Tag Archives: feminist halloween costumes

Feminist Halloween Costumes for 2015

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Last year there was the Sexy Bunch of Grapes. This year it’s the Sexy Pizza Rat. The more things change, the more you need a list of feminist Halloween costume ideas. In honor of WEIRD SISTER’s upcoming first birthday (!!!!) I’m updating last year’s hoary old list of literary feminist costume ideas with some Totally Topical Feminist Costumes for 2015, including plenty of references drawn from WEIRD SISTER’s first twelve months! (Don’t forget to review last year’s list of Feminist Halloween Do’s and Don’ts to make sure your Edgy Feminist Halloween Costume is feminist fun for everyone.) Continue reading

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EAT MEN LIKE AIR: Feminist Literary Halloween Costumes (Part 3)

(Part 1 and Part 2 of this series appeared last week.)

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Yikes, you guys! Halloween is almost here! Do you have a costume yet? Never fear—if your sexy bunch of grapes costume got lost in the mail, here are 10 last-minute feminist costume ideas that you can put together in less than an hour, using materials from around the house (or maybe the drugstore.)

But first: a quick refresher course in feminist Halloween etiquette.

FEMINIST HALLOWEEN DOs AND DON’Ts

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DO freak out the patriarchy.  When you’re trying to figure out an “edgy” Halloween costume, a good trick is to ask yourself “WHOM might this costume make uncomfortable?” If the answer is “white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy,” YES, GO AHEAD with your bloody tampon Halloween costume. If the answer is “my mom,” that’s a personal family decision you’ll need to make on your own. If the answer is “PC social-justice warriors,” hang up that war bonnet, my darling girl, and figure something else out.

DON’T alter your appearance, especially your skin or your hair, to make it look like you have a different race or ethnic background. This includes wigs, hair color, makeup, and masks.

DON’T appropriate the sacred regalia or symbols of a religion that isn’t your own. I think it’s totally within Madonna’s rights to gleefully blaspheme the Catholic Church in which she was raised. I think it would be weird for her to do that with another religion.

DO consider your own identity affiliations and privilege when choosing a costume. The same costume might be edgy and transgressive on one person and creepy or downright inappropriate on another.

DON’T make light of the death or suffering of real people; this includes references to genocide, slavery, and other institutional raced or gendered violence.

DO draw bloody tears down your face with lipliner whenever possible.

And now: on to the costumes! Continue reading

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EAT MEN LIKE AIR: Feminist Literary Halloween Costumes (Part 2)

Following Thursday’s post featuring old-timey literary women, here are ideas for costumes inspired by more recent feminist literature and art—including ideas for group costumes!

JANIE CRAWFORD
From Zora Neale Hurston’s 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.

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You’ll need: Delicate white flowers from the florist or corner deli, preferably on branches (you want them to look as much like pear blossoms as possible, but, uh, it’s October); a plastic bee; plastic toothed headband (clear or matching your skin or hair); choker necklace; comfortable denim overalls; thread or string; glue; optional hair extensions, if your hair is short.
(Note: This costume incorporates elements from the beginning and the ending of the novel, so if you’re a purist you might want to pick just one scene and recreate it.)

Prep Intensity: Medium. It will be pretty tricky to get the flowers in the right position, but once you’ve done that, the rest of the costume is pretty easy. Continue reading

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THIS YEAR, EAT MEN LIKE AIR: Your 2014 Guide to DIY Literary Feminist Halloween Costumes (Part 1)

Everybody knows that women shouldn’t just be a Sexy _____ for Halloween. Instead, you should be something empowering, like a cool empress or goddess or inventor from Take Back Halloween. Even if you feel amazing dressed up as a Slutty Bunch of Grapes (oh wait I picked that as a joke but it is a thing:

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BUT the girl in this photo is totally doing the costume wrong. Here are two ways to do Slutty Bunch of Grapes: you’re totally naked except for like seven purple balloons taped to your body, and your chosen Halloween lover gets to watch you pop them one by one as you do the Dance of the Seven Slutty Grapes, OR you’re totally naked except for SEVERAL HUNDRED real grapes glued to your body with some kind of special food-safe glue and your lover gets to eat them all off one by one and then zhe is TOO FULL to eat any of hir candy and YOU GET TO EAT IT ALL oh wait I was supposed to be telling you NOT to be a slutty bunch of grapes!) ANYWAY, even if you got a great idea for a Slutty Bunch of Grapes costume + sex game from the Internet, you shouldn’t be a Slutty Bunch of Grapes because of what Mean Girls taught us. You remember! “In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.”

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So because Halloween is this weird carnival time of misrule, women and girls are encouraged, even required, to wear provocative outfits for which they would be mercilessly slut-shamed at any other time of year. And because Cady didn’t get the Girl World memo, she shows up in an amazing, totally transformative Zombie Bride costume and feels really uncomfortable and the boy she likes makes out with Regina George the Playboy Bunny.

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Continue reading

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