Let’s Talk about Sexy Costume Culture

I want to thank @thecacklingbitch for her post about problematic costumes regarding indigenous women. I also want to continue the conversation but bring up a different perspective:

The Sexualization of Women

Halloween is known as the one night that women can be “hoes” and not be judged for what they wear. This phrase is used not only amongst women themselves but also several movies, including Mean Girls.

Although the intentions of this phrase may be humorous in nature, it actually sheds light on an issue that women deal with on a daily basis.

Women are constantly criticized for what they wear whether it be on social media or the street.

The basis behind having this “one night” is that women won’t be judged for the short skirts, the heavy makeup, and the heavy makeup they put on. Does this mean that any other day of the year is open to harassment and ridicule if a woman decides to dress like this? I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sit well with me. Here’s something we should consider:

Why don’t we stop judging what women put on their bodies…period?

Every day should be an opportunity for women to express themselves, and if that’s in a short skirt and fishnet tights- then so be it.

At the same time that I am for women expressing themselves, I do want to specify that the nature of Halloween costumes made for women is part of the problem.

On the weeks leading up to Halloween, we often see ads for “Sexy Nurses”, “Sexy Librarians” and lord knows what else they decide to come up with each year. These images of overtly sexualized women are plastered on social media as an expectation for what women to dress up as.

This paints a harmful expectation that women are supposed to be sexy on Halloween…and that’s just not the case.

Women should have the freedom to be whoever they want to be. Unfortunately, companies have a lot of influence over their targeted audiences, and Halloween is no exception to this. These sexualized images of women are seen in the public and become something that is then expected of women.

Now you’re probably thinking…well, Halloween is only one night. How much harm can really be done?

Well, a lot actually.

Like I mentioned before, companies have a lot of influence over us. I’ve talked about this in my previous articles about problematic fashion pieces.

We don’t have to let these companies control how they influence our society. We can continue the conversation and work on finding a solution.

So even if you don’t care about Halloween, you should care about how its affecting women.

So what can we do about this?

Well for one, we can stop judging what women wear. We can start fighting back against companies for promoting “sexy costumes” for women…but most importantly we can start looking at women as people rather an objects.

So instead of having one night for women to “wear whatever the hell they want”

Let’s make that every day.