Arts & Entertainment

Halloween PSA breaks gender norms on kid Halloween costumes

the video switches up Batman and Wonder Woman

Published

9 years ago

October 31, 2017

Mariah Cooper

(Screenshot via YouTube.)

A Halloween PSA wants to spread the message that gender stereotypes should be broken on Halloween.

In the video, a boy and girl are excited to begin their Halloween night trick or treating. They carve pumpkins for Batman and Wonder Woman and put on their costumes.

As the children go out trick or treating, their faces aren’t seen but the parents watch nervously from the curb.

When the family comes home, the parents put their kids to bed. It’s revealed that the whole time the boy was dressed as Wonder Woman and the girl was dressed as Batman.

“My heroes,” their father says as he watches them sleep.

“Whoever you want to be, #MyHeroes,” the message reads at the end.

The PSA’s co-writer Alexander Day explained to the Huffington Post that the video is meant to show that kids should dress up as who they want to be.

“Halloween can be a time people can express themselves in a certain way and not be as attacked for it,” Day told the Huffington Post. “I knew [Wonder Woman] would be a big Halloween costume idea for little girls, but I didn’t see a reason why a boy couldn’t dress up as a powerful, smart heroine.”

Watch below.

Related Topics:Alexander Day Halloween My Heroes psa

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Online Culture

Clavicular charged in alleged rape of teenage influencer

Online personality’s real name is Braden Peters

Published

3 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Joe Reberkenny

Braden Peters a.k.a. "Clavicular" (Screen capture via NBC News/YouTube)

Online personality Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Peters, has been accused of rape.

According to NBC, Aleksandra Vasilevna Mendoza, an 18-year-old influencer known online as Alorah or Alorah Ziva, accused Peters of sexual assault, and the case is making its way through the court system.

The alleged incident occurred on May 23, 2025, when Mendoza was 17.

According to a criminal complaint from the Chatham (Mass.) Police Department, Peters called her an Uber to his family’s home. Once there, he allegedly got her drunk on vodka while they livestreamed on Twitch and then raped her. His mother and grandmother were allegedly in the house.

The documents allege Clavicular committed rape, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, and procuring and providing liquor to a person under 21.

According to court documents acquired by NPR, Mendoza began communicating with Peters on Instagram, where he paid her to appear on his livestreams to help her “make her name known on social media.”

According to those documents, Peters arranged for the minor to come to Cape Cod home to participate in a videostream for his 437,000 followers on Kick, 1.2 million followers on TikTok, and more than 1 million followers on Instagram.

At his home, Peters allegedly instructed Mendoza to say she was 18 on his videostream and to claim the alcohol on camera was water instead of vodka. Mendoza said she felt peer-pressured to drink the spirit and that she became noticeably intoxicated after a couple of drinks.

The allegations go on to state that after stopping the stream, Peters and Mendoza kissed on a couch and then had sex in his bed without her consent. Mendoza said she did not receive a sexual assault forensic exam after the incident. NPR does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.

The charges come months after Mendoza sued Peters in Miami, accusing him of sexual battery in connection with the events of May 2025. The civil lawsuit also separately alleges that he injected her face with a non-FDA-approved fat-dissolving substance during a November livestream in Florida.

Peters is known for his “looksmaxxing” concept of vanity, which is at the core of his online presence. The “looksmaxxing” culture he has helped cultivate combines elements of incel culture and heterosexuality, with the stated goal of attracting the opposite sex. He has gone as far as to say he has undergone “bonesmashing,” or hitting his own face with a hammer; taken anabolic steroids to more rapidly grow muscle; and used crystal meth as an appetite suppressant.

At the same time, looksmaxxing has been described as having elements of homoeroticism, with “looksmaxxers” appearing more concerned with impressing other men than women. Peters has multiple times pointed to openly gay actor Matt Bomer as the gold standard for male facial aesthetics.

Peters’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14.