This Halloween, Show Some Respect
by Ellen Smith, storyteller with RU Student Life
If you are old enough to go trick-or-treating without your parents, I think it’s safe to say you’re old enough to realize that for adults, Halloween is no longer about staying up late, and eating candy. Halloween is that exciting time of year when you’re pressured into spending more than a months worth of groceries on a poorly made costume that someone else at Rebecca’s Halloween party will probably be wearing, too.
For men, this dilemma is fairly minimal, they simply have to select whichever fully clothed, superman, or police officer costume they please. Women, however, are forced into the tiresome internal struggle of “how sexy is too sexy?” Don’t believe me? Google that phrase and you’ll receive over 5, 000, 000 results in 0.33 seconds with criticism ranging anywhere from “dress as slutty as you want, who cares” to “sexy costumes are destroying the world.”
Reading this simple Google search makes it impossible to deny that Halloween brings out more than ghouls and goblins; it brings out slut shaming masses who take it upon themselves to publicly shame, and even humiliate women for dressing too sexy, slutty, skimpy, or whatever colourful variation of the insult you can think of; trust me, women have heard them all.
Finding a middle ground between sexy and creative is a near impossible task when you’re searching for something to wear in a costume store. If you want to buy a nun costume, be prepared for latex and high heels. If you’re dressing as a police officer, get ready to squeeze into a skirt that is probably shorter than your fake gun holster.
Oh yes, when it comes to the costume industry, even inanimate objects aren’t safe from being sexified: from sexy television remotes, to a sexy hamburger, the costume store has done it all.
Sure, these costumes are easy to laugh at, but the time to ridicule and mock the women who choose to wear them is long past. Around this time of year, it seems as though people love bashing slutty Halloween costumes more than they love instagramming photos of pumpkin patches, and let me tell you, that’s already a lot. This debate is not only old and repetitive; it’s detrimental and hurtful to all women.
The pressure for women to wear as little as possible in order to look appealing has turned a once enjoyable day into a burdening reminder that we live in a culture that tells us that even in costume a women’s best weapon isn’t her mind, or her fake samurai sword, it’s her body.
So, while it’s fair to want to fight against the sexism within the entire costume industry; the problem, however, lies within the way we’re fighting this war.
The problem with sexy costumes is NEVER the fact that a woman has chosen to wear one. The problem is society’s instinctive and harmful ability to constantly push the blame to women.
I’m talking about the passive aggressive eye rolls, the judging, the “ugh my ironic banana costume is sooooo clever and hilarious, much better than the slutty nurse over there,” comments which are simply NOT helping.
These reactions to cleavage and tight pants have turned a once interesting debate on whether sexy Halloween costumes are empowering or not into a full fledged and tiresome war of the wardrobe.
Trust me, that woman who dresses as a sexy police officer knows full and well that you can’t chase a criminal in stiletto boots, and that a bare midriff won’t protect you like a bullet proof vest would. She is dressing as a sexy police officer because she wants to look sexy, and that is okay.
Even the most empowered women feel pressured to dress modestly 364 days out of the year in fear of not being taken seriously by bosses, co-workers, or peers. Halloween was supposed to be the one day out of the year where you could let loose, and be someone you’re not. Instead, it has been reduced to a competition between the sexy dressers, and, what I like to call, the sexy oppressors.
A sexy Halloween costume, or a sexy outfit in general, does not lessen a women’s credibility in the feminist world, but judging, and criticizing her for what she’s wearing does.
Empowered women come in all shapes, forms, sizes, and, yes, costumes. A person dressed as a slutty nurse, or a slutty bunny, or a slutty… I don’t know, hamburger, is still a person, and they deserve the exact same treatment as the girl dressed modestly as her favorite feminist writer that she’ll spend the whole night trying to explain to her friends.
The only shameful thing about sexy Halloween costumes is the men and women who assume that a women’s self worth, intelligence, and self respect is directly correlated with her clothing. I cannot emphasize enough that wearing a revealing Halloween costume is not an accurate representation of anything other than that fact that a women decided to wear a revealing Halloween costume. A modest costume doesn’t make a woman more or less intelligent or self-respecting than her otherwise dressed counterpart.
Who are you to decide what is or isn’t appropriate to wear? Who are you to tell people what should or shouldn’t make them feel sexy? And who the heck are you to mock someone for dressing as a sexy hamburger? It’s Halloween, arguably the most outrageously ridiculous day of the year. Unless you’re an undercover moral police officer, or a member of the social justice league, it’s time to put down your moral compass, because the fight is over.
If you’re still unsure on how to ensure that every one has a slut-shaming free and awesome Halloween, then follow these simple steps.
1. If you think a woman is dressed inappropriately by showing too much skin, keep your mouth shut, because why she’s dressed that way is absolutely none of your business.
2. If you hear other people making fun of a woman for what she is wearing, politely tell them that it’s not cool, or, at the very least, refuse to participate in the slut shaming.
There, that’s it! There’s really nothing else to it. But every year, at every party, people insist on humiliating and criticizing women for their skimpy costumes. So, if after all this you still feel the need to shame and humiliate women for their “immodest” costume choices, then I’m sure there’s a dress code enforced middle school dance which you can creepily crash. For every one else out there tonight, have an amazingly fun and safe Halloween, in whatever costume you choose to wear. (Sidenote: also please DO NOT dress up in blackface or other offensive and culturally appropriative garb. Please, just don’t.)
