This is a guest post.
Type in Halloween female fancy dress on any search engine and I guarantee that you will be presented with an abundance of non-scary, skin-tight, low-cut, sexual ensembles that fall apart after one wash. Although I am aware of the belief that ‘sex sells,’ who the hell decided that a zombie or a PUMPKIN could look sexy? Halloween is the one day of the year that anybody can be whoever they want to be. Therefore, it’s the perfect opportunity to have a laugh and uncover your inner weirdo. So why do so many women feel the need to bare their bodies?
I love Halloween, it is by far my favourite holiday of the year. Every year since the age of 18, I have been out to celebrate the day, dressing appropriately horrific every time. Yes, admittedly, I have on occasion dabbled in the glam-scary genre. However, l am proud to say I have never done ‘sexy-kitten’ or the ‘slutty-pumpkin’ for Halloween. In fact, some of my favourite outfits have resulted in drunken party goers jumping back in genuine fear/shock at the mere sight of me. Normally this would be offensive, but at Halloween, I consider it a compliment. Surely, I can’t be the only woman in the world who actually likes to dress scary for Halloween?
After more than a decade of going out celebrating Halloween, I would love to say that I have seen my fair share of fancy dress outfits. But truth be told, I have probably seen 10-15 different women’s fancy dress outfits that all seem to be recycled year after year. The majority of them involving something revealing and/or fitted, accompanied by stockings and glamorous make up. If someone is feeling really adventurous, they will smear some fake blood over their limbs, ass and/or breasts to elicit the illusion that they’re dressed for the holiday.
In comparison, I remember one Halloween going out as the girl from the grudge. I greased my hair over my whited-out face, applied heavy grey and black eye make-up and wore an old-fashioned grandma style nightgown. There was nothing even remotely sexy or appealing about my outfit but shit, it looked great! I was so pleased with how it turned out. Though the only reaction from my friends was “Why are you going out dressed like that? You look so scary!” It was Halloween! I thought it was meant to be scary? Perhaps I missed the memo?
This is absolutely not about slut-shaming anybody. Lord knows, I am in no position to do that. I believe that people should be able to dress however the heck they desire. What concerns me is that Halloween seems to have become the one day of the year that women feel obliged to dress as a slutty-something-or-other.
When I dressed as the girl from the grudge, I had to create the entire look myself, including putting oil in my hair to mimic the girl’s appearance. It would have been so much easier if a fancy-dress store would have sold the dress, tights and wig as a complete set. Though unfortunately, there are rarely any ‘scary’ fancy dress options in any of the fancy dress stores or online. It seems that the only options for women are slutty-nurse, sexy-witch or seductive-vampire. Yet men seem have an abundance of options including sexy, funny and imaginative outfit choices.
For example, when I type “Woman fancy dress Halloween costume” into google, the first five suggestions under the shopping tab were:
1) A carnival of creep’s dress – A short white fit & flare dress with two black fluffy balls placed on the front and some black lace around the neck and wrists, worn with stockings and a hat.
2) Miss Whiplash – A red, V-neck, PVC catsuit that was accompanied by a long thin black whip.
3) Kill Bill Bride Costume – A yellow PVC catsuit that was accompanied by a toy dagger.
4) Sexy Cop Dress – An exceptionally low cut, skin-tight, very short black dress accompanied by a black police hat, a plastic badge and plastic handcuffs. This dress was so short, if she had sneezed, you’d have seen what she ate for her dinner.
5) Fever Vamp Cheerleader – A short pleated skirt with a cropped halter neck top, stockings, pom poms and plastic vampire teeth. Don’t even get me started on how something that is commonly worn by young teenage girls is permitted to be so openly sexualised.
In comparison, when I type in “Men’s fancy dress Halloween costume” the first five suggestions under the shopping tab were:
1) Inflatable alien – Designed to look like an alien was carrying him away. It was quite literally an inflatable alien that he would wear.
2) Toy soldier costume – The man was painted green top to toe and was wearing an all-green outfit of a top, trousers, belt and hat. He was also stood on a green foot-base and holding a toy gun.
3) Captain costume – A white captain outfit similar to the one worn in an officer and a gentleman. Admittedly, this is pretty hot.
4) Mad Hatter – Black suit trousers, a black suit jacket with grey checked lapels, white shirt, grey waist coat, poker dot neck tie and a grey top hat.
5) Del Boy – The signature look worn by David Jason in only fools and horses.
Some other outfits on the page included Willy-man superhero (a superhero costume with a giant limp penis attached to the front), a bottle of hand sanitizer, Chewbacca and the tiger king. So why is it that the male outfits are so much more varied and imaginative than the female counterparts? Furthermore, why is it that all the female models look like they’ve stumbled out of a porn convention when the male models are all fully dressed?
I am not trying to make this a feminist rant; I am simply attempting to highlight a point. It is undeniable that there are far less non-sexual Halloween outfit options available for women both online and offline. Though, the question still remains as to why. Are women buying these outfits due to the limited options being available or are options limited because of what women are looking to buy?
Some people reason that women who ordinarily dress conservatively feel more comfortable and confident dressing provocatively on Halloween due to there being so many others dressing this way. Though my counter argument would be that there are women out every week who dress raunchily, so why is Halloween any different? Besides, if it was a confidence issue, surely these women would be hiding their identity behind a mask, not emphasising their appearance with false lashes and contouring?
I have also heard Halloween described as a ‘hall pass’ for women to dress as provocatively as they like without anybody judging them. However, it would suggest that it is only acceptable for women to wear fitted, low-cut or thigh-grazing outfits on one night of the year. Thus, meaning that women are unable to express their sexuality through clothing any other time without judgement. If this is the case, who made this rule and why the hell are we still sticking to it in 2021?
To many, this may seem like a very over-dramatic and unnecessary subject to be debating. However, I truly believe that this is based on something far deeper than the clothes we wear. If we continue to accept the seemingly small things, like having such limited fancy dress options, we are in theory supporting the idea that a woman’s value and beauty is strictly based upon their physical and sexual attributes, rather than their creativity, imagination and talent.
That is not saying that people should not express their sexuality through clothing on Halloween or any other day of the year. Conversely, whether you chose to or not, I encourage you all to start speaking up when you see inequalities in clothing options. Especially when it comes to children’s fancy dress options. After all, our little girls are the women of our future and they deserve to have more options than being a cheerleader, witch or princess. How can we expect them to grow up to challenge societal norms and break gender-stereotypes, if we are telling them from a young age to expect such limited options that strip away their imagination and creativity?
Thank you for reading! Please share your views in the comments below.
Stay awesome, Meraki xox
About the author:
Meraki is a lifestyle, relationship and sex blogger who documents her life as a thirty-something single woman navigating the world of modern dating. You can join her over on her blog The Last Single Sis.
Interesting post, most women’s fancy dress costumes are “sexy [insert profession/random character here]”
it’s just boring, especially for Halloween, I don’t want to be sexy I want to be scary
Yes exactly! I’d rather be scary for Halloween too!
I think generally this is the Americanisation of the “holiday”. Many people I talk to don’t really do Halloween and those that do, it’s largely (not always) people wanting to emulate what they see online; which is mostly from overseas.
When I was younger it was way more “scary” or cute, it’s definitely more and more sexualised even for younger people (I say, wondering how ancient I now sound lol)!
I think Halloween is becoming bigger in the U.K, I’ve noticed a big difference in how much Halloween stuff is available now compared to when I was a kid. I think when I was younger Halloween seemed a lot more for kids where as now it’s become appealing for adults too and with that I think the sexualisation of costumes has creeped in a bit more.