Halloween is the time of year when everyone doesn't care about their costume or other people's cultures. Let's go over a few stereotypes.
The Indian stereotype. If you google Indian costume, you get these images for sexy Indians. And the best part is that they are all for women. When you would probably not realize it, men are usually more conserved and not as common to find a costume for them. One of the descriptions for the costume says "the boys won't now what hit them when you up in this costume." Stuff like this is not right to teach children about other cultures, they would never know the true Indian culture with items like that.
The Mexican stereotype, if you google Mexican costume, you get men wearing ponchos with sombreros and sometimes maracas. Mainly these ones are men and some women wearing very reveling clothing. A description for one of the costumes is, Hey amigo this Mexican costume is bound to be noticed. Again, it teaches children the wrong form of their culture and I have never seen a Mexican dress like this.
The Asian stereotype, if you google Asian costume, you get ninja, sumo and wearing of kimonos. I first saw women dressed in sexy kimonos. This type of costume again sexualizes women and has no respect for their culture whatsoever.
These are just general stereotypes that people do not take in to effect when dressing up for Halloween. Honestly, we cannot teach children with costumes like these, since we are in a society that rarely realizes the real action you take when you enforce these stereotypes. Most of the costumes we have for women are very reveling and demeaning. As long as we remain cautious about our costumes and the cultures they represent, everyone should have a safe and fun Halloween. Enjoy this holiday season guys!
