Halloween in the 80’s was wild

[-]

Olivia_Bitsui@reddit

My mom dressed me up as a “bag lady” (80s term for “homeless woman”) when I was 10.

[-]

BaronNeutron@reddit

this is a GenX sub, you dont have to explain 80s terms because we all lived it

[-]

Olivia_Bitsui@reddit

It wasn’t a term used everywhere, no need to be snotty

[-]

Mammoth-Captain1308@reddit

Yes, I was just thinking how ‘hobo’ costumes were fairly common. The children’s art book that came with our set of encyclopedias recommended it as a costume idea.

[-]

MadDogTannen@reddit

I don't think a hobo costume is that offensive, even today. Unhoused people still exist, but a hobo with a stick and bindle is anachronistic enough that I think it's a valid costume.

[-]

dangelo7654398@reddit

The Repugs would report your parents to CPS and send you to a reeducation camp today.

[-]

Consistent_Case_5048@reddit

Who would think the 80s were a more tolerant time?

[-]

Popcorn_Blitz@reddit

That's a spectacularly interesting interpretation.

What do you think folks were more tolerant of in the past?

[-]

Consistent_Case_5048@reddit

Today, drag is way more frowned upon.

[-]

The whole idea of your Uncle Dave wearing a dress to go read books to kids in the library.. I find it difficult to believe that he wouldn't have been run out of there before he hit the second set of doors.

So what examples do you have where drag was more accepted? Do you mean like when like Milton Berle would wear a dress?

[-]

toblies@reddit

Not drag per se, but if youncross- dressed on Halloween, nobody said boo. Drag culture was not really out in the open yet, and I think its emergence had polarized people.

[-]

Popcorn_Blitz@reddit

So I think you just hit it on the head yourself- drag culture wasn't open yet because it wasn't tolerated. It's barely tolerated now, at least where I'm at. It really wasn't more tolerated when we were younger, it was just way more acceptable to make a costume or comedy sketch out of it.

[-]

KaizokuNakama@reddit

Thanks for this.

I remember the young boys who were older than me holding me essentially hostage and saying "you're not a Fing F*ot are you?" then forcing me to swear I wasn't on threat of violence.

I am still learning to unrepress myself in my 50's. I now live in California urban area where we have an entire queer district, it's so nice to know there's actually spaces where I can re-discover myself, now to just overcome my own fear and go do it.

[-]

Popcorn_Blitz@reddit

Do it, I have a very good friend who's in her 60's and is starting a transition that should have happened 40 years ago. Start small, just head into a bookstore or something, grab lunch. And then go from there. No sense in making your world more miserable- outside forces will take care of that well enough on their own.

[-]

KaizokuNakama@reddit

❤❤❤ I've been daydreaming about vacationing at queer/gay hotels in palm springs this summer to dip my toes further in in safe spaces.

coming out has been a slow self discovery process for me! I greatly appreciate the encouragement ❤

[-]

Popcorn_Blitz@reddit

Growth is so important! I wish you the best.

[-]

KaizokuNakama@reddit

dingdingding - drag wasn't known because men beat other men who dared appear or act feminine in any way.

that's far less tolerant.

[-]

KaizokuNakama@reddit

I think its more accepted in some areas and more rejected in others now compared to then, where it was only acceptable as a costume/joke in the 80's, though it's definitely been more politicized (faux news) nowadays.

My perspective is skewed as I grew up in an evangelical ran town in the 80's and conforming to gender norms was harshly enforced there. My non-binary ass had to hide for a long long time because of that.

[-]

dreadfulwater@reddit

I think so. I was in high school in the 80's and as soon as Adman Ant, Duran Duran, and Prince showed up We saw lots of guys in makeup at our school. We were a small jersey town so there was a lot of flannel and Concert T's as well but there was never any bullying towards kids who wanted to do something different.

[-]

digdugnate@reddit

Pirate!

[-]

HailMaryPoppins@reddit

I was a ‘Lady of the Night’ when I was maybe 11 or something. I was with my bestie who dressed as a pumpkin every year. We wandered all over the neighborhood and stayed out later than usual because it was one of those rare Halloween nights in the PNW when it wasn’t raining. Got some weird looks from parents at the doors handing out candy asking what I was dressed as. I was such a naive kid, took me years to realize what I actually was dressed as- til then I just thought it was women that liked to dress fancy and go to movie premiers or jazz clubs.

[-]

No-Meringue2388@reddit

I thought the term "Lady of the Night" meant the same thing! Oh, your stepmother is all dressed up? "You look like a Lady of the Evening!" I was incredibly embarrased to learn what it meant.

[-]

HailMaryPoppins@reddit

Ha, hilarious!!

[-]

turkeylips4ever@reddit

My dad dressed me as Dolly Parton as a 3 year old and it was BRILLIANT

[-]

Klutzy-Spend-6947@reddit

I was a snake charmer, w/ a turban, a flute, and a fake snake in a basket. I also was a witch doctor with a spear and a “tribal” paper mache mask.

[-]

prostipope@reddit

I remember us all wearing the same, cheap plastic masks with the ill-fitting rubber band strap.

I can still taste the toxins pouring into my adolescent lungs with each muffled breath.

[-]

whistlepig4life@reddit

I went as a hooker to the CYO Halloween party as a teen.

Fishnets. Mini skirt. And a black eye and smeared lipstick like I’d been slapped.

Some of the moms were less than happy.

[-]

ReviewBackground2906@reddit

Same here. My best friend was also dressed as a hooker and our male friend was dressed as a pimp. Our parents thought it was hilarious.

We all went to Catholic schools, too. Good times, and so “wholesome”.

[-]

bored-panda55@reddit

Get to the final line - yeah that makes sense.

[-]

Amy_Macadamia@reddit

gif

[-]

Ok_Sprinkles_8777@reddit (OP)

Haha 🤣 twins

[-]

Strong-Piccolo-5546@reddit

Halloween is dead now.

[-]

cartographer_emerita@reddit

Chiquita Banana, aka lady of the night (1981)

[-]

Ok_Sprinkles_8777@reddit (OP)

Aww lol

[-]

Affectionate-Map2583@reddit

My most politically incorrect costume was an Arabian oil sheik, with robes, fake skinny mustache and a small metal gas can to carry around.

My son wanted to be "a hobo with a sack on a stick" one year and I made that happen around 2010. I have since learned that it's not okay to make costumes depicting the homeless. Oh well.

[-]

Former-Flamingo-264@reddit

I created an oil sheik costume for my little brother when I was 10/he was 6. Monopoly $ instead of the oil can though.

[-]

Perle1234@reddit

Yeah my kids had several costumes mentioned in here 👀

[-]

ConcreteKeys@reddit

Yah, that's wrong! They don't carry sticks anymore....They have shopping carts with pinwheels.

[-]

B4USLIPN2@reddit

We were so poor. Not starving poor, but way down there. A favorite costume was the fake vampire teeth( very cheap), that fake blood in a tube stuff, and the old black trash bag for Dracula’s cape.

Also, trash bags don’t breathe for shit!

[-]

MnGoulash@reddit

My mom sent me as a old lady to a Halloween party in the 80’s, I was probably 10. Like wtf.

[-]

ConcreteKeys@reddit

Yah, my sis was dressed up as a white trash mom in pajamas and rollers in her hair with a giant fake mole on her face. Um..fun.

[-]

New_Guava3601@reddit

So she went as the average female Walmart shopper.

[-]

ConcreteKeys@reddit

No. She had a rolled up newspaper as a prop. Walmart people have the TV guide. She was more, Kmart layaway.

[-]

SpokaneSmash@reddit

When I was 4 my parents dressed me as a "hobo" and my sister as a "gypsy." We had no idea.

[-]

Fartina69@reddit

The New Jan Brady?

[-]

RiffRandellsBF@reddit

My buddies and I were Arab oil shields in junior high.

We're were 2 Asian, 3 Hispanics, and 2 Caucasian kids, all dressed in flowing white robes with braided gold and black agal and car oil dipsticks as swords.

Yes, the 80s were wild as shit. 😂

[-]

SecondToLastOfSheila@reddit

Being a flasher was a popular middle school costume. My middle school yearbook even has a picture of 8 kids in costume and one of them is flashing the camera.

It was a different time.

[-]

Opus-the-Penguin@reddit

In 1981 we had a kid at my high school who got sent home for coming in a flasher costume. He was wearing rubber boobs under the coat.

[-]

Ok_Sprinkles_8777@reddit (OP)

🫣🤣

[-]