Halloween is that time of the year when you can be creative, dress up, get drunk and have fun! Just as long as you look sexy doing it.
While it can feel exciting, almost like a competition, to pick a costume that makes your body look tea, we should take a moment to recognize why this is the social norm.
For my Mean Girls (2024) fans, you’ll recognize the song “Sexy,” where Karen sings about how awesome Halloween is because she can be anything she wants AND be sexy.
Although her character is supposed to be ditzy, the song carries a bigger meaning than a dumb blonde talking about being hot. Maybe you think I’m reading too much into this, but I think we need to recognize how gender roles and societal expectations of women in the Western world are being displayed in this silly song.
Throughout the song, she sings about all the fun things girls can dress up as, but the most important part of the costume is that it needs to be sexy.
In the movie, the main character, Cady Heron, who grew up in Africa and is not familiar with the gender roles and societal expectations of the Western world, eventually dresses up as a scary zombie bride to go to a Halloween party. It is supposed to be funny that she doesn’t understand that for teen girls, the norm would be to wear as few clothes as possible without it being considered public indecency.
She was missing the essence of what Halloween means for all the other high schoolers in the movie. But it is ironic because if people were really free to wear whatever they want, I think they would be more like Cady and wear gory zombie costumes. However, many girls feel the pressure to wear costumes that fit societal expectations instead.
One lyric from the 2024 movie adaptation goes, “This is modern feminism talking, watch me as I run the world in shoes I cannot walk in.”
To reclaim sexiness can be empowering. The message here is that modern feminism is reclaiming our bodily autonomy by wearing what we deem as sexy, and not for the male gaze.
I don’t have a problem with this take, and I too, enjoy dressing up because it makes me feel good.
But I think it’s worth a moment of our time to explore why we think putting on makeup or dressing to make the girls look bigger is what we think is pretty. Is it because that’s what we like, or is it because of the media and the multi-generational messaging that women need to look appealing for men.
Now don’t feel all called out. That’s not why I am here. Both things can be true at once. Women can dress up with makeup, heels and our best push-up bra because it makes us feel pretty and confident. But it can also be true that this practice of being presentable and wearing things that accentuate our bodies in certain places is trendy because of the patriarchy.
There is nothing wrong with your sexy mouse costume but think about why you feel the need to dress sexy. This Halloween, I challenge you all to think twice about your costume, and own the night, whether you dress up as a zombie or a mouse.