Still planning your costume? Here are some ideas for costumes as well as some tips to be sure your costume isn’t problematic.
Posts Tagged ‘costumes’
Feminist Halloween 2017: Day 27: Halloween Costume Round-up
Posted in Feminist Halloween, Gender, tagged costumes, Halloween Costumes on 2017/10/27| Leave a Comment »
Feminist Halloween 2016, Day 24: Warning Labels for Racist Costumes
Posted in Feminist Halloween, Gender, Race, tagged costumes, Halloween Costumes, Indigenous, racism, Spirit Halloween on 2016/10/24| Leave a Comment »
Content note: contains images of a racist and sexualized costumes.
Spirit Halloween always gets a mention on my Feminist Halloween series in the costume fail category because of their racist, sexist costumes. This year, when Spirit Halloween asked Zooey Roy, an Indigenous woman in Saskatoon, to leave after complaining about the Indigeneous-inspired (read: racist and appropriative) costumes the store stocks. Chris Kortright and the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism decided to take action by taping warning labels on the costumes:

Image: Spirit Halloween adult costume with a low-cut beaded leather dress with fringe and a headband with three feathers and beading: “Reservation Royalty.” The package has a warning label on it (see below for text). Image via Facebook
Feminist Halloween, Day 24: Alien Makeup Tutorial
Posted in Feminist Halloween, tagged Ancillary Sword, costumes, Imperial Radch on 2015/10/24| Leave a Comment »
Because who knows, you might be Dlique?

Copyright Tayler Smith. Via Autostraddle. {Image: alien makeup tutorial!}
Feminist Halloween, Day 22: Take Back Halloween 2015
Posted in Feminist Halloween, tagged costumes, Halloween, Take Back Halloween on 2015/10/22| Leave a Comment »
Every year I do a quick post on Take Back Halloween, a feminist site dedicated to providing costume ideas and designs for girls and women. The costumes, typically of historical figures (“notable women”), goddesses, movie stars, and queens, span different cultures, time periods, sexualities, and shapes. What you won’t find: Sexy Nurse, Sexy Witch, Sexy Pirate. What you will find: LaSiren, Mercy Otis Warren, and Madhubala.
Feminist Halloween, Day 13: Is the Disney Store Really Gender-Neutral?
Posted in Feminist Halloween, Gender, tagged costumes on 2015/10/13| 1 Comment »

[Image: Screenshot of Disney’s children’s costumes page, with the text “I AM AWESOME.” The costumes are not labelled as boys/girls and there are no models.] Source
While the screenshot on The Mary Sue isn’t inaccurate–a lot of costumes don’t feature models–the ones that do feature child models have a lot of racial diversity, but not obvious gender non-conformity, though that could also be because they are character costumes and wigs have been deployed. (more…)
Feminist Halloween, Day 7: “Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Wear That Caitlyn Jenner Costume”
Posted in Feminist Halloween, tagged costumes on 2015/10/07| 1 Comment »
Pop culture and topical costumes are always fun for Halloween, but celebrity costumes can be rife with problematic elements. Kat Blaque discusses why dressing as Caitlyn Jenner is not an appropriate costume for cis folks:
![[Image: screen capture of Kat Blaque with an image of a Caitlyn Jenner costumer from Spirit Halloween]](https://odorunara.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/screen-shot-2015-09-29-at-9-44-30-pm.png?w=500&h=280)
[Image: screen capture of Kat Blaque with an image of a Caitlyn Jenner costumer from Spirit Halloween]
Feminist Halloween, Day 19: Problematic Costume Reader
Posted in Gender, Halloween, Race, tagged costumes, domestic violence, ebola, misogyny on 2014/10/30| Leave a Comment »
Every blog I follow seems to be covering problematic costumes this week, and you’ve still got one day to read up before the big day! Racist, sexist, fatphobic, transphobic, and appropriative costumes like these don’t have a place in Halloween fun. Let’s see what’s trending this year!
Warning: these links are about costumes that are, as stated, racist, sexist, fatphobic, transphobic, and appropriative; and include discussions of domestic violence, medical trauma, etc. (Also: tastelessness.)
Feminist Halloween, Day 3: Take Back Halloween
Posted in Geek Culture, Gender, Halloween, Race, tagged costumes, feminism, Take Back Halloween on 2014/10/03| 4 Comments »
I always do a little blurb on Take Back Halloween, since the site has been around as long as this blog has! The site aims to show readers how to make positive feminist costumes for Halloween.

Bessie Coleman via Take Back Halloween
The site highlights notable historical and fictional women of all races from all over the world; gives instructions on how to create the outfits–usually through a combination of off-the-rack items and accessories, so even if you can’t sew, you can make the outfits; and also provides history lessons about the characters and historical figures, who fall into four major categories: Glamour Grrls, Goddesses and Legends, Notable Women, and Queens.
Halloween Taste-Testing: Pumpkin Pudding Kit Kats
Posted in Consumer Culture, Expat Living, Gender, Halloween, tagged candy, costumes, food, Gender, Halloween, Kit Kats, pumpkin on 2012/10/10| 2 Comments »
Last year, Kit Kat introduced special pumpkin cheesecake flavor for Halloween. Although I liked it quite a bit, I was a little confused as to why the package described pumpkin cheesecake as a “traditional Halloween food.” This year, Kit Kat opted for a new limited-time Halloween flavor, Pumpkin Pudding (パンプキンプリン).
Let’s compare:
2011:
2012: