Empowering or Objectifying?
“In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it,” Cady from Mean Girls. This is how halloween has been portrayed to a lot of young girls. Feminists often argue that they should be able to be naked and not be objectified or harmed because it is their body. But when teenage girls and young adults take these mixed messages and apply it to how they should dress for halloween costumes, is it the same? Is it empowering or objectifying.
One argument that could be made is that “if women wanted to dress in these sexy costumes then they can and if they do not, they can wear something less revealing”. Although, promiscuous costumes seem to be the only thing made for women nowadays. “I think that this is a bit of a slippery slope because I am dressing up as a sexy archer, where does it cross the line, should people be shamed for what they wear or should we be empowering them,” said Zoe Blanco a Junior Management of Information and Technology. If the costume isn’t too short then the cleavage is low, or both. When shopping for halloween costumes, it is hard to find a costume where my butt is not hanging out or my chest, costumes just aren’t made the same for men and women.
Taking charge of your own body and choosing to wear a more revealing costume can be very empowering. However, if young women are doing it more so for attention or to fit in, then it is being done for the wrong reasons.
