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Feminist rant: Halloween costumes

  • Author Author ghoulbler
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  • Blog entry read time Blog entry read time 1 min read
The women who get angry when they go to the store and see all the female Halloween costumes that are just sexualized versions of the male costumes are not slut-shaming you. They are not telling you that you need to cover up because the female body is something to be hidden - they are saying that it?s wrong that sexualized versions of male costumes are the only choice you really have when you go to the store.

It?s basically the media saying ?You?re not allowed to dress like this on a daily basis, so here?s your chance to sex it up for us.?

It?s a market that strives to please only men. It?s a market that says the only way you can be ?sexy? is to strip down to a bra and a mini skirt. It?s a market that says that females aren?t good enough to dress up in the same costumes that men can dress up in. It?s a market that says we need to get permission from men first before we can show off any part of our bodies.

These women are not saying that you should dress conservatively. Hell, if you want to wear one of the costumes, go right ahead!

They are saying that women should have more of a choice than just that. (Also, the fact these sexualized costumes are aimed at a lot of underage girls is pretty messed up, but that?s a story for another day.)

Comments

King_Oni
Maybe I might come across as sexist, maybe it's just the male perspective... and perhaps it's just the "aspie perspective". It might also be really specific about your example, but I guess you could exchange it to any type of outfit... but I tend to geek out over Star wars at times.

Women could buy the outfit on the right as well... and if size allows it, men could buy the left outfit. And the argument of a man wearing a costume that's meant for females is pretty much a moot argument when it comes to "playing dress up in outrageous outfits".

Instead of having more choice for females, what about; making a skimpy outfit for men as well. And leave the outfit on the right as an outfit that's more "unisex". I'm not bothered by the left image, in fact, I like the image (those might be my raging hormones talking), but it bothers me that there's actually no male equivalent, since the full Wookiee outfit does not scream "male".. it screams "gender neutral".

There is another thing to consider; and that might be the star wars geek in my speaking. Female wookiees look almost the same.. except for 6 breasts. If we went for a full female wookie outfit, the only people buying it would either be people that are really into Star wars and perhaps the one of guy, who likes to dress up and gender reverse for sexual play with his partner.

And aside from all of this; the women I know, who know their Star wars aren't all like "wookiees are so sexy" and I'm quite sure, that if you tack on a few breasts for good measure to make it gender specific, a lot of people will find it even less sexy. Thus the skimpy wookie is apparently the way to go. I'm not too sure why someone would want to dress up as something they don't like at all though. There's no justification in my mind, that if you dislike clowns, to dress up like a slutty clown, because... that's when clowns seem ok. Unless there's a male, sexual clown... that mostly freaks people out. "Hi, I'm Fisto the clown" and people start running.

What I'm wondering is how many people consider this a skimpy wookiee outfit and not just something someone likes, with no actual relationship to Star wars... I've seen similar outifts, in brighter colors, without the gun, being worn at raves at times.

On a related note; I'm not a big fan of tennis, but every time I see it on tv, it clearly sexualises female tennis players. For equality, they should do camera cuts to the bottom and crotch shots of men as well for instance... and besides; what's up with all the moaning?

On another related note; I'm living in a city that's pretty much one of the big epicentres of carnival festivities in The south-east of the Netherlands. Around February or March yearly, this town turns into Sodom and Gomorrah. Thus, it involves; dressed up people, lots of booze, passed out people and clearly... a lot of lewd behaviour... for about 4 days straight. It's really not my type of thing, but I've been out in the city at times when this was going on. I've went to pubs to have a beer (which might be a total aspie nightmare to add)... and I've talked to girls, most of them clearly not in a sober state. I've had discussions about their outfits, since it had only little to do with the actual festivities and seemed more like a way to act and dress slutty for a few days. A common answer I heard, both minors and adults, tell me "Having a full costume on will not get me laid during these days" thus implying they actually dressed provocatively just to have sex with random strangers while drunk for a few ongoing days.

And that is society in a nutshell at times.
 
Gulas
While I agree with most of things you say but:
"It?s a market that strives to please only men."

No, market strives to please profit, even if it means to screw peoples mind. Most of the times marketing makes people feel inadequate, you're never pretty enough, man enough, women enough, rich enough, strong enough, tall enough, thin enough, etc etc. That way, people fill the hole in their life by buying. Think of the billions spent in plastic surgery, steroids, cars, make-up, cosmetic products, alcohol, the list goes on and on.

I agree, sexual shame is a big issue in our society. EVERYONE is screwed by it, regardless of gender. The costume thingie mentioned is only a small fraction of the issue. You got frustrated men who don't know how to express feelings, that feel they're never enough, that either run away in panic or do stupid things like honking or yelling some ****. And you got frustrated women, that feel that they're never enough, that feel obligated to be pretty, else you're not worthy.:mask:

Also there is lack of deep empathy. (Aspies are labed to not have empathy, but here on forum everybody can relate or understand to each other struggles, I believe aspies only have empathy to things that matter). Women have little idea what struggles men have, and men have have little understanding of women. Everybody lies, trying to keep a image, a image of a good girl, a image of a macho man, etc. Why people are ashamed of being who they are? Why can't people be honest? Why can't people express their sexuality, as long there's consent and nobody is harmed, like if you're man who like women, say it, if you're woman who like men, say it too. Or men who like men, or regardless of the human complex sexuality, it shouldn't be repressed.

That's my toughts, that doesn't mean they're the truth or right or wrong, just my thoughts at the moment.

Thank you. :cool:
 
ghoulbler
King_Oni;bt2221 said:
Maybe I might come across as sexist, maybe it's just the male perspective... and perhaps it's just the "aspie perspective". It might also be really specific about your example, but I guess you could exchange it to any type of outfit... but I tend to geek out over Star wars at times.

Women could buy the outfit on the right as well... and if size allows it, men could buy the left outfit. And the argument of a man wearing a costume that's meant for females is pretty much a moot argument when it comes to "playing dress up in outrageous outfits".

Instead of having more choice for females, what about; making a skimpy outfit for men as well. And leave the outfit on the right as an outfit that's more "unisex". I'm not bothered by the left image, in fact, I like the image (those might be my raging hormones talking), but it bothers me that there's actually no male equivalent, since the full Wookiee outfit does not scream "male".. it screams "gender neutral".

There is another thing to consider; and that might be the star wars geek in my speaking. Female wookiees look almost the same.. except for 6 breasts. If we went for a full female wookie outfit, the only people buying it would either be people that are really into Star wars and perhaps the one of guy, who likes to dress up and gender reverse for sexual play with his partner.

And aside from all of this; the women I know, who know their Star wars aren't all like "wookiees are so sexy" and I'm quite sure, that if you tack on a few breasts for good measure to make it gender specific, a lot of people will find it even less sexy. Thus the skimpy wookie is apparently the way to go. I'm not too sure why someone would want to dress up as something they don't like at all though. There's no justification in my mind, that if you dislike clowns, to dress up like a slutty clown, because... that's when clowns seem ok. Unless there's a male, sexual clown... that mostly freaks people out. "Hi, I'm Fisto the clown" and people start running.

What I'm wondering is how many people consider this a skimpy wookiee outfit and not just something someone likes, with no actual relationship to Star wars... I've seen similar outifts, in brighter colors, without the gun, being worn at raves at times.

On a related note; I'm not a big fan of tennis, but every time I see it on tv, it clearly sexualises female tennis players. For equality, they should do camera cuts to the bottom and crotch shots of men as well for instance... and besides; what's up with all the moaning?

On another related note; I'm living in a city that's pretty much one of the big epicentres of carnival festivities in The south-east of the Netherlands. Around February or March yearly, this town turns into Sodom and Gomorrah. Thus, it involves; dressed up people, lots of booze, passed out people and clearly... a lot of lewd behaviour... for about 4 days straight. It's really not my type of thing, but I've been out in the city at times when this was going on. I've went to pubs to have a beer (which might be a total aspie nightmare to add)... and I've talked to girls, most of them clearly not in a sober state. I've had discussions about their outfits, since it had only little to do with the actual festivities and seemed more like a way to act and dress slutty for a few days. A common answer I heard, both minors and adults, tell me "Having a full costume on will not get me laid during these days" thus implying they actually dressed provocatively just to have sex with random strangers while drunk for a few ongoing days.

And that is society in a nutshell at times.
Click to expand...

Of course the woman can buy the outfit on the right - but those kinds of outfits are never directed toward women, and that is the issue. I'm not saying that women are unable to dress up in costumes that are not sexualized because that is not true. I'm trying to say that the Halloween costume market exploits women as sexual objects for profit and that's not okay.
I said in the post that many women enjoy dressing up in sexualized costumes on Halloween. Some do it to get laid, which is fine, they have that freedom. Some do it because it makes them feel sexy, which is fine, they also have that freedom. There is nothing bad about women dressing in sexualized costumes on Halloween in and of itself. To deny that would be slut shaming. I'm saying that the fact that the market ONLY promotes these kinds of outfits for women is what is messed up about society.
What you said about making skimpy costumes for men as well - that would not change a thing. That's literally just giving men a second option and leaving the women behind, still. It wouldn't change the way society feels about female sexuality.
 
ghoulbler
Gulas;bt2222 said:
While I agree with most of things you say but:
"It?s a market that strives to please only men."

No, market strives to please profit, even if it means to screw peoples mind. Most of the times marketing makes people feel inadequate, you're never pretty enough, man enough, women enough, rich enough, strong enough, tall enough, thin enough, etc etc. That way, people fill the hole in their life by buying. Think of the billions spent in plastic surgery, steroids, cars, make-up, cosmetic products, alcohol, the list goes on and on.

I agree, sexual shame is a big issue in our society. EVERYONE is screwed by it, regardless of gender. The costume thingie mentioned is only a small fraction of the issue. You got frustrated men who don't know how to express feelings, that feel they're never enough, that either run away in panic or do stupid things like honking or yelling some ****. And you got frustrated women, that feel that they're never enough, that feel obligated to be pretty, else you're not worthy.:mask:

Also there is lack of deep empathy. (Aspies are labed to not have empathy, but here on forum everybody can relate or understand to each other struggles, I believe aspies only have empathy to things that matter). Women have little idea what struggles men have, and men have have little understanding of women. Everybody lies, trying to keep a image, a image of a good girl, a image of a macho man, etc. Why people are ashamed of being who they are? Why can't people be honest? Why can't people express their sexuality, as long there's consent and nobody is harmed, like if you're man who like women, say it, if you're woman who like men, say it too. Or men who like men, or regardless of the human complex sexuality, it shouldn't be repressed.

That's my toughts, that doesn't mean they're the truth or right or wrong, just my thoughts at the moment.

Thank you. :cool:
Click to expand...

I agree that their main goal is not to exploit female sexuality, that they are trying to gain profit, but they are trying to gain profit BY exploiting female sexuality. Using women as objects to increase profit. That is still wrong, and it's still sexist. Women are not money-making objects.
 
Ste11aeres
ghoulbler;bt2224 said:
I agree that their main goal is not to exploit female sexuality, that they are trying to gain profit, but they are trying to gain profit BY exploiting female sexuality. Using women as objects to increase profit. That is still wrong, and it's still sexist. Women are not money-making objects.
Click to expand...
SLavery worked/works the same way. No one was like "Hey, it will be really fun to enslave these people". No, the rationale was "We can make a profit if we get free labor and the way to do that is to enslave these people."
In many cases, the motivation is profit, and the result is exploitation.
 
Ste11aeres
"It’s a market that strives to please only men." Although I'd like to add that while some men are jerks, some other men are gentlemen, who are pained if they see women exploited. My male best friend is an example, he gets so worried and concerned sometimes at the thought that someone could exploit me. And tries to warn me to be careful and not to trust people. :mask2:
 
Ylva
I would have gone with a male costume, like Jack Sparrow not Chewbacca, and to Hell with "their" views.
 
S
I agree, that when it comes to Halloween costumes there really isn't much choice for the woman who does not wish to wear a highly revealing costume. In fact, it's hard to find women's clothes that are not that way in general. And while, yeah, you could in theory wear a man's costume, in practice it is not so easy because of the way both are cut. And I too am disturbed at the sexualization of children's clothing.

I know this is very controversial to say, but clothing DOES send a message, whether intended or not. That, contrary to what my former pastor said from the pulpit a while back about evolutionists being unable to answer this question, is one of the reasons that clothing was invented. Religious orders wear habits, military/police wear uniforms and gangs wear colors all for the same reason--for identity, to let others know who they are and what they are affiliated with. There is nothing more anonymous than a bunch of naked bodies without any adornment whatsoever.

It may indeed be a person's right to wear what they wish wherever they wish, but they need to understand that clothing has a context, and if a person chooses to wear an article of clothing without recognizing its context, then they are opening themselves up for a lot of misunderstanding to say the least. Around here, for example, none of my neighbors would notice if they saw me getting into my car in the morning wearing a black skirt (or slacks) and a red blouse, BUT if I were to be seen wearing "sports" attire in that color combination, I think that I might be in for a bit of questioning, as that is not appropriate for someone of my age and gender to be wearing in my neighborhood. Those clothes and colors are "claimed" by a certain group and if you do not belong to that group, you'd better not be wearing it. Do I have a "right" to wear this if I want? Absolutely. Is it prudent for me to go around flaunting this right? No. My rule of thumb as regarding clothing is, "Be aware of what you are advertising and who you are advertising it to. Is this the image I want to project under these circumstances? (Or, is this the image I want my children to project under the circumstances?)
 
Sparticus
What ever happened to free rights? Now everything's political...what a SAD generation to accept their brainwashing.
 

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