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Why do Halloween costumes have to be ‘sexy’?

Why do men get funny, scary or sophisticated Halloween costumes while costumes for women are all ‘sexy’?


It’s nearly Halloween! Across the country boys and girls are dressing up as adorable pumpkins, sweet witches and mini-monsters so they can go trick-or-treating and bag enough sweets and chocolate to see them through to Christmas.

But Halloween has become almost as much fun for adults as it is for kids, with night clubs, pubs and people throwing themed parties where guests try to outdo each other with scary and even satirical costumes.

At least, men do. For women, something weird has happened – Halloween costumes are almost all now ‘sexy’. You can buy ‘sexy witch’, ‘sexy mummy’, ‘sexy Minnie Mouse’, even – fairly horribly – ‘sexy corpse’.

Even more bizarrely, you can buy ‘sexy Harambe’, ‘sexy pizza slice’, ‘sexy ebola nurse’ (what?!) and ‘sexy Ronald MacDonald’ (don’t search for that last one online, once you’ve seen it you can’t unsee it).

Search a popular sales website like Amazon and the top costumes for women have short skirts, tight bodices, knee-length socks and quite often a lot of PVC. Meanwhile, the top costumes for men include Grim Reapers, convicts, zombie police officers (a far cry from the women’s ‘raunchy police officer’ alternative) and snazzy suits with skeletons embossed on them.

Men look cool, women look hot. Men look funny, women look hot. Men look sophisticated, women look hot. It’s so limiting!

So what’s going on? When did men get to choose from satirical, scary and smart costumes while women are being offered outfits that the rest of the year would belong in the window of a fetish-wear shop? And does it even matter?

Physical focus

Of course, no one has the right to criticise what women choose to wear. If they’re happily looking for a sexy Halloween outfit to dress up in then no one should feel it’s okay to tell them to cover up.

However, when you see that 99 out of 100 fright night outfits for women involve suspenders, long stockings, high heels, and an awful lot of flesh – you have to question whether there’s much choice available for women who’d prefer something a little less sexy and a little more fun.


Dr Gayle Brewer, senior psychology lecturer from the University of Central Lancashire, has noticed the trend and thinks it does matter because it reflects a wider societal issue.

She says: “Women’s costumes often emphasise sexual attractiveness. Hence, women are encouraged to dress as a sexy witch or vampire, rather than simply a witch or vampire. This shows the greater spotlight on women’s physical attractiveness in society, compared to men’s, which is more likely to include ambition and professional success.

“The focus on female appearance can lead people to ignore women’s achievements, for example career success, and to objectify or sexualise them. Furthermore, it also exacerbates dissatisfaction with their own appearance.”

So there’s a concern that the need to wear hypersexualised costumes instead of fun one is the result of a wider problem with how women are encouraged to dress and behave. However, there’s also the issue that these costumes mean women simply miss out on all the fun.

And worse, when they buy the costumes that are available – they get shamed for them.

Then comes the Halloween slut shaming

That’s right, alongside the Pinterest pages of innovative Halloween party ideas and blogs filled with funny stories about trick or treating gone wrong, there’s a darker side to the Halloween outfits women are offered.

Once they buy them, they risk being slut-shamed for wearing them. The website Askmen, for example, (tagline ‘become a better man’) has an article titled ‘Why you shouldn’t pick up the Halloween slut’.

Let’s skip straight past the worrying sense of entitlement that headline possesses and move straight into the bit where it slut shames women for wearing revealing costumes, despite those being pretty much the only costumes available.

Apparently, wearing a sexy costume means the woman has “no sexual imagination” and seeing too much of her flesh before going to bed with her is as much fun as “hunting a dead deer”.

“We’ve seen 98% of her body and her personality, even if she didn’t mean to show that,” opines that deeply offensive blog, with pretty much no awareness of how dreadful it makes the writer sound.

And if you’re reading this and wondering why women don’t make their own outfits if they don’t want to look ‘sexy’ then remember that men don’t have to. The shops are full of costumes that don’t bare all for men, so why should women have to make an extra effort?


The backlash

This year there has been a backlash against sexy costumes for women, although it’s perhaps not gone the way we would have expected. Instead of increasing the number of less revealing outfits available for women, one US company has decided to offer men the same chance to bare their flesh to the October air.

‘Sexy cop’, ‘sexy fairy’ (that’s a sort of Peter Pan meets 50 Shades of Grey), and a ‘sexy gladiator’ (a masculine leather skirt) will allow men to freeze their bones just as much as women when they’re out enjoying the Halloween spirit.

What do you think? Are Halloween costumes unnecessarily sexy or is it all a bit of harmless fun? Have your say using the comments below.