Halloween Costumes: Go Sexy or Go Home?
Apart from being Breast Cancer Awareness month, October is the season for trick-or-treaters, haunted houses and Halloween parties. It means buying candy in bulk, digging up last year’s spooky decor, and combing through costume racks for something to wear. It’s also the time of year women face an ultimatum from costumer designers: either go sexy, or go home.
Many people do enjoy the playful sexuality that Halloween can bring, and the fact that it’s briefly socially acceptable to bare some more skin. But those seeking a more modest approach will be hard-pressed to find anything worth wearing, unless they’re plus-sized. This gallery shows the limited styles (and limited coverage) of Halloween costumes for women.
His & Hers
Standard for him, sexy for her.
Growing Up & Stripping Down
Taking the innocence out of childhood icons.
Prepping the Next Generation
Sexy costumes for teens.
Not only do these flash a lot of skin for presumably underage girls, but the nature of the costumes is often questionable, as well. The Texas Hold ‘Em outfit, for instance, shows a man’s hands cupping her breasts all night, while the Beer Wench sponsors a drink teens can’t even buy yet. The Playboy costumes mark girls with the symbol of a porn empire, while outfits like the Sexy Asian and the Sexy Mexican are rooted in ethnic stereotype.
These are all sold to adults as well, and often feature adult models, encouraging young girls to project adult sexuality.
There’s nothing wrong with showing some skin on Halloween (though parents of scantily-clad teens might want to reevaluate their parenting skills). When skimpy clothes are the only option offered by costume retailers, however, women are sexualized whether they like it or not. It sends the message that appearance trumps creativity, originality, or personal expression – and girls learn this at a younger and younger age (exhibit A: Miley Cyrus’ 9-year-old sister Noah).
As long as there’s a market for it, the trend will continue. That’s why we suggest not giving them your money this year, and instead creating a unique costume that shows as much or as little skin as you feel comfortable with.
I love this video (produced by CollegeHumor, not exactly a bastion of feminism) that truly showcases the costume options for women. It contains salty language, be advised.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4rUiV_Hh74
Sorry for being British, but what have those costumes got to do with Halloween?
I’ve found some solace with film, tv, and game characters, but they tend to show more skin than their male counterparts, too. Then again, working out a costume by oneself usually turns out better than a 30 dollar made-in-China costume.
Adrian, you’ve piqued my curiosity. Although I worked for quite some time for a British company, the subject of Halloween never came up. I know that there are fancy dress parties in the UK. What would you consider more appropriate for Halloween?
adrian – in the u.s. halloween is not just about dressing up in scary costumes…it’s about dressing up in general, you can be whatever you want, not just a vampire, zombie, witch, etc.
Though I am a big advocate on sexy-costumes rights (wrote about it on my blog) I must say this article is very well written and expresses the other side well. Congrats on not going into internet rage over other people’s costumes. This is the first anti-sexy costumes article I’ve read that didn’t make me roll my eyes.
Because it’s not sexy, Tegan, just pathetic.
And you, Dolorosa, are the reason I mock people who are so uppity about other people’s clothing. Grow up and get over yourself. No one cares about your poorly formed opinion when you aren’t eloquent enough to back it up like a mature adult.
I actually saw some terrifying costumes for kids that were racy.
On another note, why does everyone buy a ready made costume. The best ones I saw were homemade outfits at the parties I went to: Zombie Juno, a Little Sister from Bioshock and the princess from Braid.
yes. because it is presented to us we HAVE to follow it.
Look kids, it’s as simple as this, if you want to dress up as a slut, go for it!!1!
If you CHOOSE otherwise (and choice is something you can control) then don’t. (!!!1!)
Huh? Why do you suggest not giving them our money this year? Beccause you don’t like the sexy outfits outfits??? Tough – I do. And try looking at the full catalogues – there are plenty of non-sexy outfits as well. You only chose to show the sexy ones to make a point
Instead, what I think is interesting about how sexual in nature the Halloween outfits have become is asking “Why is this happening?” Why are these outfits so popular? Doesn’t it say something about how our culture has repressed the latent sexuality of women that we take this one opportunity a year to let our sexuality out? Maybe we go a bit overboard in response because we aren’t allowed to during the rest of year. Maybe some of us actually like being looked at as sex objects sometimes?
@ T Snowe- it says “Many people do enjoy the playful sexuality that Halloween can bring, and the fact that it’s briefly socially acceptable to bare some more skin.” and “There’s nothing wrong with showing some skin on Halloween.” So that’s not a point of disagreement at all. It’s just increasingly difficult for women who do prefer modesty to find something good to wear. And the argument about repression of female sexuality contributing to this trend is a good and thoughtful point.
OK, if the point of the blog was not that the sexualization of Halloween is wrong or bad then I read too much into it. I certainly agree with the mocking of the kid/teen outfits as being overly sexual – I’ve made these comments many times myself.
But, no it is not difficult to find more modest adult Halloween outfits. I just searched for Halloween costumes on Google. Try it. Put in “Halloween outfits”. Go to any one of the sponsored links and you will find a ton of modest adult female costumes. Also, try either of the first two non-sponsored search results – plenty more. I can put in links to every one of those pages if you’d like.
That obvious truth – that there are plenty of non-sexualized costumes for women is what led me to think the blog is really a more covert way of disagreeing with the sexy Halloween costumer trend. But if it is not really about that then I’m not sure what point are you making?
I say admit that you are against the increasing sexualization of Halloween and tell us why – not just because it means you only have the choice to wear sexy outfits when that isn’t true. Tell us you don’t want to wear those outfits because you don’t like being looked at as a sex object. Or admit that there are plenty of non-sexualized choices but you feel uncomfortable choosing them because you think society expects something different. Whatever – but I think that basic premise is just untrue.
@ T Snowe – this is a good dialogue to have. The annual backlash by people who reject the trend, paired with limitless online shops and stores, perhaps would help people approach Halloween differently. And this site often uses hyperbolic demonstrations for satirical commentary, which isn’t meant to oversimplify or misconstrue information, so if that’s happened here then that’ll be kept in mind for future posts.
Women’s costumes are, on the whole, much more sexualized than men’s costumes, and teen/kids costumes are adopting it more and more as well. Perhaps the point of the post is to promote thought about it, and to pose the chicken-and-egg question on sexy Halloween. The trend is driven by consumerism, but is that consumerism also influenced by the trend? It’s complex and perhaps unanswerable, but worth acknowledging and considering.