Every October, everything turns orange, spooky season becomes a personality, and suddenly, witches are everywhere. But for once, that doesn’t feel like a gimmick – it feels like a reminder because the women who were once burned, silenced, or mocked for their power are now the ones shaping the story.
Spooky season has always been about fear – but lately, it’s been about who we fear, and why. And when you look closer, the women labelled ‘scary’ have always just been the ones who refused to shrink.
The Witch Was Never the Villain
The word witch has always said more about the people who used it than about the women it described. It was never really about magic – it was about fear. Fear of women who questioned, created, or existed outside what was expected of them.
Now, when we talk about witches, we’re not talking about spells or superstition – we’re talking about self-possession. Calling yourself a witch today isn’t a costume or a hashtag. It’s a quiet rebellion. It’s saying, I know my power, and I’m not apologizing for it.
Because being a witch was never about being supernatural, it was about being unstoppable.
The ‘Scary’ Woman Is Just the Unapologetic One
Pop culture loves to warn us about the dangerous woman – the one who’s too loud, too sexual, too smart, too angry. From Maleficent to Jennifer’s Body to Gone Girl, she’s the one who refuses to behave.
But these women aren’t cautionary tales anymore. They’re blueprints. We’ve learned to see the power in being unlikable, in setting boundaries, in demanding what we deserve. The scary woman doesn’t exist because she’s evil – she exists because the world is still uncomfortable with women who can’t be controlled.
And maybe that’s exactly why she should scare people.
Power Doesn’t Need Permission
Every Halloween, there’s the same debate: are costumes empowering or objectifying? The truth is, empowerment has never been one-size-fits-all. Whether you show up as a vampire in full glam or a ghost in sweatpants, power looks like choice.
For so long, women have been told what they can and can’t be – too much, too little, too bold, too quiet. But spooky season is a reminder that you don’t owe anyone palatability. You can take up space, you can be the main character, you can even be the villain if you want to be.
Power isn’t something you ask for. It’s something you claim.
Spooky Season Is a Mirror, Not a Mask
The beauty of spooky season isn’t in pretending to be someone else – it’s in realizing that the parts of you the world calls “too much” are the ones that make you magnetic. The darkness, the confidence, the mystery – that’s not something to tone down. It’s something to own.
Because the truth is, the witch, the villain, the scary woman – she was never the monster in the story. She was just the only one powerful enough to rewrite it.
And on college campuses, that power feels especially real. Whether it’s speaking up in a crowded lecture hall, leading a club meeting, or just choosing themselves over other people’s expectations, young women are constantly learning what it means to take control of their own narrative. The strength that made witches ‘dangerous’ centuries ago is the same strength that drives us now – to be independent, assertive, and unafraid of being seen.
This Halloween, we don’t soften our edges. We sharpen them.
We aren’t dressing up as witches. We’re remembering that we’ve always been them.