Wear what you want: cultural sensitivities deserve a dressing down at the Hong Kong Sevens

The grapevine came alive that some guys suffered a social media backlash after a picture of them in costumes at the 2019 Vancouver Sevens made its way to a local media outlet. The men, dressed as geishas, got an earful online, enough that they wiped all the photos from their Instagram accounts and went into hiding for a few days. In left-wing, ultra liberal Vancouver where political correctness reigns supreme, I’m not surprised. I react the way most people do within the silent majority, with a quiet sigh of PC apathy. Men can’t dress as geishas now? Add another controversial costume to the growing list headed “can’t wear due to cultural appropriation”. One wonders where we went so wrong. A quick Google search reveals the most recent plunders, head-scratchers and outright flabbergasting reasons for controversy. Last Halloween, online lingerie retailer Yandy were forced to pull a “sexy” Brave Red Maiden costume from its site. The attire, which hails from the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale, set in a post-apocalyptic world, had people up in arms. Fictitious characters are off limits if they’re not positive representations of imagined societies? Before that, it was Moana costumes, a Hawaiian title character from a Disney cartoon. The young girl, who sails out on an adventure, apparently can’t be worn by anyone who is not Hawaiian. In 2017, Real Housewives’ Luann de Lesseps got in trouble on social media for dressing as Diana Ross for a Halloween party. The reality TV star said she put on bronzer, but was accused of blackface and cultural insensitivity. Kim Kardashian was criticised for dressing as singer Aaliyah, who died in 2001 at the age of 22. So dressing as a dead person is now also apparently off limits? One of my favourites was a “Countries of the World” costume party in 2017 at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. People went dressed as Buddhist monks, Middle Eastern sheikhs, Rastafarians and Viet Cong fighters. When the photos hit Facebook the next day, you’d have thought the Four Horseman were on their way. People issued apologies, the university launched a formal investigation and many from the party wiped their social media and went into hiding under a blanket banner of witch-hunt racist accusations. There were also the students who went to a recent gathering in the US who were given tiny sombreros to wear to a tequila-themed birthday party. But when the photos hit social media the backlash was swift and full of venom. Culturally appropriating Mexicans, by wearing tiny sombreros and doing a shot of tequila, is also off the table. I could go on and on, but for the sake of causing myself and other normal, well-adjusted human beings stress and anxiety at the state of cultural affairs in 2019, let’s stop there. Hong Kong Sevens: with 17 days to go, here are five things you need to know The problem is, we don’t know how to police general society any more because we always end up pandering to the most easily offended, for fear of repercussions. Social media has let outrage reign supreme, and kick-starts a scary Murphy’s Law: if someone can be offended, they most definitely will be, and will take to Twitter to voice their disgust, igniting mob rule among the social justice warrior crowd. This whole issue is so out of control that the Pew Research Centre did a study about whether people think it’s appropriate for white people to wear blackface in the US. Turns out half of those surveyed, both black and white, don’t think it’s a massive issue and probably couldn’t care less. Can costumes be worn in poor taste? Sure. Problem is, if we keep going down this slippery slope then PETA is going to be protesting people wearing chicken costumes at the Hong Kong Sevens due to animal rights. We need to push back at the easily offended “safe space” crowd who think offending someone or something is worse than death. Dressing as a character from another culture is a harmless homage, unless you’re doing it with malicious intent. Halloween, costume parties and sevens tournaments are lighthearted, fun chances for people to let loose, dress up and be a little crazy. One can only imagine a PC world where every sevens costume is a plain, white sheet because people are too worried about offending someone who has a Twitter handle.* I for one, hope that day never becomes reality. One of the beautiful things about the Hong Kong Sevens is that PC culture does not have a pass into the South Stand or anywhere near Hong Kong Stadium. This is something to be protected and worn with pride, not criticised. So, as you choose your costume for the Hong Kong Sevens, use some common sense, but please, don’t let the snowflakes win this fashion battle. * – Apologies to any offended effortless ghosts