“Yeah, it’s Halloween, which means girls can dress slutty without seeming too slutty”, a girl once said.
–“Well, then you’re making it seem like all girls want to dress slutty and on Halloween, they seize that opportunity”.
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Hmm….What happened to the days where Halloween was about dressing up as your favorite Disney character and getting lots of candy from your friendly neighborhood parents? For us college students, is this what the time-honored tradition of disguises and spooky treats have become– an occasion for debauchery, drinking, and gluttony? Is this what everything becomes in college?
I would have to say that the statement about women and slutty clothing does seem to apply for a fair number of females in the university setting. It, of course, does not help that most adult female costumes tend to be on the sexier side, with high-slit witches gowns, low-cut bar maid tops, extremely short and skimpy French maid outfits, and slinky Cruelle de Vil dresses. What about our culture today generates this desire for women to become sexy whores on an occasion when they can be anything but? When they can step outside the bounds of our heavily sexualized and sex-dependent mass culture to become an entity entirely removed from mediated societal norms? Is this continuation of the push for sexy women ever going to stop? Is it right?
The answer is that the sexualized women is not always right. Of course, women have come such a long way in political as well as personal liberation, allowing for the open discussion and acceptance of sex and the sexualized female. However, once that liberation becomes a means of exploitation, then that is where the line must be drawn. And, I believe, on Halloween, this exploitation is more evident than ever. It is true that as women, the choice always exists– we can be that fairy tale princess or we can be that half-naked Minnie Mouse.
For this Halloween, my friends and I decided to forgo the sluttiness this year and become Disney princesses. With a party themed as the classic Disney Romances, we had friends who dressed as raggedy Cinderella, shy Christopher Robins, Giselle from Enchanted, Alice in Wonderland, bookworm Belle from Beauty & the Beast. It was a nice change to see people fully clothed and having fun without the desire to seem as sexy or seductive, but merely cute and enchantinng.
That’s not to say that it’s a bad thing to be sexy or seductive. I fully agree that women should always feel comfortable being sexy and seductive, that we have every right to be open about sex and sexuality. But, perhaps, on Halloween, we can get away from the normal societal claims of the overly sexualized woman to return back to our childhood dreams of being Disney princesses*.
*It is acknowledged that Disney princesses are not always the ideal; this is another topic for another time.
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Gabby Park likes to eat and make short videos with her friends.
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