Mellow yellow
Smoking banana peels will get you high? Rumours of bananas as narcotics began swirling around the hippie scene in the mid-1960s, fuelled by the experimental era and people looking for the next big thing. Plus, bananas were cheap, so if banana scrapings worked, this would be a really cheap high. That's why people fell for it. The myth's origin, the editors of a counterculture publication in New York were discussing the mechanics of LSD and serotonin in the brain, and then began to wonder if something more natural could produce the same effect. Realising that bananas also contain serotonin, the eager hippies invented the concept of smoking bananas.While it is true that bananas contain some amount of serotonin, it is too slight to cross the blood-brain barrier. Nonetheless, the rumour quickly spread. Aided by Donovan's song Mellow Yellow climbing the charts and people assuming it was about smoking banana peels. With lyrics such as "Electrical banana / Is gonna be a sudden craze / Electrical banana / Is bound to be the very next phase," its easy to see why. (Source: Atlas Obscura)
Costume makes women see red
Sexy Halloween costume purveyor Yandy.com pulled this year's bad taste Halloween costume - a sexy Handmaid's Tale outfit after a backlash on social media. The costume description read: "An upsetting dystopian future has emerged where women no longer have a say. However, we say be bold and speak your mind in this exclusive Brave Red Maiden costume featuring a red mini dress, a matching cloak with an attached hood, and a white bonnet headpiece." The company claims they saw the costume as a "powerful protest message" before the backlash. "Our corporate ideology is rooted in female empowerment, and gender empowerment overall," the company said. in a statement. "Over the last few hours, it has become obvious that our 'Brave Red Maiden Costume' is being seen as a symbol of women's oppression, rather than an expression of women's empowerment. This is unfortunate, as it was not our intention on any level ... " Yeah, nah, many aren't buying it. "There's nothing like fighting the patriarchy by sexualising a show about misogyny and rape," tweeted Zoe Margolis. In the TV series women are stripped of their rights and some are forced to be handmaids of their commanders, forced to have children for infertile women.
