The possibilities for Halloween costumes for women, while endless as young girls, become restricted once they grow up. Society imposes costume stipulations for teenage girls by the time they make it to middle school. They are encouraged to dress revealingly to appeal to certain male desires, while at the same time, being labelled as sluts. Similarly, if women choose a more conservative Halloween costume, they’re labeled prudes.
So how are women supposed to dress on Halloween? This option is and should be entirely up to the individual person. As a whole, objectifying women on Halloween needs to stop. Women are never going to feel comfortable in their costume choice if they know they will be judged for it.
Halloween is a night based on fun activities and individual costume designs. As individuality is an important aspect, we need to stop labeling women based on their costume choices.
While objectification continues to create problems for women, it rarely seems to for men. It’s socially acceptable for men to wear whatever costume they wish on Halloween. Demeaning labels rarely affect them no matter what they wear. They could choose a topless costume and no one would judge them for it. Not that they should be, but if men can wear anything and practically nothing, women should be able to as well.
Labels are nothing new and have been around for a long time. These stereotypes are most apparent in the 2004 movie “Mean Girls.” The plot revolves around the main character, Cady Heron and her three frenemies (Regina George, Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith) attending a costume party hosted by Aaron Samuels, the lead male character. For the party, Regina, Gretchen and Karen are all dressed very revealingly, along with the other girls at the party.
“In girl world, Halloween is the one time of year a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girl can say anything about it,” Heron said.
However, Regina and her friends are judged for their costumes being too revealing. Opposite to them, Cady dressed more on the conservative side, but was also instantly judged because her costume wasn’t revealing enough.
This is a prime example of labeling women for their costumes. If it was girl code to dress slutty, why were they judged? Then if those girls were labeled for dressing that way, why was Cady also judged for not being revealing enough? This ‘girl code’ also only pertains to women when they are older. In fact for young girls, dressing up is fun and they can be anything they want. However, once they get to middle school and high school, they’re expected to wear revealing costumes. It’s no longer about the excitement of dressing as your favorite TV show character or crazy looking animals. It’s now about what the world will think of you in that costume. That’s the problem.
Mean Girls was made in 2004 and even then teenage girls were judged for their Halloween costumes. 17 years is way too long for girls to still be objectified and labeled for what they wear. If a girl wants to wear a sexy costume, it’s her right. However, she shouldn’t feel obligated to, or feel like she will be condemned if she doesn’t.
This past weekend, I went shopping for my Halloween costume at Party City and Spirit Halloween. At both locations, the costumes offered for young women were all revealing. If women are going to break the practice of objectification, society has to stop letting these revealing costumes be the norm. Women should be able to wear the costumes they want without fear of criticism. This Halloween, I will be wearing the costume I want. I hope all of you will do the same.
The Maneater encourages you to donate to Dress for Success, which is an organization centered on empowering women. https://dressforsuccess.org/
Edited by Sarah Rubinstein| srubinstein@themaneater.com
