During an early morning Joe Van Gogh coffee run, I happened to hear a group of students making costume plans for Halloween. It would have remained an entirely mundane event unworthy of mention if not for the costume they were discussing. Some of the men were planning to dress up as Caitlyn Jenner as a joke.
Ha ha ha. Totally not funny.
I was initially too flabbergasted to act or respond in any way, but later in the day, I googled the costume to get to the bottom of this offensive madness. Spirit Halloween sells the famous, body-hugging, white, Vanity Fair corset-dress along with Caitlyn’s sport apparel from before her transition. Wholesale Costumes tastelessly thrust the item under “Men’s Humor” before taking it down due to widespread internet outrage. I was grateful to discover that I was not the only one bothered by this blatant stereotyping of a powerful human story. There is a change.org petition going around with several trans activists loudly calling out the tawdriness of the move.
Here is why such a costume is hurtful, damaging and insensitive: it provides a way to reduce a marginalized community into an object of mockery. Placing a famous costume associated with a visible trans-woman alongside the Easter bunny, Darth Vader and Ninja Turtles does more than just trivialize the struggles of the trans-community. It draws attention away from the real trans-issues that need scrutiny, debate and positive action.
Unemployment in the transgender community is two times that of the national unemployment rate. If you are a trans-person of color, the rate is four times. In 2011, 87 percent of murder victims of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes were people of color, and 45 percent of this number were transgender women. Trans-activists are currently fighting for protection for transgender people. In 32 U.S. states, there is no state law protecting trans-people from being fired for simply being transgender.
Exploring some of the gender dynamics at play during this outrage sheds light on troubling attitudes. Halloween costumes marketed at men on sites like Spirit Halloween all play on the same joke: a man appearing like a woman—add-on fake breasts, fake busty rear, provocative nurse outfits, high heeled shoes and sparkly glitter alongside costume Caitlyn. Setting Caitlyn aside for a moment, why does cis-society find humor in a man displaying exaggerated feminine qualities? Where’s the joke? I don’t see it.
Transmisogyny (even as I type this, Microsoft Word 2013 gives me a red underline for the word) is a term used to describe a conjunction of misogyny and transphobia, referring to a systematic disparagement of the feminine and feminine attributes. While transphobia has aggressively targeted both trans-men and trans-women, trans-women are more frequently victims of hate crimes, violence and homicide. 72 percent of all anti-LGBT homicide victims were transgender women.
Caitlyn Jenner herself has stated that she does not have a problem with the costume but rather thinks “It’s great!” The obvious response (and believe me, I have heard it enough times from friends and family during the writing of this article) is, ‘If she doesn’t care, why should you? It’s just a joke!” Caitlyn is a celebrity and celebrity costumes are common at this time of the year. You are going to find a few Donald Trumps and Lady Gagas on Halloween night.
However, while Caitlyn is an individual person, unwittingly, she has been put on a pedestal and made the spokesperson for the transgender community by mainstream media and most cis-gendered people. Caitlyn and her now iconic, white, body-hugging, outfit are associated with the transgender movement when the truth of the matter is that Cailtyn’s experience is as far from reality for most trans-people in the United States. Jenner is white and financially secure while most trans-people struggle for housing, employment and health care. While I do not want to detract from Jenner’s own personal struggle, I want to acknowledge that making this costume gives cis-people the permission to mock countless faceless trans-individuals without any context for their everyday battles.
Even the way in which the public responded to Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover, commenting on how “gorgeous” she looked, reflects cisnormative beauty standards: white, slim, pale and busty. The truth is that Jenner is simply not a good representation of the trans-community and the myriad diversities it includes. Acceptance of Jenner, while a great first step toward visibility and activism, should not detract from the work that still remains to be done in trans-empowerment.
As for Halloween, while picking your costume this year, spend a moment paying attention to the kind of message your appearance will embody and project. Check if you are unwittingly contributing to propagating some gender stereotypes. Ensure that if the costume is a joke, it is not a crass one.
Nandhini Narayanan is a student in the Master’s of Engineering Management program. Her column runs on alternate Fridays.
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