PSA: These 11 Halloween “Costumes” Will Always Be Offensive

Movies and TV shows make ninjas look super sneaky, but most of what we know about ninjas is wrong, according to historian Steven Turnbull in his book Ninja: Unmasking The Myth.

Ninjas, or shinobi, aren't characters that fight in dark shadows — they were specialized, highly-trained agents in feudal Japan who did similar work to our modern-day CIA, so it’s best not to parody that profession.

“Voodoo" is often used as a catch-all term for several related religions practiced in Louisiana, Brazil, and the Caribbean, according to research by Danielle M. Boaz, a professor in the Africana Studies department at the University of Charlotte. Costumes that represent “witch doctors” or what’s properly known today as Vodou are marketed as scary — and it can exacerbate harmful stereotypes.

Dressing up like another racial group for Halloween is never acceptable. This costume is especially bad considering the mass genocide of Indigenous people during the time of the United States' founding, and considering that members of these groups continue to experience discrimination on an exceptionally high level, as evidenced by a 2019 study published in Health Services Research.

“When you hyper-sexualize a people who are at highest risk of sexual violence by wearing these ‘PocaHottie’ or ‘Indian Chief’ costumes,” as Jordan Marie Daniels wrote for Bustle in 2018, “you are contributing to the depersonalization at the core of this issue.”

Halloween and the Day of the Dead are not the same, and even if they were, it wouldn't be cool to use symbols from the latter to celebrate the former. Día De Los Muertos is a Mexican holiday celebrated on November 1 — All Souls Day — to honor friends and family who have passed away. Sugar skulls or calaveras are a symbol of Día De Los Muertos and of Mexican culture — not a cute way to paint your face for a “haunted” bar crawl.

Many people don a geisha costume under the assumption that it's “exotic” and "sexy," and there are many reasons why that's not cool. For one, geishas were entertainers, but they were not sex workers, as many people falsely believe.

For another, the costume hinges upon dressing up as a stereotyped version of Japanese people. Not to mention, the “kimonos” that come with geisha costumes are often short and tiny, which doesn’t represent what the traditional garments look like.

If you break it down, dressing up as a “señorita” if you aren’t Spanish-speaking essentially means you’re cosplaying as another person — and it would be pretty uncool if someone dressed up as you for Halloween, right?

Many Hispanic and Latinx cultures have been the subject of poor-taste Halloween costumes in varying ways and forms, so it’s best to avoid this option when you see it as an option in Halloween stores.

Bollywood is a popular genre around the world, but wearing traditional Indian dress and calling it "Bollywood" isn't a costume when you aren’t from that country. It flattens all of Indian culture into one trope.

The word “eskimo” may have been common years ago, but it’s now recognized as a derogatory term for the Inuit indigenous people who live in the arctic regions of Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland.

While it might seem cute to dress up as an Inuit person with faux furs, it’s yet another example of turning a culture into a costume. Many of the costumes available resemble nothing close to what the Inuit actually wear.

There’s an offensive racial slur sometimes used to describe the Romani or Roma people, an existing traditionally nomadic ethnic group living primarily in Central and Eastern Europe that has faced significant persecution throughout history.

Halloween costumes often portray the Romani as fortune tellers, sexy swindlers, and pirates, all of which mock the Roma culture and play into many racial stereotypes. Keep these roots in mind and avoid it this Halloween.

A “Polynesian princess” or hula girl is another costume idea that actually has culturally appropriative undertones. You might see grass skirts, fake flower leis, and coconut bras on display in a store or online, but resist buying them.

This look is a take on Polynesian culture — in this case, Hawaiian (the islands of Hawaii are geographically considered part of Polynesia) — and Hula, which is a Hawaiian dance form accompanied by chant (oli) or song (mele) dating back centuries as a cultural art form.

The inaccurate and often sexualized Halloween costumes accidentally mock traditional hula outfits and appropriate a significant aspect of Hawaiian culture.

Costumes depicting an “Arab princess” are essentially caricatures of Middle Eastern people. You might see similar costumes under the labels “desert princess,” “sexy harem girl,” or even belly dancer, so don’t buy them if you aren’t from those areas.

The reality is that Arab princess outfits trivialize a very real cultural tradition. It also plays into hyper-sexualized Western portrayals of a dance form that originated in Egypt, as well as in several other North African and Middle Eastern cultures.

All of these costumes both appropriate cultural traditions and perpetuate racial stereotypes. There are so many other Halloween costume ideas out there, so get creative, lean into a meme, or come up with a funny group costume, and leave all of the costumes above on the rack.