by Amanda Kloer
categories:
Human Trafficking Awareness, Sex Trafficking and Prostitution, Technology and the Media
Published
October 27, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
Here's how my Halloween usually goes: go out with friends, run into a guy dressed as a pimp, proceed to corner the pimp and explain why his costume is inappropriate and offensive. Yep -- I'm pretty much a buzz-kill. I would love to have a conflict-free Halloween this year (and one where my friends don't ditch me), but that's only going to happen if no one dresses up in costumes that glamorize pimping. Pimps are people who exploit women. Period. Yet Halloween glamorizes pimps like no other holiday. Maybe it's because their stereotypical attire makes an outlandish costume. Maybe it's because they are an easily recognizable part of American culture. There have been pimp costumes available on the Internet for a long time, but now even your dog can be a pimp. And as Kat over at Polaris Project points out, so can your pumpkin.
I know coming up with a Halloween costume is hard, so to help you out, I've provided 101 ideas for cosutmes that don't glorify criminals who rape women and sell them like objects. If you're thinking of dressing like a pimp, pick one of these instead, especially if you live in the DC area. Because you don't want to meet me and my feminist literature in a dark alley on Halloween night.
101 Things to Be for Halloween that Aren't a Pimp
- NASCAR driver
- Wizard with a pegleg
- Amelia Earheart
- Dinosaur
- Cat in a litterbox
- Zombie lumberjack
- Your mom
- Flapper
- Harlem Globetrotter
- Wall-E
- Chuck Norris
- Drunk robot
- Pancake
- Simpson's character
- Golfer
- Sarah Palin
- King of Spades
- Slutty panda
- Keg of beer
- Wind up penguin toy
- Hipster
- Michael Jackson
- Bunch of grapes
- Wizard with an expensive prosthetic leg
- Party animal
- George W. Bush
- Ghost eating a muffin
- Little Orphan Annie
- Sexy or not-so-sexy librarian
- Voltran
- Waldo
- Peanut M&Ms
- Mummy
- Tooth fairy
- Cop with a mohawk
- Ultimate frisbee player
- Bernie Madoff
- Harry Potter
- An underpaid babysitter
- Sexy Abraham Lincoln
- Starfish
- Grasshopper with anxiety disorder
- Someone else's mom
- Peter Pan
- Bee keeper
- Cookie Monster
- Drunk jerk at the bar
- Marathon runner
- Naked skydiver
- Feminist Rapunzel who made him take the stairs
- iPod commercial
- The bartender's mom
- A vampire from Twilight or True Blood
- A stick
- Santa Claus
- Frodo Baggins
- Dishwasher
- Shifty-eyed chipmunk
- Scarlet fever
- Marie Antoinette
- Rabbit
- Bag of jelly beans
- Nina, Pinta, and/or Santa Maria
- The Big Bad Wolf in grandma's mu-mu
- Detective
- Break dancer
- Uncertain pie
- A maid of any nationality other than French
- The guy from "The Wrestler"
- A Trans-Am
- Pony
- Sack of bricks
- The cute kid from Where the Wild Things Are
- Christian Amanpour
- Ants at a picnic
- Michael Moore
- Charles in Charge
- Hobo who reads Chaucer
- Carnie (Wilson or the profession)
- Magic bean
- Cheerleader
- Elvis
- Robot Chicken
- Abominable Snowman
- Half angel, half devil
- Dreidel
- Batman
- A rouge fisherman with poor night vision
- Pedicurist
- Banana
- Vietnam protester
- Shooting star
- Man on horseback
- Spock
- Don and Betty Draper
- Walnut grove
- Adam Lambert
- Unicorn on steroids
- 3 dollar bill
- Witch with buckteeth
- The Gosselin Family
Now, you have no excuse to be a pimp this Halloween. So have fun this weekend, be safe, and if you see someone dressed as a pimp, tell him to read this blog next year.
Photo credit: bovinemagnet
A friend of a friend dressed up years ago as a pimp. His grandmother sewed him a ridiculous oversized coat made out of fluffly white fake fur. The coat itself was a lot of fun. It's too bad it said "pimp". Perhaps some stylists out there could provide alternative uses for such outrageous garments. Cossack on drugs?
Posted by Anemone Cerridwen on 10/27/2009 @ 03:33PM PT
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Intresting and humorous list although Im somewhat offended with the suggestion of "Witch with buckteeth"...
Anyways it sounds like youd be fun to hang with on halloween and I would question whether or not your friends are really your friends if they would ditch you so readily...
Blessed sah-wen miss kloer.
Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/27/2009 @ 05:17PM PT
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Yeah, pimps are bad but c'mon... It's Halloween for crying out loud. Most things you dress as are totally inappropriate for the every day world. LOL I mean jeeeez. What else is there to say.
Posted by Graham Smith on 10/27/2009 @ 06:44PM PT
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George W. Bush and Chuck Norris are better than pimps?
Posted by Rev Bookburn on 10/27/2009 @ 07:52PM PT
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I have no problem with pimp costumes... Human trafficking and woman/men being forced to have sex beyond their control is terrible.. but it's a costume.. honestly it doesn't and never will bother me.. Are all pimps holding people against their will?
Posted by Alex Montagna on 10/28/2009 @ 08:03AM PT
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Great article. I especially liked the suggested costumes. I'm not sure how one would pull off a rouge fisherman with poor night vision however.
Posted by Kristin Brown on 10/28/2009 @ 11:42AM PT
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How do you make a "sexy Abraham Lincoln" costume? O_o You know what, on second thought, I don't want to know.
Posted by Natalie Rose Apar on 10/29/2009 @ 08:39AM PT
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