We're a Culture Not a Costume:

I love Halloween. It is my favourite holiday ever. When I was a child, Halloween was about making the most original costume possible. Witches, skeletons and cats were dull. I have been a ladybug, a broken heart, a cabbage patch kid and a punk rocker; my mother being far more artistic than me. Unfortunately, the push to be creative at Halloween involved costumes based entirely on offensive and racist stereotypes. I frequently find myself with clenched teeth handing out candy to small children dressed as "Indians" wondering why their parents thought it was a good idea to dress their child up as a racist stereotype.






Last year, a group of students from Ohio University's Students Teaching about Racism started a campaign called "We're a culture, not a costume' on this issue. These are some of the brilliant posters from this years campaign whose tagline is "You wear the costume for one night. I wear the stigma for life". For me, this is a feminist issue. The Patriarchy requires racism as much as it requires misogyny to keep functioning. We can not destroy the Patriarchy whilst this type of racism remains socially acceptable.