Where's the Costume?

Halloween can mean many different things in today’s society. For some girls, the definition is “Dress as slutty as you want and get away with it” day, while for others it is defined as a day where anybody can be whoever they want to be. So, why do many women choose to portray themselves as prostitutes or hookers? Why do some men go out of their way to look scary or simply unattractive?

In my opinion, the reason why some girls choose to dress up in a very revealing and inappropriate manner is because they think they will get positive attention from men. In the minds of these girls, their bodies and overall appearance is what attracts men to them, therefore they use Halloween as an opportunity to flaunt themselves in order to get attention from the opposite sex. So, why is it considered “Okay” for them to dress like this on Halloween but not on a random Tuesday in March? I think it is because of something that has happened over a long period of time. Usually, for Halloween, everyone finds a nice costume to put on in order to impress other people. My guess is that it has become this way because of a competition factor between girls over their costumes. If every girl in the room has on jeans and sweatshirts, and one girl is wearing a bikini, who is going to get all of the attention? Obviously, the girl in the bikini will. Therefore, almost every other girl in that room will try to dress a little more revealing at the next Halloween party so that they can be that girl, the one who catches every man’s eye.

However, there is another factor added to the equation, otherwise girls would simply wear nothing but lingerie around even in January. If a girl walks down the street in a very revealing outfit, people can assume that she is that type of a person. Most guys would probably take a look at her and think, even if she is very skinny and pretty, that she has been around the block a few more times than you can count on one hand…or five hands. Therefore, people will automatically label that girl as a “Slut.” However, if a girl simply puts on a “Costume” of that same revealing fashion, she is not considered a slut because she is not herself for that night. She is someone else, and in this girl’s mind and the minds of a many others, the actual girl is not a slut, but her character is. In my opinion, that is why girls wear extremely revealing costumes on Halloween.

On the other hand, many men dress up as interesting characters for Halloween. Some men dress up as women, scary creatures, or some type of a macho man, just to name a few. In my opinion, these men are also trying to get a message across to the opposite sex. While these girls are trying to portray themselves as an object for sex, men are trying to show off a feature of their personality. For instance, one man might dress up as a woman or a funny character in order to show people, especially woman, that he has a sense of humor. He might dress up as a superhero to show others how strong he can be. Or, he might dress up as something completely original to show off his creativity, just as many women might also do. I think the reason why men don’t dress up as “Sexy” characters is because women are generally more attracted to personality and humor, which can be portrayed in other ways than dressing as male models or strippers.

Overall, I believe the difference in costumes occurs because of the different types of attraction among males and females. One example of this would be in movies, where most of the guys fall in love with the skinny girl in a bikini while the girls fall in love with the macho man or the superhero. Even though movies are far from reality, they represent what many people fantasize about and therefore try to recreate on Halloween.