In this link, the costume in question is titled the “Gypsy maid” costume. It of course includes a very short skirt and tight-fitting corset. Naturally this is one of the Romani stereotypes, that all the women are sirens or seductresses. However this costume proceeds to take the profiling another step further by adding the maid aspect to the costume. While maids serve a very hard working profession, it is a blue collar/ lower class job. Combining a lower class job with a gypsy aspect implies that all gypsy women are going to serve their lives as maids or equal level positions in society. And of course, none of the reviews point out that this costume is a reinforcement of negative stereotypes to a largely ignorant audience. Instead, they either praise the sensual appeal of the costume or compare it against similar costumes, equally ignorant and offensive. Naturally this costume is not aimed at Romani people or anyone informed on the Roma culture to any level, but instead to the unintentionally ignorant consumer in America that has no exposure to the Roma people, or simply has total apathy for their representation. The Romani are not the only type of people that are negatively represented by companies such as these, There are the obvious other costumes such as the “Sexy Nurse”, which portrays nurses as sex objects rather than highly trained educated people who have worked extremely hard to get where they are in society. These costume companies will sexualize any sort of job or culture they can to make an appeal to the consumer that wants to dress up as ‘sexy’ on halloween, while still being able to make an argument that they chose the costume for the culture, not the height of the skirt. Yet while everyone in America typically knows that Nurses are educated people, hardly anyone knows the first thing about the Romani, and as such only have their exposure to it in things such as costumes and halloween parties.

The Sexy Gypsy stereotype on halloween

September 7, 2013 by pqvarus2012

Everybody loves Halloween, for one reason or another. Children for the candy, and adults because they get to dress up in costumes and get drunk. both the children and adults costumes can be a variety of things, pirates, devils…. and Gypsies. Now this is where the problem lies, because while most other costumes have variety (“slutty” nurse to “scrubs” nurse), if one were to head over to “costumecraze.com”, all gypsy costumes are either “sexy”, “seductive”, or “mysterious”, reinforcing an ages old stereotype of both the mysterious palm reader/fortune teller, and the seductress that leaves all men in her path speechless.

Now, while it all may well sound harmless, “oh its just a costume, no one means anything by it, its just like the slutty nurse costumes”, in reality everyone knows real nurses go to college, are clearly talented enough to get into their field, and in all likelihood don’t sleep with their disease-ridden patients. However, most people dont seem to know quite as much about the Romani people as they do about people who practice medicine, which means the only interaction they have with the Romani culture is either Hollywood stereotypes or the slutty costumes. even though consciously someone may know it is just a costume their friend is wearing that has no basis in reality (and likely neither does the friends consciousness anymore), when it is the only stimulation and exposure, it can become a very persuasive stereotype. couple that with age old stereotypes grounded in medieval times, and there’s a very compelling reason to believe all Romani women are babes that will get you to do things by sleeping with you.

The Gypsy stereotype is a long-lasting one that is heavily ingrained in people, Europeans especially. they’re seen as irresponsible, and careless, known for their preying on the superstitious and inattentive. a culture developed from such rich heritages, and made even deeper by the cultures they’ve come in contact with and lived with for so long. The Romani culture is an underrated culture that is heaped with prejudice and unfounded mistrust.