To quote the protagonist of Mean Girls, Cady Heron, “In girl world, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.” One walk through Spirit Halloween or a quick scroll on the internet would help defend this. For years, aisles have been racked with costumes that have little fabric to turn the everyday monotonous thing into some idolized sexual figure.
Take the classic school girl halloween costume. Possibly made popular by Britney Spears “Baby One More Time,” this costume seems to never die although it should have long ago. Aside from the clear fact that if girls were to wear their uniforms in the shown way they would be immediately dress coded, it also promotes negative ideas. It further simulates the sexualizing of minors by using grown women to model costumes made and advertised to teens. When presenting minor apparel in such a sexualized fashion it makes it seem okay to not only objectify girls but minors too, which is never right.
Such sexualizing of costumes play into careers dominated by women. A “sexy nurse” or “hot cop” are two very common costumes mass produced during the holiday season. It’s beyond wrong to present a woman doing her job in a sexual manner. According to The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 91% of nurses reported experiencing some form of workplace sexual harassment. Although you can not directly link the two together, when women are being massed sexualized in an outfit meant to save someone’s life, it makes it seem okay to allow everyday harassment to continue, especially when nobody speaks up about it.
Costumes like “sexy day of the dead skeleton” or “sexy eskimo” are also marketed towards people. This is cultural appropriation and flat out wrong. One’s heritage or traditions should never be allowed to be exploited for a costume but to also name it as “sexy” is dimissing the actual rich deep background and history behind each of these things.
And then there are costumes that have no reason to be “sexy.” Things like sexy pizza, Olaf, crayons, and even voter ballots are tailored to be sexual and appeal to a very specific audience. Everyday objects have no purpose in being sexualized and marketed as such by women. Leave everyday objects and childhood favorites alone!
Halloween is supposed to be fun and dressing up is a huge part of that. Costumes that are marketed as “sexy” are something people should have a choice to wear. A lot of women do choose to wear sexy halloween costumes as a form of self expression and empowerment but others don’t and just want to buy a full coverage costume. That’s what is wrong with the oversexualization of halloween costumes. Young girls might feel the need to dress “like a slut” because that’s what producers and mass media push. It doesn’t have to be this way.