By: Liliana Parsons

If there is one thing we love, it’s Halloween. The best part is dressing up. However, some costumes can go too far. Lately, people have been more involved in making sure costumes offensive. Offensive costumes could be dressing up as a certain race, religion, or culture that is not your own. This is cultural appropriation. Of course, these types of costumes are unacceptable and should not be worn. However, there are some costumes that have been questioned on whether they are offensive or not. 

There has been a fairly good amount of talk in the upper school about how mentor group costumes have been declined because they are deemed as offensive. But are they really? It’s important to acknowledge that our teachers are just trying to prevent people from getting offended, but what defines the line that students are crossing with certain costumes? One mentor group thought of dressing up as VSCO girls for their group costume, but it was viewed as offensive. Showing up to school looking like you don’t have pants on is probably not what teachers want, and it’s easy to see how teachers dislike that costume idea, but that’s not offensive. That’s simply breaking dress code. A VSCO girl is not a culture;, it’s not a religion. No one seriously defines themselves as a VSCO girl. Who would get offended? Again, declining the idea for the dress code is perfectly fine, but using the word offensive in doesn’t work that way.

It’s time that we really focus on the things that can seriously insult some of our fellow classmates. Throwing around the word “offensive” just to justify a rejection for a costume is not a solution. We need to find other reasons that correctly justify the “no” to the costume. If we start viewing everything as offensive, how will anyone be able to dress up anymore?