Halloween Costumes — A Feminist Take

Halloween Costumes that say Something Pithy Without Being Sexually Exploitive and Socially or Culturally Offensive

Upon scrolling through images of this past Halloween festivities on Facebook, I came across a variety of costumes that were as offensive and annoying as being catcalled on your way home from the library (beware: I carry heavy books around and have a perfect pitching arm). There were your usual silly cop, silly nurse, and silly French maid outfits, but I won’t disparage those costumes for the lack of material they were made of.  I will admit, however, that I thought, or at least, had hoped, that ladies dressed as Playboy bunnies were really giving a figurative high five to Gloria Steinem… then, I noticed them shaking their ping pong, cat toy tails on command.  A trusted and respected friend of mine, who is in fact an Her Campus McGill reader, brought up a very poignant argument with regards to women and Halloween costumes when she reserved her right to wear any Halloween costume that makes her ass look good and her ego feel good. Amen, sister! My point about Halloween costumes is just that: having a sense of self-reflexivity about your outfit is all I ask for when putting together your Halloween costume.

My big sister, a McGill Alum, has given me additional hope that one can in fact have it all – well, at least when it comes to having a witty Halloween costume and self-identifying as a feminist. This past weekend, at a Rookie Yearbook book signing and party, she went as Tippi Hedren from The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror-thriller  (because birds are actually terrifying, spastic rodents with wings) from 1963.  If you want to dress up as a complex female character whose internal strife expresses the contradictory modes of femininity propounded by society, then all you need is a bird nest bouffante in your hair (which translates into a shitload of hairspray and some nasty teasing), fake birds from a dollarstore, and some synthetic feathers stuck in your poppin’ pink lip gloss.  Give yourself some smudged cat eyes and a fearful, dumb-founded facial expression (since you are internally struggling with the polarities of femininity that range from the innocent, passive good girl to that ball-crushing, kick-ass proactive “bad” girl who draws in schools of insane and violent birds to a remote seaside villages because she’s that badass) because, girl, birds be coming at you regardless!

Ladies, my point is this: dress up as whatever tickles your fanny, I mean, fancy, on Halloween – just be cognizant of the fact that there are alternatives to the limited options that the party stores offer.  Be creative, be funny, and be smart about your Halloween costumes; wearing a slip and claiming to be the embodiment of a suppressed and aggressive sexual emotion is not an ode to Freud.  The jig is up-you’re just wearing underwear. Oh! And dressing up as a Native American and saying you’re actually a Disney character does not make it any less offensive! The movie itself is problematic because of its stereotyped and monolithic representation of Native Americans as tan-swede-clad, ethereal forest people with beaded fringes and a feather in their hair. Moreover, given what is currently going on in Northern Quebec with the new and very destructive mining developments, not to mention Native communities’ continual struggle with insubstantial resources and constant threats of land expropriation for industrial purposes, some awareness and sensitivity to the issue would be nice. *face-plant-palm* ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT-8Dm1VThc) As for me, I may just go around with a scandalized look on my face on Halloween because humanity scares me. That, or I may just unearth the pumpkin costume my mom made me when I was in kindergarten; at least then I’d be able to eat exorbitant amounts of candy and not have to worry about my bloated stomach popping out of uncomfortably tight pleather cop pants.