Halloween is my favorite holiday. It always has been. I’m not really sure why – I hate scary movies and being frightened in general. I’m always that girl at the Haunted House who leaves absolutely sobbing while everyone else laughs. I guess it probably has to do with the whole idea of having this one day to be someone different than I am in real life. However, by “different,” I don’t mean entirely changed. I think that Halloween serves to enhance those features of ourselves that perhaps we don’t normally put on display, such as sexiness, humor, creativity, mystery…
Then, of course, there’s the college version of Halloween, and to be honest, I have fully and proudly embraced the age-old collegiette Halloween tradition of dressing like a slut. Freshman year was “slutty pirate,” sophomore year was “slutty nerd,” and junior year was the classic Britney Spears a la “Baby One More Time” (a.k.a. “slutty schoolgirl”). And you know what? I f*cking LOVE IT. It is super fun to dress up in a way that makes me look and feel sexy. And yes, I know, sexiness is all about confidence, and if you have confidence, you should be able to feel sexy in anything, even a paper bag. But sometimes (a lot of the time), it is easier to put on confidence like a costume, and throwing on a pair of fishnets can give me that extra little boost I need.
However, what I don’t love is how girls always decide it is necessary to judge other girls based on their levels of Halloween-sluttiness. This generally goes one of two ways.
“OMG. Did you see her hoochie shoes? She looks like such a street walker!” (i.e. “slut-shaming”)
“She is dressed as a pumpkin. Like a normal pumpkin. She’s not even wearing heels. Why would she come to the Slegion without heels?” (i.e. “prude-shaming”).
There are just so many things wrong with this judgment of one another. I have always in my blog tried to foster a judgment-free environment. Your decisions are your decisions, but just because someone else’s decisions are different than yours does not make either of you right and the other wrong. Yes, you may really enjoy poking fun at the Halloween establishment and therefore dress as a refrigerator, but that doesn’t give you any right to judge and/or make fun of other girls who conform to society’s standards for young women and dress as a slutty flower. And vice versa: just because you are comfortable with showing off your body and being explicitly sexual does not mean other girls are “prudes” for not wearing miniskirts and thigh-highs. Jenna Mourey (a.k.a. “Jenna Marbles”) does an awesome job of discussing this in her “Sluts on Halloween” vlog from last year. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend watching. I’ll post the link below.
Anyway, I’m definitely NOT saying every girl should dress like a slut on Halloween. I think you should dress in whatever makes you feel awesome, beautiful, sexy, dangerous, villainous, funny or whatever other adjective that will put an extra spring in your step this weekend. But whatever you do, just take this Halloween weekend as an opportunity to take a night off from the normal; step out as a version of yourself you don’t normally put on display. Sometimes, I think it takes transforming into someone (or something) else to truly be able to be free and confident with yourself. So dress up and have some fun.
Stay sexy St. Olaf,
H.