Duke It Out: Sexy for Halloween

By Lauren H

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. Sometimes with mean words. We love a strong woman (unless she happens to be charging at us with her fists raised), so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like gay affirmative action!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

In the words of the immortal Mean Girls, “Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.” It’s a time honored Halloween tradition for girls to put on their best ‘sexy’ costume and go party, right? And costume companies have certainly raised the bar on options (Sexy Elmo and Sexy Hello Kitty, really?)  but is this really a good idea or are we just promoting a sexist stereotype?

Put on your debate club costumes ladies, time to get down to business.

On one side, why shouldn’t we be hot for Halloween? It’s college after all – the time when we’re at both our physical peak and the height of our sexual freedom, so sexed-up costumes seem like the perfect idea. It really is the one night you have absolute carte blanche to wear anything you want without worrying about getting the dreaded ‘skank stare of doom’ because every other girl in the place is going to be just as scantily clad. We’re adults now, and if anything, then at the very least we should be able to wear whatever we want with impunity – without having to deal with feminist implications and what people will think. It’s supposed to be a party, right? So why shouldn’t we get our sexy on?

On the other side, though, it is kind of ridiculous. Most of the ‘sexy’ costumes out there are straight out of (some really screwed up) porn. They aren’t really about enjoying the outfit yourself (hello, it’s October – it’s cold outside!), they’re about looking good for someone else, and being someone else’s sexual ideal. Don’t we spend enough of our time dealing with that without bringing it into our candy-related holidays too? It plays into both the oversexualized girl stereotype and the idea that we need some kind of excuse to show off our bodies if we want to. It’s kind of ridiculous and seems like it takes away from the whole ‘having fun’ part of the holiday.

I mean, it’s called Halloween not Skankoween. How did it end up this way?

What do you say, debaters? Have we gone to far with the sexy costume thing? Is it all just harmless fun? Will you be sexing it up for Halloween this year?

Duke it out!