what do you think of white people dressing up as mulan/pocahontas/jasmine/other poc characters etc.?

Nope.

That’s the simplest way of putting it.

Don’t fucking do it.

Those characters serve as stereotypes for specific cultures, therefore you ARE flaunting said stereotypes. You can say “but they’re fictional characters!” but if you were to wear those costumes, your clothing would be associated with South Eastern/Indian/Indigenous culture nonetheless. You can’t deny that whatsoever.

When you take a part of culture and then treat it as if it was a costume—that’s appropriation. When you equate it to a “whacky” sort of costume that can be worn for amusement, you’re demeaning the cultural worth of that garment, you are complicit in the fetishization of a culture.

And of course, people will bring up “Oh but we can dress up as European stereotypes!” but no, that’s not a proper argument either. Those stereotypes aren’t necessarily respectful by any means, you’re still being an asshole but you aren’t furthering fetishization or oppressive stereotypes because white people aren’t marginalized for their cultural backgrounds. PoC are. And even then, European stereotypes are commonly associated with majorly white populations and exclude PoC as a whole which is problematic in itself.

You will not see a Scottish immigrant being rejected from employment opportunities, have slurs spewed at them due to their cultural background. But you will see an individual wearing a sari and being publicly mocked for it, you will see a black American being dubbed as conventionally unintelligent simply for speaking AAV and wearing baggy pants, you will see an individual of indigenous American descent being told that they don’t have the right to discuss their cultural heritage despite the fact that their highschool’s team has been named “The Redskins”. That’s the fucking difference.

When you fetishize, you dehumanize, and that’s the god damn problem. Go dress up as Tinkerbell, holy shit.