Is it offensive or am I being silly?

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Just a quick one but NC for this as I guess its outing.

My childrens school are doing world book day and the “theme” is peter pan, its given some suggestions of characters you can dress up as and one is tigerlilly. I was thinking of chosing that one for DD as I hate all of the tinkerbell dresses but ive heard its offensive to dress up as certain things. Native americans being on of them. Is it offensive or am I being silly? Why oh why do they have to do themes and not just let people pick their favourite book characters 😩

Yes but the point of the post if a child can dress as a character. Not drunk adults in black face. There’s a big difference.

I say approximately because some sites say there's 562 Native American tribes and others say there are more.

I dont think its the same as black face either. and people havent answered if dressing as pocahontas is ok? is dressing as any non white characters ok?

Rspu3 you keep telling us there’s a difference between black face and NA costumes - but you won’t say what that difference is, what is the difference? Why can I send my child to school dressed as tiger lily but not as a gollywog? What is the difference?

That's 562 federally recognised tribes which may mean that there are some which go unrecognised by the U.S Government. Several Native American sites and articles seem to refer to there being over 562.

I discussed Pocahontas earlier. No, dressing as Pocahontas is not ok or any Native American I would say, and there are a lot of issues with the Disney depiction of Pocahontas.

So basically, it's a crocodile or nothing!

Although I wouldn't do either, I think dressing up as Tiger Lily is different to black face. Painting your face black and adding bright red lips etc is clearly taking the piss out of a race of people. Wearing the clothes worn by a favourite character in a book isn't taking the piss, especially if time and care has been taken to make the costume by hand, it is a labour of love rather than hate.

No.

So if I work lovingly on my Golliwog costume and put in a lot of effort then I can wear it proudly? That's good to know.

No one is asking about a golliwog costume.

Also, have you seen the way that Native Americans are depicted in Peter Pan(Book, movie and stage adaptations)? It's a long way from being flattering or accurate. It's just as offensive as black face.

Sure, why not? If that character is a favourite of yours, you go ahead! Won't look like much without doing black face but you do you.

I'll be doing blackface too but don't worry it'll be done lovingly.

Awesome! Have fun and make sure you upload a pic for all of us to see! I can understand why a child's favourite character from Peter Pan is Tiger Lily but the love you have for Golliwogs is a tad odd.

Pickled was being ironic methinks.

I am. I'd sooner choke than dress in black face or a TigerLily costume. I'm just wondering why so many people can see that blackface is offensive but think that dressing in stereotypical Native American costumes is perfectly fine.

I’m proud of my roots and not offended

So fucking what? You're not offended if people dress up as a gypsy therefore no Native Americans are allowed to be offended/are offended by this racist stereotype of a character? What does whether you're offended have to do with this situation? I hate this bullshit argument of "well I'm not offended, so therefore you're all being ridiculous" like come on

Because it's just a costume, not an actual Native American garment?

have you seen the way that Native Americans are depicted in Peter Pan(Book, movie and stage adaptations)? It's a long way from being flattering or accurate. It's just as offensive as black face.

This. There is nothing about Tiger Lily's character that isn't an offensive stereotype. She literally exists to mock and misrepresent Native Americans.

So basically, it's a crocodile or nothing!

there are other characters that aren't Native Americans in Peter Pan...

Because it's just a costume, not an actual Native American garment?

What do you not understand about Tiger Lily's character literally only existing as a racist stereotype to mock and misrepresent Native Americans?? If you dress up as a character that was made to be racist then that's obviously going to be offensive to some when there are Native Americans being oppressed right now.

Can I ask the people who are so determinedly unoffended a question. Bearing in mind that Tiger Lily is not the only available WBD costume, wouldn’t it be better to think “OK, it doesn’t bother me. But it does bother other people so I won’t do it” Wouldn’t that be the kind, empathetic thing to do?

I don’t really know what I think about this but If I was the OP I would probably not let my daughter dress up as tiger-lily as I wouldn’t want to risk offending someone. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I feel there is a difference between dressing up as a book character and dressing up a ‘racial’ stereotype - unfortunately there is overlap between the two.

I saw Peter Pan at The National Theatre a year or so ago. It didn’t cross my mind that tiger-lily was an offensive character but it was a modern version so maybe they had tweaked it to make it ok.

Are we sure that there really was a ‘Boy in the striped pajamas’ dress up day? I can’t believe that was real.

And i dont see how it isn't offensive to say to a child 'you can dress up as a character from Peter Pan, but only the white ones'. Surely that is still 'othering' the non white characters and therefore offensive in itself?