From what I can remember, Halloween has always been a holiday for young children to enjoy and have fun. They get dressed up and go out to satisfy a sweet tooth. Sometimes, even adults and parents of the children catch the spirit and dress up for the night. All of this is fine and dandy, or at least used to be. 

As times change, fashion changes. These fashion changes are heavily reflected in a typical adult woman’s costume from now compared to what it might have been a decade ago. The women adult costumes expose far more than the men adult costumes do. Often, women use Halloween as an excuse to wear as little clothing as possible and get away with it. 

Nursing major Marie Trozzo said, “It’s just a night for the girls to wear practically nothing.” The costumes available to women for Halloween have become very sexualized; they expose a substantial amount of the woman’s legs and other part of the body. These costumes are labeled as the “sexy nurse” or the “sexy cop” in costume catalogs belonging to a range of stores such as Party City. 

In contrast, some of the male costumes may show some of their skin and muscles but not as much as the female costumes. The costume range for adult men varies widely, with costumes that expose little to no skin. During these modern times, women have taken to wearing clothing that debases then entire gender population and reinforces gender stratification roles from the 1940’s. These exposed costumes are degrading to women. The sexuality takes away from the innocence and fun that comprises this holiday. Perhaps some costumes may get away with such a promiscuous theme, but not every single one of them. 

Women have a choice whether or not they would like to degrade their bodies in such crude costumes. Halloween is a night filled with children, candy, and good ol’ innocence. It is not a night to display your body for men to ogle at. The women who choose to wear such garb might as well walk around naked!