More Halloween Information

Every year, millions of adults get dressed in costume for Halloween. They may wear a costume to take their children trick-or-treating, to hand out candy to their trick-or-treating neighbors, or to attend a costume party at home, a bar, or nightclub. Halloween costumes can range anywhere from just a pair of plastic vampire teeth bought at the local Halloween store, to fully engineered outfits that took months to put together. People can dress in costume to have fun, to shock, be sexy, or maybe even get a date. Certainly our Halloween costume choices say something about our personality or intent, but how much do they say?

Each Halloween, the Internet is full of articles theorizing on this topic, including an MSN piece that prompted me to conduct interviews of my own on the subject of sexy Halloween costumes and their meaning. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which consulted with professional psychologists for “What Your Halloween Costume Says About You”, offers interpretation of several categories of costume.

They do preface their arguments with the knowledge that “price, comfort and convenience can factor in”, but conclude that ultimately our choice in Halloween costume says a lot about us. Most importantly, your costume can tell who you want to be.

People may dress for Halloween as a celebrity because they admire certain qualities that celebrity possesses, or they are just living the fantasy of fame and wealth. They might also engineer their Halloween costume to mock a celebrity that they hate or are disappointed in. As for sexy costumes, Sally Foster (a psychology professor with the University of Miracosta, California) feels that they “can represent one's own repressed sexuality…They also can be healthy expressions of someone who is not very repressed.”

MSN sees things a different way, however. In the article “Halloween Costumes Decoded”, MSN turns to Marc Rudov, author of The Man's No-Nonsense Guide to Women. His take on the “sexy angel” Halloween costume is that it's a sign of a woman looking for action. What if the woman is already with someone? Well, then Rudov feels that Halloween costume “is telling you, in advance, that she is insecure, immature, and a great candidate for infidelity.”

It's a typical argument–a woman dresses up sexy and society will make a negative judgment about her. The rules are even more stringent if she's dating/co-habiting/married. Once a woman is with someone, it's time to put on the nun costume, literally and figuratively.

Most women with feminist ideals would say a woman can wear whatever costume she wants, but are they sure they wouldn't judge a woman who showed up to a Halloween party wearing a bustier, mini-skirt, and angel wings? Conducting my own interviews on-line, I got some interesting responses about the supposed dangers of a woman's sexy Halloween costume.

Dawn*, a 22-year-old from Oklahoma, states that: “I personally don't think a woman's clothing can designate her as a slut or not. Culturally, however, we're generally conditioned to think such things.” Penny, a 44-year-old from California agrees about the cultural influences:

“I think it's a reflection of the traditional worldview were brought up with … that any girl who looks like she might put out is assumed to be doing so, and if she were a Good Girl then clearly she wouldn't be dressing like that. Or giggling like that. Or using her eyes like that. Or wearing make-up, and at her age, what are her parents thinking? If a woman had an opportunity to sin then everyone assumes she was sinning.”

Brendan, a 31-year-old from Canada, feels that this type of judgment is prevalent and shouldn't be ignored. He wouldn't want people thinking his girlfriend is a tramp, even if he knows she isn't. As for the sexy angel-type Halloween costume, Brendan expresses his own concerns:

“Such a costume does indeed scream 'look at me'…From there, I can easily see how one could make the jump to 'cheater' based on the fact that someone that insecure about themselves is also probably having a problem with the relationship she's in. Mix in a bit of booze and a guy who can exploit whatever that problem is…and yah, there is a flight risk there.”

Ophelia, a wife and mother from Long Island, strongly disagrees. She feels there is an important distinction between sexy and slutty, and one does not necessarily lead to the other.

“If I was at a party and a woman I didn't know came in wearing one of these “sexy” costumes, I'd only judge her a slut if she was acting slutty, not just based on the outfit itself. And some women could be wearing a crayon costume and still be sexy…”

Marriage seems to bring confidence in these cases. Canadian author and diehard Halloween celebrator Amy claims that her husband prefers she dress in sexy costume for Halloween. “I want to be 'Ugly Betty' for Hallowe'en this year. He's pushing for me to dress up like a can-can dancer.” David, a 31-year-old married man from Illinois, feels that while a sexy Halloween costume might be attention-seeking, it does not mean that the woman is going to be unfaithful. Most of my respondents agreed that behavior was the key to interpreting a Halloween costume, more than the costume itself.

Trust in your partner was also a major factor. Brendan, who worried about a sexy-dressed date's motives, agreed that the man could be the problem in this scenario because he lacks faith in his partner. Rebecca, a writer who's dived right into the dating pool in California, stressed that trust was a deciding factor in her relationships: “If I wore (a sexy Halloween costume) and my date criticized me for dressing too slutty, I'd dump him.”

It's not just men, of course, who judge women's Halloween costumes. Women can often be the harshest critics of their own gender. According to Linnea, a 39-year-old from Amsterdam, it's another aspect of cultural upbringing:

“From early age on we (women) are taught (by our mothers) that other women pose a threat to us. Labelling another woman 'slut' creates a false sense of superiority…'we' don't behave that way, 'we' are good girls, the ones who will marry and have a family and be the foundations of society…”

Linnea goes on to add that complications abound, because women are also taught that men want us to be sexy. This explains why the women's selection in Halloween stores are largely “sexy” costumes: “sexy maid”, “sexy clown”, “sexy witch”. So women are encouraged to dress up for Halloween this way, but then such costumes may inspire others to judge them in an unflattering way. Is there any way for women to win? World-traveler Colette writes from France: “Women will always be stuck with the whore/Madonna , thanks to Mary Magdalene…”

While most of my female respondents felt that a woman should be able to wear whatever she wants on Halloween, a common caveat was that costumes should be appropriate to the situation. Rose from L.A. stressed that “If you're taking your toddler trick or treating, a prostitute seems way wrong, but the same costume at an all-adult party might be fun or cute. It's all about context.”

Married mom Ophelia agrees that situation is important, but the level of appropriateness can be just as subjective as the idea of sexy vs. slutty. She warns that just the idea of an adult dressing for Halloween can put people off:

“I can count on one hand the times that people reacted favorably to me - usually I just get the 'oh you're the weird mom' look…from the adults that is, the kids seem to enjoy it. I'll even get those looks from the few parents that are dressed, but they have a clown hat, or antennae, or cute things like that - I bring out the black cape and blood-red lipstick and that makes me weird. Or maybe slutty?”

Experiences no doubt vary according to where one lives and the company one keeps. Is what Halloween costume a woman wears truly this earth-shattering, capable of severing relationships and causing statewide scorn? Gabby from Arizona thinks it's all much ado about nothing:

“Extroverted? Exhibitionist? Sex positive? Sure. Cheater — oh please! As you say, 98% of the costumes out there for women are “sexy” costumes. 98% of the female population cheats on their SOs? Halloween is just an excuse to have a little more fun with your self-image than most of us do the other 364 days. If you wear 'appropriate office attire' every day, why not flaunt what you've got the one day it's socially acceptable? Lord knows I'm not complaining at the guys stripping down to a cherub loincloth.”

Whatever Halloween costume you choose, the point is to have fun and enjoy all the freedom the day affords you. But be aware, ladies. That Hillary Clinton Halloween costume may tell people you approve of her politics, and that witch outfit might speak to your inner demons, but nothing is more dangerous than daring public opinion with your “sexy angel” costume.

*Names have been changed.

Resources:

Interviews by the author, Valerie David.

Lester, Margot Carmichael. “Halloween Costumes Decoded,” MSN.com, c2007.

Lica, Laura. “What Your Halloween Costume Says About You,” Seattle Post Intelligencer, Oct. 31, 2003.