Read Women With Actual PhDs' Reviews of Amazon's "Sexy PhD" Costume
Every Halloween, a new batch of "sexy XYZ" costumes hit the shelves, and it seems like every year they get more ridiculous. This year was no exception, with the arrival of the "Delicious Women's Phd Darling Sexy Costume," a ridiculous imagining of what a PhD candidate might wear to ... graduation? class? Who knows?
Luckily, the Internet decided not to take this one sitting down and took to the costume's Amazon review section to share some insights. While some reviews just came from concerned buyers, others came from actual women PhD candidates and holders who felt the need to weigh in. We're glad they did.
Some were concerned about the costume's authenticity:
Others were grateful for the quick substitute:
Some reviewers were just "totally satisfied" with the product:
And others still found more peculiar faults:
Sure, the reviews probably aren't from paying customers, but a significant number of actual women PhDs signed on to share their thoughts, and though they came in a variety of tones, the overarching chorus echoed a simple and crisp "Not OK."
While overly sexualizing any occupation for the sake of a Halloween costume is surely deplorable in itself, there's something especially demeaning about taking something that requires years and years of intense work and study like a PhD and trivializing it to an extremely short polyester half-dress, a shiny cap, a gold sash and a rolled up piece of paper/diploma.
Perhaps this is the start of a trend of fighting back against the absurd hyper-sexualization of everything possible under the guise of Halloween. And while these problems only seem to pop up once a year (around the holiday, of course), the general sense of diminishing the accomplishments of women is a year-round problem — and one that must be stopped.
h/t Daily Dot