Oct. 31 means skin-tight latex and lycra, short-shorts, knee high boots, cleavage, and animal ears – that’s right, Halloween costumes. Aside from the parties and free candy, the next thing that comes to students’ minds at the mention of Halloween is sexy costumes. These types of costumes have long been acknowledged in popular culture, such as in the movie “Mean Girls,” which pokes fun at girls who dress in revealing costumes on Halloween.
While a common complaint about the sexy nurse, sexy cop, sexy kitten, and various other “sexy” costumes is that they are not original or creative, there are often other issues that arise at the mention of these outfits. Every Halloween, there tends to be at least one person who voices the opinion that sexy costumes are inappropriate, degrading, or “slutty.”
Walking into a costume store and seeing sexy versions of everything as the only options in the women’s department is unfair and sexist. Should criticism be directed towards the costumes themselves – or the stores, companies, and suppliers that provide such a narrow scope of what women should dress up as? Women have the option of buying a costume from the men’s department, or creating their own, but the point is that they should not have to do so just to have a costume that isn’t sexualized.
At the same time, if a female prefers to wear a costume that shows off her body, then she has the complete right to make that choice without suffering criticism from her peers. Calling a female a “slut” based on her costume is not a step forward in feminism and does not make someone a promoter of women’s rights. In fact, it narrows down that woman’s identity to what she decided to wear, implying that an accurate judgement of that person can be surmised simply from one outfit. Speaking out against sexy costumes is equally as degrading as telling women they should only wear sexy costumes. Both viewpoints tell women that they need to dress a certain way to be accepted, and doing so withholds women’s right to choose to wear what they feel comfortable in.
“Slut-shaming” is a term that refers to this idea. Slut-shamers blame women and other variables, such as their clothing choices, for sexism and violence against women. Shaming women based on what they wear, whether it be revealing or conservative or somewhere in between, is never a productive way to move women forward in society. As popular YouTuber Jenna Marbles puts it – as long as you are in an appropriate place for the outfit (e.g. not handing out candy to kids), then you should wear whatever you want.
Conversely, wearing a more conservative or gender-neutral costume does not mean that the individual isn’t conforming to other pressures about how to look. Again, taking one look at a costume does not provide any information on the true character of the one wearing it.
Clearly, the controversy surrounding female Halloween costumes goes beyond the holiday itself. The labelling of women presents itself most obviously on Halloween, but is part of reality every day of the year. So, this Halloween, let’s start a new trend and compliment each other on our costumes, whether they cover the body from head to toe or shows skin freely. -567
“Speaking out against sexy costumes is equally as degrading as telling women they should only wear sexy costumes.”
Women should be allowed to wear whatever they want without fear of being immediately labelled a slut of course- on Halloween or any other day- but I think even in the paragraph before you kind of contradict this sentiment.
“Sexy” costumes are worth speaking out against if only for their ubiquity on store shelves. They often are the only options for women, and that is a much MUCH bigger issue, and a feminist one: You can’t write criticism of patriarchal objectification of women and their bodies as slut shaming all of the time. If a woman makes a conscious choice to wear something revealing, fine. Go for it. But there are women out there dressed as a sexy insert-noun-here simply because, as you mentioned, she had no other choice, or she felt pressured to do so because it’s what popular opinion dictates women simply DO on Halloween. That’s a big, deep fucking problem, and not one that any feminist should simply be okay with.
I think it’s also thinking about why, in 2013, men can buy prefab pilot and doctor costumes but women can only buy ready-to-wear sexy nurse and sexy flight attendant costumes.