Halloween Costumes to Stay Away From

Like many collegiettes, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  There are so many parties, things to do on campus and like mean girls says “its the one night a year where girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.”  With that in mind, however, here are some costumes to stay away from this Halloween season because while we want you to have fun, it’s always best to be respectful, classy, culturally aware, in addition to being your smoking hot self. 

Indians

While our mascot is a Ute, this does not give you permission to dress like an Indian.  We understand how it might seem innocent but it perpetuates white privilege, stereotypes, and objectifies their culture. 

Any Other Version of a Race or their Stereotype

Going along with dressing up like an Indian, it is also not okay to dress up like another race.  This includes an Asian women, a Mexican man with a poncho, and especially no black face.  We know Utes are better than that (we want to show love to ALL of our students!) and we don’t want to be the next college under fire for being culturally disrespectful. 

Victims of a Terrorist Attack or Natural Disasters

This one may seem more obvious but with our research apparently some people don’t get that dressing up like a victim of a mass shooting, natural disaster, or any other horrific event is not okay.  It’s just not. 

Caitlyn Jenner or any other trans-gender icon

Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions on Caitlyn Jenner; however, she (and everyone else in the trans community) is still a person who deserves respect.  Just because it shows up on the shelves doesn’t mean you have to buy it. Dressing up like her diminishes everyone she has worked for for the transgender community and is certainly not in good taste.  

Dentist Lion Killer

Another popular costume that has already hit the stores is this depiction of Walter Palmer.  Again, everyone is always entitled to his or her own opinion, however by dressing up like him, you are normalizing what he did and making a joke out of it leading to the fact that it may be okay.  On the other side, we also want to try and give Walter respect himself.  He made a big mistake that angered many of us, but that doesn’t mean he has to be mocked very publically and on a wide spread scale.  Also, who want’s to spend $50 on a costume that could offend people anyway??

Be aware of how “slutty” you want to dress

This last one is tricky and even using the word slutty makes me skeptical.  We think every girl should feel comfortable and confident in anything they desire to wear, however, due to our society how you dress will affect how you are treated and perceived.  For us, the title says it all- it’s your choice how you much skin you want to show, however, just be aware of the consequences.  We all know boys (or girls!) can be stupid and mean and that can lead to very hurtful comments. In the end, how as much skin as you feel confident in and make smart/safe choices!  

The list could go on and on about costumes to stay away from but we wanted to highlight just a couple that seemed the most popular and relevant.   We know this article may have read like kind of a downer but really we just want you to have fun in the most respectful and classiest way possible.  You never know whom you could run into on Halloweekend.

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