Sexy versions of pop culture costumes are a proud Halloween tradition going all the way back to the first sexy pilgrims. But the clothing provider Yandy.com acknowledged Friday that they crossed a line when offering up their twist on a 2018 pop culture favorite: the Sexy Handmaid. Or, in their non-copyright-infringing language, the “Brave Red Maiden,” costing just $64.95.
The costume attracted no shortage of criticism online, since it created a sexualized version of a costume that, in the world of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” represents the literal sexual enslavement of women by the government — not the most erotic of concepts. The response was perhaps best summed up by a retweet from Margaret Atwood, the author of the original novel:
While Yandy.com features no shortage of “sexy” costumes that might border on the offensive or absurd, this time it did acknowledge that this was a bridge too far, and pulled the “Brave Red Maiden” costume from its site, accompanied by this statement:
While the costume is now unavailable (congrats to those who did buy it before it was taken down, who now own a collector’s item), a Twitter user did note that there was a context in which the Brave Red Maiden costume did make sense within the world of “The Handmaid’s Tale” — specifically at the Gileadean brothel Jezebel’s, where women deemed unfit for traditional society serve at the pleasure of high-ranking officials, often wearing absurd costumes just like this. Though Atwood did have a note: the men who frequent Jezebel’s have different taste — and also, Yandy wasn’t the first company to play with the costumes.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” is streaming now on Hulu.
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