“Women have always been monsters… But a monster is not something to dismiss, or look down on.”
To mark the anniversary of Jude Doyle’s 2019 book DEAD BLONDES AND BAD MOTHERS: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power [book available here], BPAL is proud to present a new collection of perfume blends inspired by this brilliant work of nonfiction.
DEAD BLONDES digs into the meaty places where pop-culture, history, and folklore overlap, presenting a series of monstrous feminine archetypes which perpetually recur in storytelling – including the stories we construct around current events, or events in our own lives.
Each archetype comments differently on the roles that women and femmes have been relegated to throughout society; many of these have been reclaimed and turned inside out over time, evolving from punishments into sources of power.
“This is a dark book, but some things are clearer in the darkness. This is a violent book, but an unsparing confrontation with violence can bring us to what lies beneath and beyond it.”
Jude Doyle (@byjudedoyle, he/they) is the author of Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear… and Why (Melville House, 2016) and Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power (Melville House, 2019). Dead Blondes was named a Kirkus Best Non-Fiction Book of 2019, and was shortlisted for Starburst Magazine’s Brave New Words Award. In addition, Doyle founded the feminist blog Tiger Beatdown in 2008, writes an ongoing column at GEN, has a prolific freelance journalism career, and once did a flow-chart about farts for the New York Times.”
n 2020 we collaborated with author Jude Ellison S. Doyle on a series of eight perfumes inspired by archetypes of monstrous femininity described in his non-fiction book Dead Blondes & Bad Mothers.
That same year, Doyle began the gender transition that would end up inspiring the follow up work DILF: Did I Leave Feminism?, to be released in October 2025.
From the publisher:
In this sharp manifesto veteran author and activist, Jude Doyle, reunites feminist and trans politics through a common belief: that all people deserve to have the final say about who they are…
When Jude Doyle began his transition in the summer of 2020, he had a very public career as a feminist – winning awards from women’s organizations, writing for women’s magazines, publishing books on “women’s issues.” Then, after a decade in the movement, he had to walk out in front of the public and tell them he had never been a woman at all.
Doyle offers a seldom-heard and much-needed transmasculine perspective on feminist subjects, drawing together strands of intersectional feminist theory and queer and trans politics to show that all their struggles are the same struggle: The fight for gender-marginalized people to maintain autonomy and full selfhood in a patriarchy that is always eager to hollow us out and use us to further its own agenda.
DILF offers a strong rebuke to trans-exclusionary feminisms that seek to drive a wedge between gender-marginalized communities. Using interviews, critical analysis, and Doyle’s own personal experience, DILF proves that feminism is a vital and necessary tool for breaking free of patriarchal control, whoever you are.
To celebrate the launch of this exciting new book, the Lab is proud to present a Limited Edition statement fragrance inspired by inventive approaches to DILFhood, available as a 5ml perfume oil, 4oz hair gloss, and a 1oz beard oil.
