural-appropriation-and-how-is-it-harmful/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it's fine and the chances of having a native american in her classroom to be offended is next to nil around here

So wrong--tons of folks from tribes across the country live in DC. Including my DD's, who might well be in her classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you who are so quick to say that OP is "over-thinking" this, or that those of us who are explaining why we think her daughter should have a different costume are "tedious' or "haven't smiled in a year" should do some actual research on this topic.

Here's a place to start
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/12/what-exactly-is-cultural-appropriation-and-how-is-it-harmful/

Yeah, reading a blog called everydayfeminism.com is not exactly "research." Pass.

Let kids be kids and enjoy Halloween. Go burn your bra, if you like. The rest of us are going to enjoy life and enjoy our kids, as life, and childhood, are far too short to worry about such hokum.

[Anonymous]

Should my daughter scrap her witch costume so as not to appropriate from Wiccans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's fine and the chances of having a native american in her classroom to be offended is next to nil around here

So wrong--tons of folks from tribes across the country live in DC. Including my DD's, who might well be in her classroom.

Also, why does that even matter? It's ok to be offensive if no one is around to be offended?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG, some of you are so tedious.

Absolutely this. These women are caricatures of themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's fine and the chances of having a native american in her classroom to be offended is next to nil around here

So wrong--tons of folks from tribes across the country live in DC. Including my DD's, who might well be in her classroom.

Also, why does that even matter? It's ok to be offensive if no one is around to be offended?

It's not offensive. Give it up.