Sluttyween!

Halloween, a time to live out your fantasy, a time when it is okay to dress as someone other than yourself, a time to creatively express in a possibly unrealistic manner. However, judging from the costumes I have been seeing in the past few years, Halloween has turned into an excuse for girls to walk around the neighborhood in their lingerie or wear that outfit that might be to risqué for a normal night out. On Halloween clothes that would normally be deemed as inappropriate are praised and appreciated. My question is, “When did Halloween become Sluttyween? What happened to the creative and unique costumes?”

I witnessed this epidemic firsthand when I attended a Halloween costume party my freshman year in high school. After spending days thinking about what I wanted to be, I choose to be a 50’s girl. After arriving at the party dressed in a poodle skirt, a ribbon in my hair and Mary Jane’s on my feet I felt completely out of place. To my surprise, a very naive surprise, I was overdressed (literally). Don’t get me wrong at first glance the party seemed perfectly normal. However at second glance I began to realize that the costumes were not how they appeared. Instead of vampires, there were slutty vampires, the girls wearing the bunny costumes looked like they just popped out of something other than a rabbit hole, there were even nurses but their costumes looked as if they were planning to service something other than the sick. I sat there thinking, “What did I miss? When did Halloween costumes become so different and more importantly why are the girls using it as an excuse to dress completely inappropriate. Also, why has this become socially acceptable?

Although inappropriate costumes has become a norm in our society, I began to wonder why don’t the boys use the holiday to dress up as something that is too risqué for normal everyday wear? This question can be answered going back to the concept of masculinity and femininity. It is perfectly acceptable for girls too dress “sexy” and cute on Halloween but when guys try to emulate this it is considered to be to feminine. I also wonder why it is okay for girls to live out their fantasies on Halloween but guys usually stick to the firefighter, policeman or other manly costumes. This goes to show that even males are almost obligated to act a certain way, even on a holiday where it is encouraged to dress out of the norm. This is despite of the fact that girls can usually dress any way the please and it is usually acceptable.

I realized that Halloween costumes did a complete 360 the day I walked into my first high school Halloween party and realized that I was completely overdressed. Although this phenomenon does not surprise me anymore I am still perplexed at the fact that masculinity and femininity are still clearly defined on a day where most of the rules, as far as dress, are allowed to be broken.