Halloween is a fun time of year for everyone, kids dress up and trick or treat, teens watch movies and go to parties, and parents hand out candy. One thing that everyone loves about October 31^st is the costumes. Young girls dress up as iconic monsters, their favorite movie characters, their dream job, or anything else you can think of. Teen girls have less options; the market tends to agree that they too can dress as anything they like, as long as it’s sexy. This Halloween season, teen girls can be anything from sexy monsters to sexy doctors, or in one particular case, sexy Handmaids.

The Handmaid’s Tale is a classic novel, movie, and most recently, an award winning television show. It’s about a dystopian future where women are enslaved by powerful men and their wives. The show follows the handmaids; whose purpose is to carry children for couples higher up in the government. This systematic procreation is shown in cold detail on the program, but the show is not sexualized in any way. The handmaids have become a symbol for feminism, and many women have started dressing as them to fight for health care and equal rights.

With such a positive connotation for women’s rights, handmaid costumes are in high demand. The uniform of the Handmaid is a floor length red dress with long sleeves and a white bonnet. One Halloween costume however, really missed the mark. A short, tight mini dress with a sleeveless red cape, and fishnet tights isn’t what women wanted. The costume was for sale on a website called “Yandy” and was listed as “Brave Red Maiden Costume” the description was “An upsetting dystopian future has emerged where women no longer have a say, however, we say be bold and speak your mind in this exclusive Brave Red Maiden costume.” The costume was listed for nearly $65.

Once someone posted a picture of the costume on Twitter, the post went viral and there has been extreme backlash. Eventually the costume was taken off the website and this apology was put up in its place. “Yandy always has stood, and will continue to stand, at the forefront of encouraging our customers to “Own Your Sexy”… Over the last few hours, it has become obvious that our “Yandy Brave Red Maiden Costume” is being seen as a symbol of women’s oppression, rather than an expression of women’s empowerment. This is unfortunate, as it was not our intention on any level… Given the sincere, heartfelt response, supported by numerous personal stories we’ve received, we are removing the costume from our site.”

Feminists have won this battle, but they are far from winning the war. Nearly every female costume on the site seems over sexualized, including those that are offensive in other ways as well. A few examples are: Shot Glass Geisha Girl, Native Beauty, Disrespected Mother Superior, and Harem Honey. It seems that Yandy, is far from PC when it comes to Halloween.