“In Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.” I’m sure Lindsay Lohan’s voice echoes through your ears as you read the all-too-familiar Mean Girls quote, along with the image of Regina George parading around in a bunny costume. Let me preface this by saying that as a woman, you’re inclined to wear as little or as much as you so choose. This is simply an explorative piece delving into the reasons behind why we choose to do this.
The Big Question: Halloween has morphed itself from a celebration of All Saints Day to an Americanized holiday in which children trick-or-treat and adults have parties. Looking past the rampant sexism and cultural appropriation amuck in stores, I’ve found women sometimes choose to reveal skin in their costumes as a sense of competition between one another. To try and gather a more well rounded answer, I posed the questions: “Why do girls dress provocatively on Halloween?” along with “Are you more likely to dress this way compared to other nights in the year?”
My Findings: Initially, I was too quick to believe that marketing was the culprit and women’s costumes had just become a casualty in that war. It’s true, costume companies who pop-up in abandoned locations for the month of October make big money selling skimpy costumes. Even glancing briefly at the types of costumes sold at stores with names like “Mega-Halloween” or “Halloween-City” there are an abundance of costumes geared towards scandalously cut or cropped costumes. However, the supply of costumes like this seem to be more a result of our demand.
In asking around, I kept hearing the same answers, a perceived need to “keep up with Joneses.” Whether or not this idea is inherently healthy isn’t the question being asked. Every girl consciously or not, and especially within an institution like the University of Michigan, understands competition for self-worth isn’t healthy. Yet each year, women go out with the intent of outdoing one another. Rarely is the goal to find a partner for the night. It’s more for the immediate and fleeting attention of their peers.
Looking back on what Lindsay Lohan’s character said, she mentions it being the “one time of year” it’s socially acceptable to dress like this. It’s definitely not typical to dress in a revealing manner for Thanksgiving dinner or to a karaoke night. Halloween has always been an “anything goes” time of year.
Now What?: So, what to do about all of this? We’ve identified the implications for dressing up, while refraining from using degrading language, but it doesn’t mean that the behavior will stop. It would be partially hypocritical on my part to demand everyone change the way they dress, more so incredibly unrealistic. However, knowing this could alter the way some of you dress, even slightly, is enough. We all know that it’s still possible to show our humor or wit through the type of costumes we don, regardless of how scandalous they are. Let me reiterate that you should dress in the way that makes you feel comfortable, in spite of how it may look. The most important note is to understand why it is you’re dressing that way. If the answer is because everyone else is doing it, it’s time to try something else.
No matter how you choose to dress this Halloweek, don’t forget to share your Halloween style with us and hashtag #GoBoo on you Instagram to enter to win Halloween treats from Her Campus Michigan!