By Bonnie Messbarger
It’s my favorite time of year; Halloween! Scary movies, haunted houses, beautiful weather, and (of course) candy! You know what it also means? Time to dress up in a really awesome costume to impress your friends! Ladies, it’s an especially special time for you! Your only options for store bought Halloween costumes are the shortest and skimpiest of garments (the less they cover, THE BETTER according to mainstream society.)
So, what do you think you’ll be this year? A ghost? A bat? The bride of Frankenstein? How about Wonder Woman? Well, only if you want to wear this getup.
You could be one of the classics. A firefighter, a cop, a pirate, a skeleton. What about a favorite character from a book, movie, or television show? The Queen of Hearts, a Ninja Turtle, Spongebob, Chewbacca, Tinkerbell.
No! Of course not! You don’t want to be anything that boring, you want to be original. A trend setter, if you will. So you’re going to get creative (while still being scantily clad, obviously.) How about some of these gems?
A skunk! A pineapple! A shower! A nerd! Mrs.Potato Head! Or… uh… whatever this is supposed to be!
All joking aside, what happened to cutting out holes in a bed sheet to be a ghost, or throwing on a cowboy hat and some boots to be a cowgirl? Why do you think Halloween for women has become about being as sexy as possible? What happened to wanting to be something funny or someone powerful? What kind of example are we setting for little girls by wearing these costumes? Is it surprising they’re dressing up as a cat, a fairy, or ‘Major Flirt’, instead of the President or a super hero?
The problem isn’t necessarily that these costumes exist, but that they are the only costumes expected, and encouraged for women to wear. As this article states, “… we know that pressuring girls to act sexy is not the same thing as encouraging them to develop a healthy, vibrant sexuality that they themselves own.” All this pressure exists to dress sexy, even as a young girl. The problem isn’t that some women want to dress sexy it’s in telling all women young and not so young, that Halloween is all about being sexy. If you want to be a sexy watermelon, fine, but let’s at least give us options to be fully dressed and sexy instead of just scantily clad.