Halloween should not be another excuse for sexualizing women
October 15, 2015 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie
Halloween Costumes
The scariest part of Halloween is society’s expectations of women’s costumes.
Posted: Wednesday, October 14, 2015 1:00 am
Los Angeles Loyolan
It is officially October, a month that brings changing color on leaves (well, maybe not here in L.A.), pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks and, of course, Halloween costumes. While Halloween was once an innocent holiday filled with candy, bad scary movies and cute costumes that showed off everyone’s favorite fantasy, there comes a point when the candy becomes less important and the costumes are made of less fabric.
“It’s so hard to go Halloween costume shopping and feel like you are forced to wear lingerie out,” junior political science major Jocelyn Trainer said. This common trope specific to Halloween, famously brought to light in the movie “Mean Girls,” arises every year when it comes time to pick out a Halloween costume. There is this weird assumption that as young women, whatever we dress up as has to be overly sexualized, when, in reality, the holiday is meant to be a time to dress up as something fun, scary or witty.
Every year it is appalling to see the ridiculous outfits that pass as costumes on this odd holiday. Costumes for women and young girls seem to shrink every year and the commercialization of these skimpy outfits needs to stop. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that costumes for women ought to be completely sexualized, rather than focused on becoming a character or spending a night as someone other than yourself.
While I have absolutely no problem with a woman choosing to express herself through any clothing she feels good in, I do have a problem with the fact that most options for costumes marketed towards young women are degrading and impractical. We’ve all walked through costume stores and seen dozens of packages containing costumes labeled as “Sexy Nurse,” “Sexy Referee,” “Sexy Nun” and any other character with the word “sexy” plastered in front of it. Why is this? Is our society really too preoccupied with sexualizing women at any opportunity that we have to turn Halloween into a ridiculous show of our culture’s perpetuated stereotypes regarding females’ place in society?
The worst part is how easily we buy into this absurdity. We see these images all around us and begin to believe that, as women, it is our duty to look sexy no matter what our outfit is trying to portray. I do not mean to shame anyone for wanting to express themselves or their sexuality, but I do aim to call into question why we allow others to dictate the expectations on women’s appearances.
This gender gap in costume options brings up another interesting point regarding the differences in what each gender is offered during this season. Mouna Kezbar, a junior political science and economics double major, said, “Men’s costumes are funny whereas women’s costumes are very sexualized and scandalous.” While there are versions of sexy men’s Halloween costumes, they are not as prevalent, and when men wear them they are viewed by society in a more humorous way than when women wear a sexy costume.
This is not an uncommon opinion, and many women feel that there is an imbalance in the way men and women approach Halloween costume choices.
Sam Sonnich, a senior sociology major, noted, “I wouldn’t mind wearing a sexy costume if men also had to wear sexy costumes.” There is a clear disparity between the genders when it comes to what is and what is not acceptable to wear as a Halloween costume. It can be so difficult to pull off funny costumes as a woman in our society for some reason, but Halloween is the perfect time to win over everyone with your clever side even if it is not something you would normally do.
So this year when you are perusing the Halloween costume aisle at the store, maybe opt for a costume that isn’t sexy purely for the sake of being sexy. Dress up as what your 7-year-old self wanted to be when you grew up. Pick something outrageously funny and really go for it. Be a superhero and actually find a costume that portrays the character realistically. And if you want to be sexy, dress up as a burlesque dancer or a Vegas show girl. Whatever you decide to dress up as, let your personality shine and don’t buy into what our society has molded for us.
This is the opinion of Christie Calucchia, a junior humanities major from Las Vegas, Nevada. Email comments to jjones@theloyolan.com.
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Wednesday, October 14, 2015 1:00 am.
