Halloween...It's complicated

With the Halloween season upon us, I feel it important to discuss costumes.  That's right, costumes.  And not the costumes that are insensitive to other races and ethnicities.  That is a topic for another day (and class).  But rather, the sexy costumes.  The costumes that are worn during this time of year when (almost) anything goes. 

To contextualize, I'm a nontraditional (older) student with a husband and kids.  In this way, I am not in the same circles as my peers and definitely don't go to parties.  So, what I'm about to say is, in a way, far removed from the actual culture of college life.  But attending a university and having co-workers that are younger and attend these parties, you tend to hear what goes on with college students.  Just today a co-worker showed me a picture of her friend 'dressed' in a extremely revealing costume (She was wearing a skimpy top and a thong--no joke).  And just last night, I saw several young women dressed as Tom Cruise from Risky Business.  You know the famous scene.  Tom Cruise in nothing but a collared white business shirt, underwear, socks, and sunglasses.  So, yeah---that was what these young women were wearing.

And then my co-worker shared that many other girls that she'd seen at some of the parties were wearing even less (try, lingerie with wings--Victoria's Secret model-inspired).  I've even heard stories of individual's just walking around in the nude.

How does this relate to the scope of this class, you ask?

Well, this made me think of some of our discussions on whether a woman could dress how she wanted without eliciting sexual assault and/or rape.  And I still don't know how to feel on this one.  On one hand, a woman should be able to wear whatever she wants without retribution.  Yet, our society recognizes that Halloween is the one night of the year that women 'dress as hoes'.  I've heard countless talk show hosts, comedians, etc. make this point.  There seems to be a sexual excitement when women dress in this way.  Even walking into the Halloween store and you can see the vast amount of sexualized costumes for women.

And there still remains the context of when alcohol is involved.  That is, when I think of the college costume parties that are occurring where women are dressed provocatively, I can't help but think that this is a recipe for sexual assault and/or rape.  Of course, I recognize that the male gaze is strong during Halloween.  This is why we do see all of the sexualized costumes.  But, in this same regard, for a woman to be unaware how these costumes elicit sexual behavior that may be unwanted would be naïve. 

While the issue is much more complicated than what I've covered here, I have become sensitive to how women are treated.  And I feel that by wearing sexualized costumes to parties in which alcohol is involved could have a tragic outcome.  I just don't know how to approach this.  Like I said, a woman should be able to wear what she wants.  And a man should be accountable for his own actions.  I just think it's complicated.