My Dorothy “Wizard of Oz” Costume Halloween 2024 The Xavierite
The first Halloween costume I ever remember of mine was a witch–I even had the green facepaint. I always loved planning my costume and seeing what other people had in mind. However, I have huge disdain for those that cross the line and are flat out insensitive.
I’ve had my fair share of costumes, ranging from scary concepts to adorable ones. There are so many characters in storybooks, comics, and movies to choose from, the possibilities are endless.
With so many options to choose from I don’t understand how someone can end up choosing a costume that’s offensive.I’ve witnessed far too many costumes be serial killers or culture appropriating, it’s ridiculous.
Right around the time that Netflix had released “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”, I saw people willingly choose to dress up as him. He isn’t the only person that people have drawn inspiration from either.
This idea is similar for Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy who have well over hundreds of victims. Those victims deserve to rest in peace, not have their stories be tossed to the side.
Dressing as them is insanely disrespectful to the victims and their families, they have to witness this monster be idolized. It would be traumatizing to see the person who murdered your loved one walking around on Halloween asking for a “treat.”
There is a large group of people who find fascination for true crime media and are interested in watching those documentaries. Finding an interest in the stories of these cases is fine–it doesn’t mean you need to dress as the murderer.
People don’t understand that these stories and people are someone’s reality, not a fictional horror story. They aren’t iconic slasher movie characters like Micheal Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Jason Voorhees.
On Halloween night, there’s probably endless numbers of people dressing up as these fictional characters and scaring away children. That is not at all comparable to dressing up as a real serial killer.
These slasher movie killers are made up with characters as their victims. It doesn’t do harm to anyone if they were someone’s Halloween costume, because their stories are not real.
While there are people who cross the line and are serial killers for Halloween, there is another side of people that dress as something culturally offensive.
There was a period of time where Spirit Halloween actually sold Indigenous-inspired outfits as costumes. Many Native Americans found it to be disrespectful because their culture is not a costume, especially if it’s being wrongly portrayed.
Amazon has countless costumes labeled as “American Indian Girl Costume”, “Dreamgirl Woman’s Native Princess”, or “Native American Beauty.” Many of these are also heavily sexualized, and are outright disrespectful.
Considering that Indigious people have a history of colonization with sexual acts violence against the woman, it’s ignorant. Far too many suffered sexual assault for them to be seen as a inspiration for a “sexy” costume.
These kinds of costumes continuously feed into the wrong ideology about them. Whether it’s their clothing or the incorrect names they’ve been called, most notably “Indians.”
They spread misinformation about Indigenous culture, which is a huge shame when they have so many beautiful parts of their culture that could be learned about and appreciated.
Halloween gives the opportunity to be whoever and whatever you want to be. With so many options of what to choose, picking something insensitive just proves your lack of respect and creativity.
So, if you are thinking of wearing an offensive costume this Halloween, maybe reconsider or just stay home. I’m waiting to open the door to trick or treaters dressed as super villains, mythical creatures, goblins and ghouls.