(U-WIRE) PULLMAN, Wash. – Halloween these days is more about eye candy and less about sweets. However provocative the beer-o-treaters are dressed this year, slutty costumes are becoming an unintentional social statement. They are providing an outlet for women to assert their sexuality.
Costumes for girls and boys have always been extremely gendered. In the analysis “The Pink Dragon Is Female: Halloween Costumes and Gender Markers,” author Adie Nelson examined 469 children’s Halloween costumes. The only costumes available to girls were pretty, pink ones like fairies, princesses and genies. The costumes for boys were more professional, scary and silly. The costumes perpetuated the roles society expects of girls and boys.
This trend has transcended into the realm of adult Halloween costumes. Lingerie manufacturer Leg Avenue makes Halloween costumes and mass-markets them to distributors. All of the costumes for females are cleavage-baring and barely pass the fingertip test for middle school dress codes. “Hi-Di Ho,” “Baseball player” and “Hero girl” are a few of the costumes Leg Avenue has in its repertoire.
The costumes for men are very lifelike, such as the postman and police officer. But the female versions of typical masculine costumes are high-riding, low-cut stripper garb.
It’s necessary to question why the only costumes available for women are the “naughty” and “sexy” versions of the common ones. The costumes women can dress in are stereotypical male sexual fantasies. But who’s to say these are not female sexual fantasies?
Halloween is just an excuse to dress like a skank, said Kiira Ness, senior finance major.
“Girls aren’t supposed to be slutty, but society tells them they should be,” she said.
She said if she does dress up, she will be Dr. Yang from “Grey’s Anatomy.” However sexist and sexual, Halloween can be used as a time for women to experiment with their sexuality. It’s the only socially-acceptable time to dress promiscuously and not get publicly chastised.
Halloween has become a “safe space” for women to play with their sexuality, Deborah Tolman, director of the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality at San Francisco State University, recently told The New York Times. It’s a time when women can make fun of and play with these roles that are being assigned to them, she said.
While there are many negative implications to this viewpoint, it is liberating for women to be sexually empowered. It is finally a time when women can take charge of their sexuality, regardless of the arena.
Halloween is a family holiday that has become yet another outlet of female objectification for the purpose of male wet dreams. But, it is also becoming the post-modern sexual revolution. Sexuality and sexual desire should not be taboo or risque topics. It’s healthy and normal to comprehend these things, especially because they can help women understand and please their bodies.
Anna Kleinschmidt, a sophomore apparel, merchandising, design and textiles major, said she and her eight friends are going as a SWAT team. Their costumes will consist of black boots, fishnets, black shorts and tank tops, she said. When asked about the length of the shorts, she drew her fingers across her leg about three inches below the crotch.
“I think it’s fun because it’s the one night a year people won’t judge,” she said with a smile.
Junior construction management major Chad Broughton agreed.
“Some are a little scandalous, but it’s a time to have fun,” he said.
Broughton said he will be going as a criminal this year, complete with a jumpsuit and prison tattoos.
The problem in this experimentation, however, resides in the complete ignorance of the irony. Dress and Halloween costumes, however provocative, are never an excuse for harassment. These costumes still reaffirm women’s place in society as sex objects, even if that is their choice.
While Halloween is becoming an erotic fantasyland for men and women, this should become acceptable every day of the year, not just a one-time deal. Now I’m not condoning that women go to Communication 101 dressed as Captain Hooker, but it’s mature for women to be comfortable with themselves and their bodies. This can help women have the confidence to stop unwanted advances.
And, you know, I wouldn’t mind if men dressed a little skanky, either. Where are the slutty Luke Skywalkers?
Brielle Schaeffer is a columnist for the Daily Evergreen at Washington State University.