This post was updated Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Cady Heron from “Mean Girls” famously said that in “girl world,” Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress in sexy costumes and no other girls can say anything about it.
Her iconic words highlighted the popular trend of young women wearing revealing clothes for the October holiday.
Everyone has the right to choose how they dress up for Halloween.
But where is the line between feeling confident and feeling pressured to conform to a societal standard? When young women dress in sexy costumes because they feel obliged to, they forgo their own creativity and self-expression.
More than 2,000 years ago, Celts, a collection of tribes originating in central Europe, celebrated the pagan holiday, Samhain. This was a period of time near the start of winter when they believed the boundary between harmful spirits and real life was weak. To ward off evil spirits, people would wear disguises and carve faces into turnips.
This tradition came to North America during the Irish famine. Here, it slowly morphed into the celebration of carving pumpkins and scary costumes on the night of Halloween.
Dressing up in provocative costumes isn’t something new; the trend began in the ’70s as a way to defy patriarchy and was a part of the second-wave feminism movement ignited by Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique.” The movement, along with the widespread use of the birth control pill, advocated for autonomy and bodily control.
Women first started to dress in more risqué costumes during New York City’s yearly Halloween Parade in 1973, which occurred in the peak of second-wave feminism. By wearing these costumes, women established they do not exist for men, ultimately granting them the freedom to express themselves and explore their own sexuality.
However, today, women likely do not dress in these costumes for the same reason women in the ’70s did. Patriarchy and consumerism have manipulated the true meaning behind these costumes, generating a completely new significance.
“Unfortunately, we live in a very patriarchal society, and that’s something that abounds in our society still,” said Elle Arvesen, a third-year English student. “We’re working towards a society in which it’s not something that we play a part of.”
As much as society aims to move past patriarchal trends, consumerism reinforces social norms as people buy more and more products. As women continue to buy sexy Halloween costumes, the trend continues to live on.
Sena Tamene, a first-year mathematics student, agreed with the impact that trends have on society.
“When you see a trend online, you want to do it because you think you’ll be cool when you do it,” Tamene said.
As young adults continue to accept this social norm, they subtly support the idea that a woman’s value revolves around her appearance and body.
Aeneas Mires, a second-year psychobiology student, said Halloween costumes represent who you are and who you want to be.
Young women should consider whether these costumes are really a representation of their true desires, or if they are blindly following a trend.
Beyond impacts on those wearing the costumes, revealing costumes harm younger women. Several studies indicate that the sexualization of women and girls within the media can lead to a distorted perspective of teen girls’ bodies, eating disorders, depression or body dysmorphia.
Instead of seeing a wide range of the costumes they can wear when they grow up, young girls only see one type of attire and an expectation that doesn’t apply equally to their male peers.
Additionally, these costumes, such as the “naughty nurse,” “lady law” or “promiscuous nun,” disrespect and sexualize serious roles that women have within society.
“When you’re dressing up and sexualizing those roles or positions, it makes people who maybe want to be that in the future feel uncomfortable,” Mires said. “It can dissuade them from wanting to pursue their actual dreams.”
To be sure, some argue revealing costumes act as an outlet for empowerment.
“If you’re confident enough to show to the public, you’re empowering yourself because you know you feel good about how you look,” Mires said.
But young women need to consider why we feel compelled to dress this way for Halloween in the first place. Is it really a vessel for empowerment or is it something we feel pressured to do?
Wearing risqué costumes can result in the ultimate objectification of a woman’s body – something feminism claims to fight against.
The ’70s movement that once represented a rejection of patriarchal norms has shifted from a way to make a rebellious statement against society to yet another nameless trend that gets taken out of context by social media and consumerism.
In “Mean Girls” fashion, if you want to wear the sexiest costume possible, make sure to be aware of why you are doing it. Sorry, Cady Heron, but the rules of “girl world” seem a little outdated.
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