There’s always been a stereotype that girls use Halloween as an excuse to parade around in lingerie and animal ears; passing the look off slutty as a costume. An insane amount of people have ragged on women for using this day to dress sexy; questioning why women choose to dress like this in the first place.
Women facing criticism for what they wear is not limited to Halloween; most experience this judgment single day of the year. If you go to class in sweatpants, you’re lazy. If you wear a dress to a lecture, you look to fancy. If you have a bra that’s slightly visible through your shirt, you’re pushing risque.
There’s no winning. Not a day goes by when our daily “costumes”, the clothes we wear as we navigate our day-to-day lives, don’t face some scrutiny; so it’s not surprising that people fail to conceal their nasty glares, and choose to amp up their criticism on Halloween, a day known within society as a “free-pass” to wear what we want.
Honestly, it’s hard to not be a “sexy” something when you want to dress up for Halloween. Most costumes for women are skimpy knockoffs of name-brand characters or they’re quirky pajama sets for the loving skeleton mother and her skeleton children. If you want to be clever, or even just simple, you’re likely going to be DIY-ing whatever you need.
Society fails to understand that we are simply wearing the costumes available to us. If you’re only selling sex, then how can you blame us for dressing sexy?
It’s unfortunate to think that sex appeal is such a crime. Women are beautiful; each of us in a myriad of ways. So that’s why I’m saying: to hell with Halloween, I’ll look as sexy as I want to. My costume is, in fact, lingerie and mouse ears and I’m proud as heck. If someone wants to criticize me for it, they can do it while I look amazing, feel confident, and don’t give a flying hoot.
I’m going to wear what I want, when I want, and it’s nobody’s business. Sweatpants will be worn to class, legs will be exposed in lectures, and Hauntlanta will see me in Amazon’s version of Victoria’s Secret. People might have a lot to say, but no one is going to be listening.