Slut-shamingo'ween

[robinelaine]

You know what I don't like? People who get grumpy or judgy about people wearing sexy Halloween costumes.

I am 100% done with hearing the following comments:

• Everything can be turned into a slutty costume! (E.g. slutty pumpkin, slutty environmentalist, slutty dishwasher).
  
• "Sexy" costumes are not really sexy!

A comment that I will still tolerate is

Comments

in my opinion...

[chevrelait]

I have worn my fair share of sexy halloween costumes, and I have also felt grumpy about sexy halloween costumes in the past, only because it's often harder to find an actual version of a commercial costume than the sexy version.

These days, my opinion on sexy costumes is that they are hilarious. For example, buycostumes.com has a "sexy blueberry muffin" costume. REALLY?! First of all, dressing as a blueberry muffin in general is really funny. But then making it sexy? What on earth is sexy about a muffin?! Sexy halloween costumes have gone so far that they're actually becoming 'Monty Python absurd.' So while there was a time that I didn't always appreciate that every costume had a sexy version, I now appreciate the possibly unintentional humor behind it.

Re: in my opinion...

[robinelaine]

I dressed as sexy pie one year. There's some kind of yonic metaphor in there that might make it an easier target for a sexy costume, but I wore it because I love baking pie.

Ok, sorry, feminist in the house

[vaticanplum]

My problem with the sexy costumes is when they veer into any kind of sexy children territory. Among the costumes I have seen in the past few years are Sexy Rainbow Brite, Sexy Strawberry Shortcake, Sexy Little Red Riding Hood, and Sexy Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz). These are largely children's toys, or more to the point, they are little girls. One could argue that the Sexy ____ tend to veer so far into ridiculous territory (Strawberry Shortcake never wore a bra and g-string, to my knowledge) that it completely removes them from the original entity, but I don't buy it. This is sexualizing children, girls specifically of course, and I see these as very different from a sexy bee or sexy bunch of grapes or sexy cat. Those things are just ridiculous

Re: Ok, sorry, feminist in the house

[vaticanplum]

Although, Robin, I am sure your Girl Scout costume was VERY different from the ready-made Sexy ____ costumes to which I am referring. These are typically made up of less fabric total than your average Brownie sash.

Re: Ok, sorry, feminist in the house

[robinelaine]

While it doesn't really make it OK, I still want to believe that people don't dress up as Sexy Rainbow Brite etc. to exploit conflation of innocence and sexiness as much as they want to look sexy but simultaneously engage in nostalgia.

For example, I dressed as a Brownie Girl Scout not because I thought it was extra sexy to dress as a 6-8 year old, but because Girl Scouts are cool! But I also wanted to show a lot of leg, and you bet your Thin Mints I did.

But, just as I think it would be uncool to dress as a "Sexy Eskimo" because of race politics, maybe I should be thinking more about the gender politics that are implicated by wearing a sexy costume that incorporates a relic from childhood.

But I guess I will wait until next year, because the political correctness of my costume for this year is highly questionable for a few different reasons.

Re: Ok, sorry, feminist in the house

[vaticanplum]

No, I think you're right. Most people are definitely going for nostalgia...I don't think they're INTENTIONALLY exploiting children, or childhood icons, or whatever. It's just the ultimate arc that concerns me. I guess maybe it's the costume manufacturers that I take issue with?

[kwarch]

Also an important thing to note in this debate is that Lady Gaga's gyroscope costume from SNL is pretty cool, especially considering she played piano around it. Much better than the hundreds-of-kermits outfit.

Maybe for the ultimate meta-costume, someone could dress as a slutty slut. It's commentary!