Halloween costumes attract gender studies attention

Halloween has passed, and costume pictures from the weekend are starting to trickle onto social networking sites. But people have different opinions about the costume choices their friends made for the holiday.

“I think girls wear sexy costumes to impress certain people, and I feel like it might be somewhat of an obligation in their minds,” freshman Brittany Aders said.

Aders said she purchased her costume from Campus Costume, and while some of store’s selections are cute, the majority of the costumes are “slutty.”

Kimberly McGuire, one of the owners of Campus Costume, points toward fashion trends as the main reason for such a scandalous selection.

Consumers buy costumes “solely based on fashion. The costume is not by any means covering less than that,” McGuire said.

McGuire said if the season’s trend is leggings, the costumes will almost certainly contain some form of tights.  

“Everything’s tight fitting — modest doesn’t sell,” McGuire said. “You stock your store with what sells.”

Brenda Weber, director of undergraduate studies in IU’s gender studies department, said in a press release for IU Health and Wellness that consumerism — the kinds of costumes that are available, along with the media and its advertising — has an influence on female ideals about sexuality.

“All of these forces work together in subtle ways to shape what people, not just women, collectively desire,” Weber said in the release. “So in this case, there is a tacit and multi-level set of stimuli that suggest a certain sort of over-sexed look is desirable.”

Weber said that Halloween can allow participants to reach a goal in the way that they want to present themselves.

“What is in the fantasy of ‘sexiness’ that appeals to women and girls such that an opportunity for costuming is also an opportunity to achieve something else more profoundly desired: perhaps admiration, desire, attention or the expression of one’s more overt sexuality,” Weber said.

“Arguably, a wedding or a prom is the same sort of costuming event, you just choose different outfits to achieve the desired outcome.”

Sophomore Jordan Arnold said girls wear scandalous costumes because they want to feel sexy and attract attention to themselves.  Arnold believes one reason for girls wearing sexy costumes on Halloween is because of the pressure they might feel to wear them.

“I’m sure they feel pressure. You’re on campus with thousands of thousands of hot girls. You don’t want to be the one girl that everyone’s asking, ‘What the hell is she wearing?’” Arnold said.

Arnold said Halloween is more fun when one wears a scandalous outfit.

“No one wants to see a sexy girl go out in a nasty zombie costume,” he said.

Aders said she believes there are several options for girls regarding Halloween costumes; they typically just choose the sexy route because it is a way to impress those around them.

“Girly twists don’t have to be slutty,” Aders said. “You can look good without being slutty. You can still flaunt it without ‘flaunting’ it.”