If You're Mad That There's A Sexy Handmaid's Tale Halloween Costume, You're Part Of The Problem

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Bustle- While most sites can’t explicitly call out The Handmaid’s Tale in their listing for copyright reasons, they are unquestionably inspired by the success of the show — a Hulu series based on Margaret Atwood’s novel, in which the U.S. has become a totalitarian society and women, treated as a property of the state, are forced into sexual slavery. Yandy’s “Brave Red Maiden” costume features a hooded cloak, a white bonnet, and a red mini dress, meant to evoke the outfit of the handmaids… but “sexier.” “An upsetting dystopian future has emerged where women no longer have a say,” Yandy’s costume listing states. “However, we say be bold and speak your mind in this exclusive Brave Red Maiden costume.”

If you want to be sexy for Halloween, by all means dress sexy. There are plenty of sexy Halloween costumes that don’t reference a show about rape and misogyny. You can even join Halloween goers and protestors alike and dress up as a handmaid. Make a statement in your red cloak. Just maybe don’t make it “sexy” if you don’t want to be counterproductive to the cause.

Author’s note: KFC and I were working on this blog at the same time. Typically I don’t give a shit about blogging against another blogger because we all have different takes and voices. But Kevin is in the middle of a one-man blogging renaissance, the likes of which I haven’t seen since maybe ever. So, humbly, please accept this second, likely-inferior take on Handmaid’s Tale halloween costumes. 

I’ve never watched a single episode of Handmaid’s Tale. It’s a show about rape, and yet women love it. One of those shows where people say, “have you seen it?” And I say “no, I threw out my TV because I had too many books to read” to make them feel stupid. Like when someone asks you if you have a lighter for their cigarette, and you say “sorry, I don’t smoke cigarettes, I jog too much.” Maybe I’ll watch it someday, but it doesn’t seem particularly uplifting. I’m not a fan of government-sanctioned rape, fictional or otherwise.

So when you get mad at a sexy handmaid’s tale costume, just know that you’re part of the problem. Because in order to get mad, you need to have watched the show. And by watching the show, you’re supporting a (fictional) narrative of government-sanctioned rape. And without viewers, there is no show. Without the show, there is no costume. A classic “which came first, the chicken or the sexy sex slave costume?” It’s like claiming that a matador Halloween costume propagates cruelty towards animals, but you still have season tickets to the bullfights.

I will continue to do my part by not watching the show. It’s a much more effective way to keep these perversions of consumerism off the shelves. Thank you for my service.

PS- I do love Elisabeth Moss though.