Crossing the line from ghoulish to foolish on Halloween

This Halloween the line between ghoulish and foolish has been more publicly pronounced, as revelers snap photos of offensive costumes and share them online.

People have tweeted images of men dressed as Michael Brown, the unarmed African-American teen who was shot dead by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in August. Last year, Halloween-ers set off a firestorm of controversy when some went out dressed as another slain black teen, Trayvon Martin.

This year there are also the ubiquitous images of the “sexy” Ebola nurse and “sexy” ISIL fighter, which have, predictably, sparked online outcries.

What’s more, men have posted photos of themselves dressed up, often in blackface, as NFL player Ray Rice, who was caught earlier this year on a security camera knocking out his then-fiancé. In one photo, a young child wears a Ray Rice costume, dragging a doll by the hair meant to represent the unconscious Janay Rice.

Psychologists have said that costumes are a way for people to push the boundaries of what is considered appropriate. For young adults — who are in the state of psychological development in which they are trying to figure out who they are and are attempting out different roles in the process — Halloween is the perfect opportunity to be provocative.

“Halloween gives adolescents the opportunity to do that in a way that is socially condoned … to act outrageously,” said Deborah Best, a psychology professor at Wake Forest University. “Little kids are often afraid of costumes their parents picked out for them … but by the time they hit adolescence, they want to act out, to make fun, to draw the lines between appropriate and inappropriate.”

In recent years, media attention has focused on politically incorrect or offensive costumes such as young white adults painted in black face or other racially insensitive costumes that have caused online outrage.

Such costumes generally depict the most negative or sexualized aspect of the culture or race.

Black face has an entrenched racial history in the United States, extending “back to minstrel shows in which white actors would paint their faces black and lips red or white to mock the physical appearance of African-Americans,” Jorge Rivas wrote in Color Lines.

Rivas additionally discouraged people from wearing costumes such “Muslim terrorist,” “Mexican” and “illegal alien.”