Its that time of year where we all go and dress up as our favourite ghosts and monsters, our fears and our loves.
It is also the time of year that I used to love as a child. The dressing up, the laughter, the candy. Oh god, the candy, my sweet tooth has never enjoyed so much candy, as when it has at Halloween. This post isn’t however about candy. Its about costumes.
There has become almost a tradition in society to allow racist, trans phobic and just inappropriate costumes to be made especially for this time of the year. And its some how allowed because its in humour.
I am going to speak now on the whole Bruce/Caitlin Jenner costume that has come out this year. Whilst impersonating celebrities has happened since the dawn of time (and often with funny as fuck results) the costume is aimed for cis men, as a way to “drag up” and make fun of transgender women. Some people may think that this is totally acceptable, and if you do, even after this post, you are part of the problem.
You see, if it was just a costume or cos play aimed at everyone to wear to just imitate a celebrity, it would be a beautiful thing. Many hours of make up, expensive dresses and fabulous vanity fair looking photos would be taken. HOWEVER THIS IS NOT THE CASE. What the costume is, and I apologise for my language right now, the costume is nothing more than a piece of fucking shit with a sash saying “Call me Caitlin”, with what looks like a drunk cis man posing stupidly.
For starters, they could have used a woman. Since, that’s how she identifies, secondly for an extra few pounds more you can buy the Bruce Jenner Olympic outfit ” To make your evening complete”
The sad thing is, is that this isn’t even going to affect Caitlin as much as you might think. The people who it will affect are trans women on poverty lines, street workers, women who regularly get abused on a daily basis because they are not “passing”. The fact they chose a man to showcase the costume shows that they never considered that (though they did consider that his dick might be too small, and packed him with extra stuffing for the costume).
When trans people try and explain that its not a joke, and that we need to stop this, they are told that they need to lighten up. That they are being far too sensitive. That they need to take a joke. The fact is, its not a joke. TRANSGENDER PEOPLE ARE BEING MURDERED BECAUSE THEY ARE TRANS! Jokes like this, are constant reminders that the world doesn’t see us for who we really are, and that we are nothing more than a breathing punchline.
ONE COMPANY WENT A STEP FURTHER. Let me introduce you to the MENS (ITS LABELED AS MENS) costume, “Tranny Granny”
I think I do not even need to explain how this is inappropriate. I think as soon as cis people use the word tranny, it speaks for itself.
This year, when you wear your outfit out, please ask yourself whether it would be offensive towards people. Whether the humour your projecting is hurting people we actually need to protect. I’m even going to extend this to not just Halloween but to general cosplay too. I have noticed a rapid increase of white people “blacking” up for a costume. You do not need to do that to make you a “better” cosplay. If you think that being racist is going to help you, it isn’t. Its just going to make you look like a racist dick.
So this year, maybe celebrate Halloween by getting a costume for fitting for the evening. Like a vampire, or a ghost. Halloween is all about the spooks people, and not an excuse to get away with being a dick. Unless that’s your actual costume, in which case, good luck with your costume.
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Tyler Charles Austen 