By the way, this is excellent and should be shared around

[anagramofbrat]

So these kids are members of STARS (Students Teaching About Racism in Society) at Ohio University, and their campaign for Halloween is on point and awesome.



The rest:





Source: saucy-sarah's tumblr, which I'm not linking because she's getting slammed by responses to these.

Comments

[jenny0.livejournal.com]

Those are pretty awesome. I wonder though, the geisha one doesn't seem to be as overtly offensive as, say, the suicide bomber. Would it be wrong to dress as a geisha/in traditional Japanese clothing because you think it's a beautiful, interesting look? Or am I missing something?

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

I think that a culture is beautiful, but that doesn't give me a right to use their history as a dress up opportunity. and if someone says "That's not cool, you should stop," the proper reply is to stop.

Furthermore, the image of Geisha girls in Western society is that of submissive sex-items, and most people dressing up as such are invoking that.

There's twenty-and-a-half-bajillion things you can be for Halloween. Why do people HAVE to be another culture?

[anagramofbrat.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's still wrong, and here's why according to my understanding of it.

Clothing from another culture carries the weight of that culture with it. Often each piece of a garment such as a traditional kimono bears some kind of significance usually missed by outsiders, and that's the best case scenario. At worst, an outsider can unintentionally fuck it up and/or completely offend someone from said culture by doing something wrong. To take a commonly cited problem with the kimono, do you know which side of the robe goes over and which goes under?

There are more issues to consider with kimono specifically. How long your sleeves are supposed to hang if you're an unmarried woman at a formal occasion. What weight, patterns and fabrics should be worn and when. How many layers of undergarments need to be worn with it. What accessories. How long your hem needs to hang. What certain combinations say about you as a person. If you don't know all of that you should admire them and appreciate them from afar without making an attempt to wear them yourself with no cultural context, Halloween or no.

[polymexina.livejournal.com]

All this, plus it's a really specific stereotype about Asian women that they're "geisha girls." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_East_Asians_in_the_Western_world#.22China_doll.22_stereotype

[purpura.livejournal.com]

So what would you say to those who do historical re-enactment of different cultures? Including Asian ones?

[anagramofbrat.livejournal.com]

I had a longer answer here but LJ eated it. Short short version:

"historical" reenactments (and I put that in quotes because there is a threshold of historical accuracy that various orgs that do it are willing to cross) are still approriative, but since those sorts of things are mostly people of European descent reenacting (with caveats) the lives of other people of European descent, have at, I'm not objecting to people playing in their own sandbox. But if you're a white person showing up to Penssic in full Samurai armor (or worse, the plastic kind), don't get butthurt if someone a) fails to take you seriously b) takes offense.

[jenny0.livejournal.com]

And this is why I'm glad I asked :) I think all the connotations to dress are really fascinating - and no, I would have had no idea that all those details have significance, let alone what the significance is. Thanks for the clarification.

[dreamweaver523.livejournal.com]

these truly are awesome. thanks for posting this.

[northernwalker]

*wild applause*

[subquixote.livejournal.com]

Food for thought... Thank you for posting this.

[nieceytee.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU for this!