I stopped in my tracks when I saw a freshman girl openly looking at porn in the social floor of the library. And then I realized that she wasn’t looking at porn, she was looking at this year’s Halloween costume choices. To be honest, there isn’t much of a difference between the two.
When I did a little Halloween costume research of my own, I realized just how sexualized the holiday has become. No profession, storybook character or object is safe from being sexualized on Halloween. Take for instance this costume of a Chinese take-out box.
It makes total sense that a Chinese take-out box would be sexualized for Halloween. After all who doesn’t think to themselves “oh baby this would look great on me” as they scarf down general tso’s chicken and pork fried rice out of the little white containers. The smooth white cardboard, the shiny silver handle, the MSG inside…can you say turn on?
And then, of course, there are the costumes that sexualize youth. There are the classics ones: schoolgirl, princess, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. These have been around for a while. But for the first time, I saw one that literally made me say the words, “What the fudge nuggets” aloud…in public. I present to you, the “sexy” baby:
The sexy baby is the type of costume that just makes me put my hands over my eyes because I try to burn the image away as quickly as possible. What sicko decided to sexualize a baby? I know that women want to be young and fresh, but this is a step too far.
Lastly, there is an apparent discrepancy between the costumes available for women and the costumes available for men. While the female costumes are always marketed in a sexy way, the male costumes are marketed in a goofy or more realistic way. Take for example this army costume:
It is the same theme and same profession, yet a completely different costume. The male army costume looks authentic and professional. He looks like he could actually go to war in this outfit. I would love to see this woman try go into battle wearing high heels, booty shorts and a push up bra. Talk about a booby trap.
Before I sound like I am on a crusade to end all sexy Halloween costumes, let me say that I understand. I understand why it is fun to dress up and feel sexy. I take part in dressing up for themed parties at Bucknell. And as “The Fucknellian” knows, these themed parties almost always fall into one of the categories mentioned above.
So then what is the point of all of this? The point is that dressing up should be done in the right spirit. When you dress up, you should feel powerful, confident and sexy. If you wear a sexy costume, it should be because it is your choice and it is what makes you feel good. It should not be worn just because there are a growing number of sexualized costumes. It should not be worn just because this has become the new standard that is expected of us. Do what you feel comfortable with and do what makes you happy. If that means dressing like a sexy Chinese take-out box, then wear a sexy Chinese take-out box. If that means dressing conservatively, then you are entitled to do so.