Do you consider it offensive if people dress up as a specific NA character? Like, if they dress up as Disney's Pocahontas, and not some generic "Indian Maiden"? I'm sorry if this is offensive because I know that Disney's Pocahontas is extremely inaccurate and romanticized, but do you consider that less offensive than being a "sexy native"?
Asked by Anonymous
I actually find wearing a Pocahontas costume very offensive. Matoaka was a hero and I find wearing costumes to depict heroes offensive. It would be like wearing a Mahatma Gandhi costume, Martin Luther King Jr. costume, Nelson Mandela costume, etc etc. No matter what the intent behind the costume they are mocking and reducing that hero into a costume.
I cannot answer which costume is more offensive. A costume based off of a hero would be offensive to that hero and anyone who looks-up to her and costumes that hyper-sexualize Native women promotes the dangerous fetishization of Native women. Both are offensive.