Off with bad threads!
By Jessie Archambault
Some Halloween costumes should simply not be tailored to be slutty. There isn’t anything wrong with showing off a little leg or a bit of cleavage. But when walking through the aisles of a costume store, it’s hard to miss the lack of fabric on womens’ costumes.
They’re shorter than the childrens’ costumes.
Halloween is a holiday where people can dress up and impersonate someone they aren’t. However, some childhood favourites like Strawberry Shortcake or Disney princesses should not be impersonated in any way other than what they were meant to be.
Snow White has a long dress and a collar. There shouldn’t be a sexualized Snow White wearing a tiny tutu with a corset.
Halloween falls on a Thursday this year. We will all be in our respective classes attending lectures or labs. Most of us will be dressed up. But, what will be expected this year?
For the ladies, we’ll see legs and cleavage.
For the gentlemen, we’ll see the complete opposite: big bulky costumes like the zombie hot dog. Is this to hide certain anatomical features from appearing when female students walk by in their tiny dresses.
School should not be turned into an X-rated fashion show on any given day. Costumes should definitely be kept appropriate. Girls, do you really want to be wearing your bras and panties, with twinkling devil horns on your head while discussing assignments with your middle-aged professor?
This shows a lack of professionalism from the students and can possibly hurt later on when a job reference is needed. Professors take our looks into consideration. But, on Halloween, they don’t necessarily want to see more than they need to.
Finding a Halloween costume that is appropriate is difficult for adults nowadays. Whether it’s for school, work or at a party, the context is important.
At a party, anything goes.
But at work – especially when dealing with customers – one should tone down the sex appeal and fit in with the workplace.
Whereas at school, the hormones kick in and Halloween becomes a sex parade through the hallways.
Granted, some costume ideas are just asking to be provocative like the French maid, or the Playboy bunny. On the other hand, those costumes have been overdone and students now want some more creative ways to be sexy.
This is how we end up with slutty costumes of cartoon characters or costumes of reputable professionals. The nurse outfit should remain traditional. The doctor uniform should stay professional instead of duplicating what is seen in elaborate porn movies.
Some of our peers are studying to become these professionals. Let’s try not to make a mockery of their field of study.
Overall, Halloween costumes can be sexy, but certain costumes just go too far.
Let them wear cake
By Patrick L. Smith
Society expects us to act in certain ways throughout our daily lives. Likewise, when the opportunity comes up to oppose societal conventions, we do so as fast as we can.
So why is it suddenly criminal that Halloween costumes show a little skin?
The holiday is one of only a handful of occasions where you can dress however you like, with very little restrictions. Obviously, anything illegal will still get you arrested. Other than that, it’s fair game.
That has led to a history of objectionable and occasionally tasteless costumes – pregnant nuns, suicide bombers, a never-ending parade of costumes mocking celebrities in jail or well-known murderers – and yet the subject we get the most irritated over is a lack of fabric?
I get the argument. Often, skimpy outfits aren’t classy. They’re not professional. But on a holiday where creativity is the name of the game, we should be appreciating costumes that push the boundaries, not denouncing them.
A common argument against revealing costumes is that they objectify women. I’d say it’s the other way around, though. At the end of the day, we’re talking about one person’s body. As long as what they’re doing is within the confines of the law, there’s nobody who can say definitively what another person should do with their own body.
If a girl wants to wear a bra and panties to school and be a scantily-clad referee, good for her. It takes a lot of self-confidence to rock a costume like that, and shaming that just seems wrong and totally out of place.
I realize many of you will probably write this off. A guy writing that girls should be allowed and encouraged to wear whatever they like? Groundbreaking, isn’t it?!
But you know what else is totally wrong and out of place, though? The entire argument that skimpy costumes are somehow restricted to women and that they’re somehow bad. What about men?
I don’t see anyone slamming the dude dressing up as the Old Spice Guy by rocking a towel and a horse. I don’t see the pirate with an open vest or the Scotsman in a kilt drawing criticism and being shouted at to cover themselves up. Double-standard, perhaps?
It goes back to societal expectations which hyper-emphasize a man’s sexuality but tries to stifle a woman’s sexuality. And this argument really hits a fever pitch at Halloween when all these costumes with extra cleavage and legs hit the shelves.
Enough.
If you don’t want to wear a risqué costume, don’t. Nobody is forcing you. But why does that mean that others who want to wear something a bit less PG can’t?
If your roommate wants to be a sexy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, tell him to be the best damn sexy turtle they can be. If your classmate wants to be a Playboy bunny, tell her to hop to it. And if you don’t feel like dressing down for Halloween, that’s entirely your call. Be creative. Be original.
Or just have fun.