The leaves are changing, the temperature is dropping, and we can officially bid adieu to summer. So sad. But the good news is Halloween is just around the corner! Costumes, pranks, free candy—a girl’s dream come true… sort of.
The problem I have with Halloween—specifically costumes—is this: you go into any store that sells Halloween costumes for women, and at least 75% of the options are of the “sexy” variety. They’re very scantily clad, revealing, and bear very little resemblance to what you’re actually trying to dress up as. If you want to be, say, a cowgirl, the costume available will most likely be sleeveless with a low-cut top and extremely short bottom. And that’s practically all we see on the shelf.
The feminist in me is raging because Halloween costume manufacturers assume that most girls want to dress this way, when the truth is they don’t. I’m not saying that wearing revealing clothes is a bad thing and that every girl shouldn’t do it—if you want to dress up in a revealing costume this year and every year, that’s your prerogative. But an issue comes up when there are too many revealing costumes for those who want them and not enough non-revealing costumes for girls who don’t.
I’m not saying get rid of the revealing costumes altogether. Just like the feminist movement is about gender equality and not female superiority, the point I’m trying to make is cater to the interests of those girls who want more conservative costumes. A big factor in the availability of revealing costumes is because the large expanse of skin shown and parts of the body the clothes accent is visually pleasing to men. And a good portion of women out there might dress up in costume only to please men. But another large portion of women participate in this part of Halloween because it’s scary and fun to be creative and dress up as someone or something else, not because they want to hook up with guys.
Of course, it’s too late to do anything about it now, since Halloween is right around the corner. But there’s always hope for next year. So to Halloween costume manufacturers everywhere, the majority of us girls are more than willing to buy costumes from you. Just as long as there are enough choices for everyone!