Halloween costume - offensive ?

[Anonymous]

My 7yo dd wants to wear a Native American type costume for Halloween. Its basically a long sleeve dress w fringe and fringe boots. She says she wants to be someone from history like a friend of hers is doing - the only Native American historical figure she knows is Sacagawea. Is it offensive or culturally insensitive for her to dress this way for Halloween ?

[Anonymous]

Absolutely not. Go for it.

[Anonymous]

Yes, obviously. Let me guess - you are white?

[Anonymous]

Op here - yes, we are white. If you think it's not ok, please suggest a way to explain this in simple terms to a 7yo. Her only frame of reference is learning about Native Americans/Pilgrims in school.

[Anonymous]

No, it's not.

[Anonymous]

What I was taught, is that if you want to be a specific person who happens to be a different race than yours, that's fine. What's NOT okay is if you want to be "an Indian" or "a Korean person."

What about her being Maria Tallchief?

[Anonymous]

It's NOT offensive to all the Redskins fans out there. They have been disrespectful to Native Americans for almost a century now.

[Anonymous]

It's fine. Honestly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I was taught, is that if you want to be a specific person who happens to be a different race than yours, that's fine. What's NOT okay is if you want to be "an Indian" or "a Korean person."

What about her being Maria Tallchief?

To dress up as Tallchief, you would wear a tutu and ballet shoes, not the outfit that OP describes. But you would probably dress up as Kristi Yamaguchi in a kimono instead of an ice skater outfit, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I was taught, is that if you want to be a specific person who happens to be a different race than yours, that's fine. What's NOT okay is if you want to be "an Indian" or "a Korean person."

What about her being Maria Tallchief?

To dress up as Tallchief, you would wear a tutu and ballet shoes, not the outfit that OP describes. But you would probably dress up as Kristi Yamaguchi in a kimono instead of an ice skater outfit, right?

No, I'd probably wear an ice skater outfit and carry a Mirror Ball to indicate I won Dancing With the Stars.

[Anonymous]

No, not offensive

[Anonymous]

You're over thinking this op.

And your Dd at 7 has no frame of reference for being offensI've in an Indian halloween costume.

[Anonymous]

Well, here's someone's opinion:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/parenting/wp/2016/10/10/cultural-misappropriation-and-my-daughters-halloween-costume/%3f0p19G=e?client=safari

I disagree and think it's fine, though, personally (I'm not an American Indian).

[Anonymous]

She can be Pocahontas.

[Anonymous]

she needs to be a specific historical person, not just an American Indian.