What’s The Difference Between Costuming and Appropriation?

So, I own a sari. Yet, I’m white. So…what am I doing with a sari? It’s a reasonable question which can probably best be answered by the following sentence: I bought it in college. That kind of tells you everything you need to know, I think; white person leaves small, rural, very white (because the Hispanic community is rendered invisible) community, sees other cultures, thinks they are exciting, appropriates them. Retains relics of appropriation because, well, it’s a really nice sari.

And, I have to admit, some time in not too distant memory, I wore my sari as a Halloween costume. I don’t really know what I was supposed to be going as, although “race fail” might have been a good title. Just another white person who doesn’t know how to wear a sari, wearing a sari. This was before I really started, you know, thinking about racial issues, and I found some photos from that party the other day and was deeply embarrassed. I seriously thought it was ok?

One of the things often said about Halloween is that it’s an opportunity to explore taboos. This is sometimes lamented, because the taboo for women seems to be dressing up in rather scanty costumes which reinforce gender stereotypes. But it’s also a time when people can get away with things like cultural appropriation. With blackface. With all kinds of things which polite society wouldn’t tolerate most of the time.

But, here’s the thing I have to ask: Is any of this really that taboo? Are we really breaking any boundaries with what we wear on Halloween? Because I don’t think we are.

Let’s take the scanty Halloween costumes which seem to be an eternal topic of discussion. Amanda Hess is doing a whole series on terrible sexy Halloween costumes, highlighting the real bottom of the barrel. The whole front page of Sociological Images right now is also filled with examples of appropriation in Halloween costumes. Are these costumes transgressive? I would argue that they aren’t, really. In fact, they pretty much normalize social and cultural attitudes about women. Women’s bodies are expected to be on constant display, and there are some women who do dress like this on a regular basis, not just at Halloween (which gets us into an entirely different debate which I would rather not get into right now). So…how are we exploring taboos or breaking boundaries? We aren’t, we’re just giving sexism a free pass.

You could argue that Halloween is the night when some women go “I’m going to wear a sexy costume and feel empowered by it,” but is it really that empowering to be stared at all night? To know that if you are isolated from your friends, that you might get in trouble? To know that people will be leering and groping openly because they think, since it’s Halloween, that they will get a free pass? To know that if anything bad happens to you, people will blame you for it, because you were wearing “a slutty Halloween costume” and therefore deserved it? Is objectifying yourself really empowering, or just a nod to the inevitable, accepting that if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em?

Likewise with “exotic” or “ethnic” costumes, like, say, a white person dressing up in a sari. Are these really taboo or transgressive? I would argue, again, no, because cultural appropriation goes on constantly, especially in white culture. Whites wear traditional ethnic dress from other cultures with no context, or hack apart such dress to pick and choose the features they want. They get tattoos in languages they do not speak. They wear jewelry from other cultures without understanding its symbolism or  meaning, just because they like it. They cherrypick religious beliefs to find the ones they want.

The only thing different about cultural appropriation on Halloween is that you can do it more blatantly, and you can get away with it. Well, at least among your cozy group of white friends; in a mixed-race group, you might get some eyebrows, especially if you happen to be appropriating cultural elements from the culture of someone in the group. But when you’re accustomed to seeing people appropriating your culture, are you going to make a point of calling them out or questioning them on Halloween? Probably not.

So what, some people might say, people of colour could dress up as white people for Halloween! Which, you know, they can, and maybe they do, but it doesn’t carry the same overtones as when white people dress up in saris or kimono or what have you. Because racism=privilege+power. And that’s what’s really going on here, is white people just doing whatever they want to do, knowing that they can. They’re using their privilege and power to go right on colonizing and appropriating. They’re not costuming, they’re just doing what they always do.

I’ve seen some pretty creative and interesting Halloween costumes in my time. Sometimes, the really novel ones get attention, usually if they require a lot of work. But there seems to be a disturbing level of praise for costumes which really just reinforce cultural strata and norms. What happened to costuming as an art form and exploration?

30 October, 2009 – 10:43 am | By s.e. smith | Posted in Everything, race |

Fluttering Bacon

I’m going to change the format of the Sites of Interest a bit, because I like the way Anna does the Recommended Reading at FWD/Forward, and I think other people enjoy that too. So, instead of cryptic references with links to the content, I’m going to go with excerpts so you can get a better idea of what is being talked about in each link. If y’all like this format too, I’ll keep doing it.

BBC News: Why are fat people abused?

Why are many folk so intolerant of fat people? Discrimination on other grounds is widely frowned upon, so why is weight different?

It all comes down to control, says Susie Orbach, psychologist and author of Fat is a Feminist Issue. She believes the prejudice runs through our society.

Jezebel: Will anti-fat hate crimes make people take sizeism seriously?

Although the piece is extremely (and somewhat shockingly) sympathetic to fat people, one thing that contributes to fat hatred can be found before it even begins: The traditional headless fatty photo. The BBC’s is of a man’s naked, hairy torso, spilling out over his jeans, and, as headless fatty photos usually are, it is sure to evoke disgust. Further down in the article, there’s a picture of Martha Coupe‘s battered face, which is unsettling and a bit grainy, but a far more accurate depiction of the article’s subject than a disembodied gut — with a tape measure around it, no less. One evokes sympathy for an abused person, and the marginalized group she belongs to. The other dehumanizes a fat person, quite literally reducing him to nothing but a big old gut, and — given the prevalence of anti-fat sentiment outlined in this very article — is likely to make people laugh at best and recoil at worst. People responsible for choosing the images that accompany articles like this (and producing B-roll for TV reports on obesity) really need to think about the messages they’re sending — and recognize that they’re bigoted shits if that actually is the message they mean to send.

I was glad to see Kate Harding’s discussion of the BBC article, identifying some of the problems it contained. Alas, Kate’s post is on Jezebel (…so don’t read the comments).

Santa Fe Reporter: Apocalypse Soon

Here in the Land of Enchantment, environmental horrors abound. Corporations influence the government’s ability to regulate environmental emergencies, people who might otherwise be allies have faced off against one another in battle, and climate change is already punching its tentacles into the Southwestern landscape. Herein, SFR explores New Mexico’s potential, scary science fiction future—the dystopias that could be—if actions aren’t taken to address today’s environmental, economic and political realities.

I’m a huge fan of dystopian science fiction which touches upon the reality we live in and paints a picture of things which could happen, so I found this article especially interesting.

Danger Room: Airmen bomb silly safety belt rules

You’d think men and women who handle heavy weapons, fly the planet’s most advanced airplanes, and take care of multi-million dollar equipment could be trusted to go outside at night without wearing a day-glo safety belt. The United States Air Force would beg to differ.

Colorado Independent: Personhood initiative lining up friends and foes

This new version would move the legal definition of a person further back into the reproductive cycle, granting cells the full spectrum of citizen rights. Opposition groups, including Colorado genetic and fertilization researchers, say the law would have spiraling consequences, that it would put women at risk and freeze current work in medicine and reproduction.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: Sanctuary showdown

But here’s what is clear — and alarming: under Newsom’s policy, which the sanctuary legislation by Sup. David Campos would overturn, large numbers of immigrant kids are facing possible deportation. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson Virginia Kice told the Guardian that 150 juveniles from San Francisco have been referred to ICE since June 11, 2008 when Newsom began requiring that the city’s probation officials refer youth to ICE on arrest.

This story is especially relevant because Newsom may be making a run for Governor, so I’ve been following his policy decisions and actions closely. I think it’s safe to say that an anti-immigrant governor is NOT what California needs.

Los Angeles Times: Death takes no holiday at this grisly Hollywood museum

Shultz, 47, and Healy, 48, live in Hollywood. She is a painter who crafted the museum’s display rooms out of old studios and editing areas in the building at 6031 Hollywood Blvd., which once housed a recording company. He is a carpenter; he built the museum’s replica guillotine and electric chair.

Given that tomorrow is Halloween, I thought it only fair to include a morbid article. I like that the story frames the museum as a labour of love and a partnership between two people who are really interested in the macabre, rather than just going for the “ew, gross” route.

think on this.: boo at the zoo

in london, they’re giving jack o lanterns to zoo animals, and it’s adorable.

Pictures of zoo animals mauling pumpkins! What’s not to love?

30 October, 2009 – 10:02 am | By s.e. smith | Posted in Everything, interesting |