Would this Halloween costume be offensive to trans* people or allies?

The only thing I can think of, as an ally who has worked with this population in a social services setting, is that it is inherently offensive to use a costume that turns someone's life into a punchline, no matter the intent. To wit, you are trying to dress up as a woman and draw attention to the importance of women's causes, that's cool, but the reality is that you are still a man dressing up as a "generic" woman, and the experiences of women and of trans* people do not adhere to your depiction in a way that helps your cause or your costume. Do you see what I'm saying? I think if you're looking to do something explicitly feminist, you might consider dressing up as a particular/specific historic woman who is recognizable or easily explained, like Clara Barton or Betsy Ross, or even a "generic" suffragist, if you want to wear a sign. Otherwise, the above advice is wise. Your workplace may be an exception, but generally, no one wants to spend too much time deconstructing the social implications of costuming at their Halloween party.

Hoo boy, what a rockin' Halloween party this is going to be. Don't do your idea of dressing up as International Women's Day; not because you'll be wearing a dress, but because the whole idea sounds like applying a wet blanket to any spark of fun that might erupt during a party. Why not dress as Eugene V. Debs, or Emma Goldman? Carry a megaphone and have some fun with it. I'm as left as they get, but I don't thirst to learn things at a costume shindig.

I'm with Admiral Haddock. It's Halloween. People just want to have fun. No one wants to have to do high analytical thinking at a party.

"...because this shouldn't be a costume" would be much more accurate... which might lead to people asking why you are wearing it then. which leads to needing to explain the joke, which should be a pink flag right there. As a person who's spent some of my life passing as another gender I wouldn't be "offended" but I would feel like you were trying way too hard.

Aww, you sound like me, in that you have a great love for clever Halloween costumes that really don't make sense. You are going to spend all night explaining that costume and still nobody is going to get it (because most of them will probably be drunk at that point). I say skip it.

I would say that if you feel like you want to dress up in women's clothes, then go for it. There is really no need to create a defensible rationale to do so. On the other hand, you probably want to take care how you behave when dressed in women's clothes, because that will show how you really feel about women.

I didn't want people to think I was just wearing a dress to get a laugh, because that would DEFINITELY be humor at the expense of trans* people Well, before you even get into any transgender issues, the usual guy dressing in poorly done drag for Halloween is pretty far into the idea of making what other people are into costumes. Costuming oneself as a native american or black person is seen as beyond tasteless, and generally seen to be as humor at the expense of the group they are costuming themselves as. (If they aren't a part of that group and making fun of the idea of stereotyped costumes of it that is -- it's just very difficult to pull that off if you aren't a member of that group) Take a hard look at why you are concerned this would be seen as humor at the expense of trans* people but not at the expense of women generally (whether trans or cis). Men wearing a generic "woman" costume is pretty common, but women wearing generic "man" costumes are rare -- and just wearing pants and a tie with short hair wouldn't even come off as a costume for a man or a woman, but somehow a dress worn by a man is seen that way. OTOH, I find it fun when people I know well get into their full drag getup for costumed events -- but I know it's not a costume for them to be "dressed up" that way, rather that they are taking advantage of the event to feel that they can dress in drag more publicly than usual -- and sometimes they've had to summon up a lot of bravery to do it. There are very, very obvious differences between someone who tosses on a wig and a dress for Halloween, someone who has a lot of practice and experience crossdressing, and someone who is transgendered and chooses to live as a woman full or part time or as off the gender binary. Transgendered people aren't dressing in drag (usually). Merely wearing a dress hardly puts you in the "in drag" category. "I Need Feminism because this costume shouldn't be transgressive" But it's not transgressive for a man to wear a dress on Halloween -- this is pretty damn acceptable in the US. If you are trying to argue that it shouldn't be seen as something that could be a Halloween costume, it's kind of strange that you are trying to say it IS your costume. If it wasn't transgressive at all, in general, on other days, for a man to wear a dress, that would mean you didn't bother to dress up for Halloween. Maybe you normally wear dresses, and aren't dressing up, but in that case adding a sign doesn't make it a costume. "I Need Feminism because this costume shouldn't be transgressive" Just change "costume" to "dress" on your sign and you will have a lovely outfit to wear come March 8th, I think that would be a wonderful occasion to wear this. A costume as a particular individual would work much better. You could dress as a historic activist, and give out pamphlets about who you are while speaking in character as handing out pamphlets about women's rights (or whatever phrase was used by the person in their time). You could add a bit about International Women's Day as well.

I'm trans and this costume wouldn't offend me at all, but I can't speak for other trans folks at all. The thing about drag is, there is always the possibility that somebody somewhere will be egregiously offended, no matter what you do or what your intentions are. Gender is a freakin' minefield. So, generally I dress how I want to dress, never intending to offend anybody, and if they get offended that's their problem. Maybe it sounds callous, but I don't know how else to live. I think your costume sounds... complicated. As other people have observed, you'd probably spend all night explaining it to people, and even then some of them still won't get it. If you want to make a pro-woman statement, I'd say just dress up like some woman you admire and when people ask who you are say, "I'm (name here)... She's my hero!" That's nice and simple, and if anybody gives you crap for it, to heck with 'em.

I dunno dude, I think the point is kinda laboured. It seems like you are trying to diassociate the roleplaying, costumed, performative elements of the outfit - but actually you are wearing it as a costume, performance, roleplay. Dressing up like that on not-Halloween would make way for sense for the point you are trying to make. In a weird way, I actually feel like going full-drag fabulous would be more supportive because it's more celebratory, etc. I'm not big into comparisons like this generally, but I'm sure you can see how weird it would read if you weren't black, but went "generic" black for Halloween because "Black issues don't get enough attention". It would be the wrong place for it, and the wrong way of making the point. I kinda feel similarly about this.