Caitlyn Jenner Costume, bad jokes and bad taste

It’s almost Halloween, well it’s September and that means Halloween has been popping up since about June, but this all started in August when a costume company called Spirit Halloween decided it would be a great idea to make a Caitlyn Jenner costume, this costume has spawned a deluge of online hate including a change.org petition calling to have it removed as being transphobic. Spirit Halloween has stood by its creation. According to this article in The Washington Post:

“At Spirit Halloween, we create a wide range of costumes that are often based upon celebrities, public figures, heroes and superheroes,” Lisa Barr, the outlet’s senior director of marketing, told NBC News. “We feel that Caitlyn Jenner is all of the above and that she should be celebrated. The Caitlyn Jenner costume reflects just that.”

Now this is not the only Caitlyn Jenner costume out there, and some of the others don’t treat her with the same respect. A costume from AnytimeCostumes.com refers to Caitlyn as the “softer side of the popular Olympian.” Which I will admit is offensive to her gender identity.

This is brings us to the issue at hand. When do you cross the line between bad taste, and transphobic? Personally I find the costumes to be in bad taste, but not necessarily transphobic. Am I saying that I buying Spirit Halloween’s superhero idea? Not really, we all know that the costume is a bad joke meant to make men look funny dressed as a girl. Think about though, regardless of who slips into the costume they are still honoring the fact that Caitlyn Jenner is female, even though it is in bad taste. It is hardly the first time that a costume has been in bad taste. From Slenderman to Prince Harry as a Nazi we have seen bad costume judgement recently. I guess I look at it this way, I would find it more transphobic if people were creating Bruce Jenner costumes for Halloween. The Caitlyn Jenner costume however is no more offensive than a sexy nurse, sexy policeman, or fat ballerina. It simply teeters on the line of bad taste, and poor judgment, but adults will be adults, and they will choose to be fools for Halloween. Is it their intention to misappropriate someone’s gender identity? Probably not, it’s more likely they just want to look silly. I’m sure there might even be some young trans individuals who will dresses Caitlyn Jenner with pride, because frankly she looks damn good.