Sexy Donald Trump
The Halloween costume search is starting to feel increasingly similar to bathing-suit shopping — each year the trend seems to lean toward wearing less clothing and showing more skin — well, for women anyway.
It is bizarre that a pagan harvest festival evolved into an excuse for women to wear lingerie in public and pass it off as a costume. Nevertheless, Lindsay Lohan’s character in Mean Girls speaks the truth: “Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.” But why only a girl? Why aren’t the boys allowed, nay expected, to do the same?
On Party City’s website, for instance, “sexy costumes” are featured in the women’s section alone (though not in plus sizes). Oddly, “funny costumes” are only found in the men’s section.
And while sexy cops, nurses and French maids are somewhat standard, nowadays nearly anything can be turned “sexy” with some variant of a leotard and thigh-high socks — Donald Trump included.
It is hard to gauge women’s opinions on the issue, but whatever they are, women are still overwhelmingly buying these costumes. In fact, according to Forbes, lingerie retailer Yandy will make $15 million this Halloween season selling “sexy” ensembles based on viral news such as Pizza Rat, Cecil the Lion and The Dress, each ranging from about $30 to $250 in price.
Yet as more people are willing to align themselves with feminism and gender equality today, it is surprising that the one-sidedness of the sexy Halloween costume trend persists.
Of course, objectification is not inherently wrong. But given the current costume climate, the objectification is outright unequal across the sexes. Furthermore, when sexiness is an expectation rather than a choice on a woman’s part, her enthusiasm or consent is questionable at best.
That’s not to say the sexy costumes must be abandoned or shunned completely. For some women, dressing scantily can be exciting and even empowering. If men and women were given the same range of costume options, perhaps the Halloween microcosm of our sexist society would cease to exist.
At the end of the day, people come in many shapes and sizes, can identify anywhere on the gender spectrum and all deserve to feel comfortable and respected — on Halloween and every day. If taking a stand on the sexism of sexy Halloween costumes can make some small progress toward equality, then it is certainly one worth taking.
