Halloween. Originally, Halloween (a contraction of the title “All Hallows’ Evening”) began the three-day Christian observance of Allhallowtide, a time dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows) and martyrs. Today Halloween as celebrated in the United States has become an entirely secular holiday characterized by children dressing up in costumes and going house to house asking for candy, parties in which attendees wear outlandish or humorous costumes, families carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns and decorating the house with orange and black, and friends watching scary movies. It’s a wonderfully irreverent, amusing holiday with warm, communal traditions. It can also be, however, emblematic of the blatant objectification of women in the United States. America has a sexism problem. When actors are praised for having a “dad bod”-allegedly reflecting their dedication to spending time with their children rather than going to the gym-while actresses are criticized for not regaining their figure fast enough after childbirth, it’s indicative of the unfair physical double-standard to which men and women are held. And when Elle magazine characterizes accomplished international rights lawyer Amal Clooney as a “chic normal” and reduces her to the clotheshorse object at actor George Clooney’s side, it’s indicative of women’s continuing struggle to be defined based on their own merits rather than their relationship to a man.
Getty Images
Halloween in many ways epitomizes the sexualization and objectification of women in US society. Men’s costumes fall along the lines of ketchup bottles, super heroes, pirates, or sci-fi characters. These costumes tend to go ankle to neck, covering 70-90% of the wearer’s body. They’re almost never crafted to objectify the wearer. Instead, they often conceal deficiencies: for super hero costumes that might require showing pectoral or abdominal muscles, for example, often a piece of fabric is provided with fake physical features so that men who haven’t been to the gym lately aren’t shamed by their lack of muscle.
Women, on the other hand, are confronted by a barrage of “sexy” costumes: sexy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, sexy Native American, sexy Robin Hood, sexy Big Bird, sexy firefighter, sexy race car driver, etc. Any costume is possible, so long as it can be made “sexy” (hence Sexy Ebola Nurse and Sexy Harambe costumes have both been tried). Although many women reject “sexy” costumes, other women, particularly those in college, face strong social pressure to wear such costumes. (Paradoxically, women are pressured to dress “sexy,” then are disparaged for doing so by a society that often lays the blame for sexual assault on women who are perceived as having invited it through their clothing choice.)
Of course, some women wear ironic “sexy” costumes (like I hope the Ebola costume is). These outfits are intended to express opposition to the objectification of women through the sexualization of a theme that is inherently unsexy. Although this approach seems a bit weak-objectifying one’s self to protest objectification requires that the intended audience recognize the protest, otherwise it simply contributes to and perpetuates the objectification-we’d like to suggest our own ironic sexy costumes for any readers who haven’t yet decided on a costume for this year.
Sexy Ellen
Wear a short blonde wig and pair a dark denim jacket with a horizontally striped tie, dark jeans, and white sneakers. Skip the white undershirt and just wear a bra.
Photo credit: Ellen’s Pinterest page
Sexy U-Haul Lesbian
Baseball hat or beanie? Check. Straight leg jeans and sneakers? Check. Tailored flannel shirt open at the chest to reveal lacy lingerie? Check. Now carry around a small, empty box with U-Haul written on it and car keys taped to the lid. Bonus if red flags are peeping out of the box and a stuffed cat or dog face.
<U-Haul via Buzzfeed
Sexy Lexa
Lexa from “The 100” was already sexy, so to complete the irony factor, add a splash of bright red paint to represent the symbolic murder of a queer woman at the hands of an oppressive, overplayed trope. To complete the look, watch a Lexa makeup tutorial on Youtube. Apparently wet face paint, eye shadow, and triangles are key.
Sexy Lumberjack
Lumberjane? Paulina Bunyan? To complete the costume, wear heavy boots, jeans, and an open plaid shirt. For accessories, wear a beanie and carry around a fake axe.
