15 Nov You don’t own me

First of all I enjoyed my first Halloween in the US immensely. San Franciscans knows how to party in general and for Halloween people go all out to make the most of it. Castro was filled with costume clad people, and walking around and standing in line with princesses, squirrels and monsters no icebreaker was needed and everyone was making small talk.

I dressed up as Rosie the Riveter for Halloween. I spent exactly zero dollars on my costume, and was happy to give tribute to strong, brave American women from history. My costume received many friendly comments and stood out among the slutty cats, sexy policewomen, and hot vampires. However, to all these fine people I will quote the characters of Seinfeld: “not that there is anything wrong with that”.

Rosie the Riveter is a figure that represents the millions of women in the workforce, especially those you worked in factories during World War 2. As the men left for the war there was a huge gap in the industrial labor force. Women were told through government propaganda that they were needed to step up and do their duty. Among these campaigns were the famous: ”We can do it!” poster that since was used in fighting for women’s right in the 1980s and has been a symbol of both female power, equality and as a tribute to all the different rosies of WW2 and of today.

Halloween is an amazing opportunity to have fun and dress up as anything you want to. You could pay tribute to a favorite artist, be super scare or rock the goofy costume, or find a way to express your sexuality in some way that you do not dare to go for every day. This year I did not witness too many costumes that were offensive or cultural appropriating, which witness that most Californians seem to respect one another and themselves, and are creative enough to avoid these embarrassing clichés.