So last night was, perhaps, the biggest Halloween event in St Andrews; Rocksoc Halloween. I decided to go as a Marlene Russian Spy. The term Marlene, supposedly derives its term from Marlene Dietrich, a German-American actress. Now it is well know that Marlene strictly opposed the Nazis, however it is a myth that she was spying on them for the Russians. Either way the point is the term Marlene is inspired by her staunch anti-Nazism. So that's where Marlene comes from.
Now here is a photo of the costume I wore last night - http://www.fancydressoutfitters.co.uk/t ... ume-ladies
Anyone with half a brain can clearly see this is not a Nazi uniform; there are no swastikas present.
Anyway a few girls outside the union last night decided to shout abuse at me, calling me a Nazi and a racist. So I asked 'what the hell?' Their reply was that I was clearly wearing a Nazi uniform because it had a red armband which had the famous Nazi eagle on it. While it is true that the Nazi eagle is one-headed and the Russian is two-headed, I would like to point out again that there were no swastikas present. Now I can completely understand why some people might have found my costume offensive... that is, from a distance or just out of sheer ignorance but here is the bit of the story that really REALLY annoys me...
They also accused my boyfriend of being racist. Apparently he was dressed as a member of the KKK. In fact, he was dressed as Magical Trevor. Now I'm sure you all know what members of the KKK look like but here is a picture in case you don't - http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/his ... robe-l.jpg and here is a picture of Magical Trevor - http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Asm1iAEmZA4/S ... Trevor.jpg. And yes, my boyfriend wore a ginger beard, had a friggin' star on his wizard's hat AND had TREV written across his front. So....how the hell did he look like a member of the KKK?
Another friend of mine who had no time or money to make a costume decided to do the classic bed sheet ghost look. A sheet over his head with eye holes and a mouth hole. He too was given abuse on his way to the union for being a member of the KKK.
I'm still shocked and insulted at being called a racist and a Nazi for I have encountered racial abuse myself many a time. The ironic thing is I'm half-Jewish. However, I will be wearing this costume again for there is nothing wrong with it.
P.S. Forgot to mention - My boyfriend won best male costume at Rocksoc. I guess Rocksoc endorses racism then?