Because there is nothing funnier than a person, disadvantaged by the perfect storm of race, class, gender, and body-size being forced to give lap dances to feed herself (source):
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
It’s 9 days to Halloween and 17 days to election day. Here at SocImages, I’ve decided to continue to focus on election analysis and current events until Election Day. In the meantime, for your holiday pleasure, please enjoy our collection of Halloween posts from years past or visit our Halloween-themed Pinterest page. And feel free to follow me on Instagram for pics from tonight’s Krewe de Boo parade in New Orleans! Wish you were here!
Just for fun
History
Social psychology
Politics and culture
Race and ethnicity
Sexual orientation
Gender
Gender and kids
Intersections
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
It’s that time of year again! Enjoy our collection of Halloween posts from years past or visit our Halloween-themed Pinterest page.
Just For Fun
History
Politics and Culture
Race and Ethnicity
Sexual Orientation
Gender
Gender and Kids
The intersection of Race, Class, and Gender
And, for no conceivable reason…
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Flashback Friday.
An excellent piece of evidence that femininity is hilarious or ridiculous in U.S. culture, or even frightening or disgusting, is the fact that men use the category “woman” as a Halloween costume. We laugh when we see men dressed up as women because how ridiculous, right? Women do not generally dress up like a generic man on Halloween because adopting masculinity is an everyday things for us. It’s valued, not mocked.
Many costume manufacturers (or homemade costume makers, for that matter) add fat hatred to the mix. Because there is nothing more disgusting and hilarious, we are told, than a fat woman. Except, perhaps, a fat woman who fails to be properly humiliated.
The costume manufacturers know this and are trafficking in this hatred on purpose. Here are some examples, sent in by Michaela N. and Shane M., from several different online costume stores:
Pamela Anderson’s character on Baywatch wasn’t fat. This reveals that the costume manufacturers aren’t just making costumes that let people dress up as fat others, they’re adding fatness as a joke.
Halloween is a disturbing fun house mirror, showing us what we really think about each other.
Originally posted in 2010. Cross-posted at The Huffington Post.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
It’s that time of year again! We are about to embark on ten straight days of Sociological Halloween Images. In the meantime, enjoy our collection of Halloween posts from years past or visit our Halloween-themed Pinterest page.
Just For Fun
Halloween, Politics, and Culture
Race and Ethnicity
Gender
Gender and Kids
The intersection of Race, Class, and Gender
And, for no conceivable reason…
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Enjoy our collection of Halloween posts from years past or visit our Pinterest page with all of our Halloween-related imagery:
Just For Fun
Halloween and Politics
Race and Ethnicity
Gender
The intersection of Race, Class, and Gender
And, for no conceivable reason…
Enjoy our collection of Halloween posts from years past:
Race and Ethnicity
Gender
The intersection of Race, Class, and Gender
Halloween and Politics
And, for no conceivable reason…
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
As far as I can figure it, Halloween costumes come in three categories: scary, funny, or fantastical. This is why dressing up like another “race” or “culture” for Halloween is racist. A “Mexican Man,” for example (see below), should not be presented as scary, funny, or fantastical.
Brooke, at Whebr’s Hotub’s Blog, expresses her frustration for people who dress us like an “Indian”:
Why is it socially acceptable to dress like the stereotypical Indian: “Brave”,”Chief”, “Princess”, “Squaw”, “Maiden”? Pardon Moi, but when did the Native American enter the realm of Wizards, Fairies, Super-heroes, Goblins, or Ghouls? When did it become ok to reduce the diversity, language, and culture of nearly 500 different Indigenous tribes into a tacky “costume” of cheap suede, colored feathers, plastic beads, and fringe? Who decided that the history, identity, and lineage of Native Americans could be easily put on and taken off like greasy Halloween face paint?
Brooke features a whole host of “Indian” costumes at her site, including this one:
Illustrating the way in which these costumes tend to collapse culturally distinct groups into a cheap stereotype, Costume Craze has a whole section of the website devoted to “History and World Culture Costumes.”
Here’s a sample of the “Asian costumes” (don’t miss the fantastic font):
“Indian costumes”:
“Mexican costumes”:
Fatemeh Fakhraie, at Racialicious, points out how “Middle Eastern” costumes reinforce both ignorance and negative stereotypes. Regarding the “Sheik of Persia Arabian Costume” costume shown below, she says:
History lesson: Persia didn’t have sheikhs, they had shahs. And Persia and Arabia were two different places! AKH!
…of course he has a knife! All Middle Eastern men are dangerous, didn’t you know? You can even tell by his face: he’s pissed, and he’s going to take it out on some infidels!
For good measure, Cindy at Lotería Chicana has collected a set of racist Halloween costumes that she photographed at a store called Spirit in San Francisco. A selection:
UPDATE! Awesome tidbit from Rosemary in the comments thread:
The geisha one in particular makes me wince, partly because the “kimono” is tied the wrong way (the only time you ever tie it that way is when a person is dead)…
Of course, that’s actually perfect for Halloween! But somehow I don’t think that’s what SPIRIT is going for.
More…
And my favorite, the “Dream Catcher”:
Does making fun of white people (“tighty whiteys”) make it all equal?
The thing that amazes me most about these costumes is that they’re everywhere. You can’t escape them. And no one seems to notice or care. For example, this “Hey Amigo” costume can be purchased at the Linens N Things website:
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
