Ah, Halloween—for many, a time to have little ghoulish humor or glamor with the costuming. For others, an opportunity to indulge sexism they might conceal during less drunken revelry-oriented times. I’ve gotten a few emails about this costume:
It’s called “Sexy Anna Rexia”, because nothing attracts the boys like broadcasting your indulgent attitudes towards a mental illness that strikes mostly women and is often fatal.
I went costume shopping today, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw this:
Just another unpleasant reminder that people think it’s cute and funny that so many men hold women in bondage to be raped repeatedly for money. Now women can get in on the action of playing at being criminals who make a living selling women’s bodies to sick, evil men and pocketing the profits. Usually the pimp costumes are for men and have no straightforward reference to the victims of pimps, but this costume is part of set where the women that pimps threaten, beat, control, and subject to rape are at least remembered:
Bruises about the face and neck are not included, though if you really want to have a laugh, you could always put them on with make-up.
I got some black wings. I have an vintage ankle-length gown that’s black lace that I wore to my senior prom and have no real opportunities to wear, so I figured slap some wings and glitter on it and I can be a goth-looking fairy or something. True, it’s not a costume that broadcasts contempt for women’s suffering, so I’m not one of the cool kids, but it’ll do. These costumes do unnerve me; I’m all about ghoulish humor for Halloween, but this isn’t the traditional ghoulish humor about death, which is basically an equal opportunity bit of humor. This is about the fortunate targeting the abused and the mentally ill, which is an entirely different matter.
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with the local bike/ped advocacy group planning a halloween critical mass ride, i’ve been thinking a lot about costumes. pirate is most appealing. black shorts with white flowy blouse, knee high striped socks, garter with pistol, eye patch on helmet so as not to impede my visibility, maybe a cape (which would make me more musketeer and less swashbuckler but whatev).
Ah sad but true, What has happened to our dear celtic festival when we remember our dead? It has become the night of the living dead?
No pimp cane? RIPOFF!
I do have to admit, we once dressed our dog as a pimp.
But, yeah, there’s a reason Halloween’s my least favorite holiday, and it’s not because I can’t be arsed to find something interesting to wear (I usually just put on normal clothes and draw two red dots on my neck–instant costume). Otherwise normal, even relatively enlightened feminists of all stripes suddenly decide to get drunk, sleazy, and drunkly sleazily laid. Which is their prerogative, but geez, I’d rather stay at home, thank you kindly.
I’m not certain what’s unfeminist about women getting laid. I personally think that the double standard where men get to go out, get drunk and get busy without getting judged but women are treated like sluts is what is unfeminist. The double standard on sleazy costumes where women have to sex it up but men don’t is one thing, but sexual bravado should be something women get to have as much as men, imo. Equality and all that.
Hallowe’en is a big deal in our house; we get into decorating the place and putting on a little show for the trick-or-treaters. In the weeks leading up we watch scary and/or cheesy horror movies and eat a lot of pumpkin- and apple-based treats. Our town has a great haunted house and a ton of craft fairs this time of year.
Mind you, neither of us has been to a costume party of gone to a bar on Hallowe’en for 20 years or so, so that might be why we still enjoy it.
You can get drunk and laid, sleazily laid, or drunk and sleazy and go home alone but for jeebus’ sake don’t do all three of the above!
Hello? What good is feminism if not for allowing women to get drunkenly, sleazily laid without shame?
I want to dress my dog as a flying monkey and dress myself as the Wicked Witch of the West.
“I’m all about ghoulish humor for Halloween, but this isn’t the traditional ghoulish humor about death, which is basically an equal opportunity bit of humor. This is about the fortunate targeting the abused and the mentally ill, which is an entirely different matter.”
Wasn’t lots of the traditional ghoulish humor actually about targeting the abused and mentally ill, if you think about it? It’s normalised because of the veil of tradition, but our forebears were just as sick and tasteless as we are. If you take the references to abuse and mental illness out of it we’ll all be dressing up as pumpkins.
Really? You can’t think of any possible costume other than “abuse victim”, “person with mental illness” and “pumpkin”?
We’re having a Day of the dead party this year. sort of like a dinner/cocktail party but with more skulls and black clothes than usual.
I’ve always thought Halloween should be more about embracing the idea of death and remembering the dead than just another excuse to get drunk and be sleazy.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it appears that the idea behind the “Pimp Lady” and “Lady of the Night” outfit is that the man dresses as a female prostitute while the woman dresses as the pimp.
Not that this makes it any more ethical, but it’s really bizarre to see the lengths to which the manufacturer’s gone in imposing brutal and exploitative gender roles on what should be subversive free play.
I have to go to church on Halloween. I go to church every Wednesday, and damned if I can’t get out of Jesus time to sacrfice virgins and drink their blood– I mean, eat candy. Candy is what I meant. *cries*
However I do get to go to a Judgment House! (My guess is aborting your gayly made baby will make you go to Hell or something)
I was never really allowed to go out on Halloween, being a devil’s holiday and such. If I don’t have to do a hay ride with my dad for some kids, I’ll hopefully do something on the weekend around that time.
I never really had to worry about gross costumes, I guess.
/end rant
Perhaps I should mention I’m a minor in my mother’s care. That clarify anything?
Looks like that costume should be called “Sexy Skeleton” rather than “Sexy Ana Rexia”. It’s still bad that it has to be “sexy”. Can’t I just be a regular skeleton?
More bad costume fun here: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/fashion-swat/halloween-swat.php?page=1
Nothing wrong with getting laid, or sleazily laid, particularly. Drunkly laid is a somewhat trickier question. But, in any case, like I said: their prerogative. Still doesn’t make it something I see as a big forward step (or even a neutral one) for the overall cause, KWIM?
As with so many other things, I’m thrilled it’s “allowed” for women to get sleazily laid and/or dress up as a slutty [insert stereotypical underpaid woman’s job and/or euphemism for female genitalia here], but let’s not pretend it’s on the driving/voting/working/being seen and heard in public scale of rights.
That top costume is metameta. Anorexics being famous for having spectacular racks and round, sexy hips. My only complaint is that it’s not drawing my eyes to her crotch quite enough.
Wouldn’t a “Horrors of Atheism” House rock:
Here’s the reading group discussing this month’s book: Origin of Species.
Here’s the interenet discussion group breaking down into smaller subsets of “strong” and “weak” and “fucking get over it, you’re an atheist”-types
Here’s the potluck. Someone forgot the green bean cassarole! Gasp! Horror! Devils!
I’m still not sure what there is about feminism that’s incompatible with having drunken, sleazy (but not sexist) fun. Does everything have to be “advancing the cause”? If so, how does my morning cup of coffee, a source of great pleasure, rate on the feminist scale? It’s a pleasure men partake of, so is it a blow for equality or indulging in naughty behavior, so defined because men enjoy it? Blow for the cause, step backwards into “drinking coffee like a man”, or the impossibly neutral status?
As with so many other things, I’m thrilled it’s “allowed” for women to get sleazily laid and/or dress up as a slutty [insert stereotypical underpaid woman’s job and/or euphemism for female genitalia here], but let’s not pretend it’s on the driving/voting/working/being seen and heard in public scale of rights.
Do men dress up like sluts? Are you suggesting that women who wear miniskirts are demanding the right to wear miniskirts and show off our asses like men are? If not, then how is it that slutty dressing for women=demanding the end of the double sexual standard where men are studs but women are sluts for having sex? How is chastising women for not being good girls and keeping their legs together different from a feminist standpoint than doing it from a sexist standpoint? I’m totally confused as to how the double standard where we hold our noses at “promiscuous” women who fuck with the same freedom we allow men can be feminist.
At the last minute I decided not to offer annotations as in:
“You can get drunkly laid (as in the wedding night), sleazily laid (as in the wedding afternoon ifyouknowwhatImean), or drunk and sleazy but go home alone (as in my typical Saturday night.)”
Ba-dum.
Heh Heh. You’d have to have other items in that “Horrors of Atheism/Fears of Fundies” house like large banner headlines of Republican Party Bankrupt ! Various Television sets with Fox News on the screen are on fire.
Another scene is of a food court with audioanimatric gay figures repeatedly smooching while a wax figure bible thumper who witnesses it has a melting or exploding head like Toht in the conclusion of The Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The Zombie Reagan house should be a separate ride.
I love Halloween. I missed out last year due to unemployment and the ongoing withdrawal from people.
This year, I was thinking of getting a silver jacket with an Icy Hot patch. I kind of already have the haircut. “Did you hear me butterfly?”
The above apropos of Molly’s reference to “drunkenly laid being somewhat problematic”, which is not wrong.
“I got a rock”
I think you’re taking me in the wrong light (which is fair, I might’ve thought through my first response better).
I’m really not saying there’s something bad about being sleazy (and certainly not about getting laid!). I am saying I find the incredibly quantity of female-only sleaziness that surrounds Halloween, in which women are expected in many cases to dress up as slutty cats (ha. ha.) or strippers or nurses or schoolgirls or whatever other male fantasy is in vogue this year, personally distasteful and somewhat annoying. I’m all for women in short skirts, but the reason many women I know love Halloween is “because it’s the only time they get to be slutty” and no one says anything. Don’t you find that problematic? I do. Either you should get to be slutty all the time and no one says anything (which, sadly, nope, not yet) or–actually, that’s it. You should get to be slutty all the time, of your own volition, in your own way, not necessarily in a way which conforms incredibly closely to porn tropes (oh, look, a slutty pizza-delivery girl. Haven’t seen one of those in years).
In conclusion, wearing a short skirt=great (and probably advances The Cause
more than covering up your dirty, dirty lady parts); being expected to wear a creepy-ass outfit like the ones above or the many, many icky variations, and having it be your one “Whore” night off in your required “Virgin” year=I don’t like it.
And, yeah, drunkenly laid has problematic consent issues, specifically, and I’ll stand by that one.
My partner and I were just looking at things like this today. He clicked on a link that said “Hallowe’en Costumes for Women” and after looking at a couple pages that were there, asked me, “Are there any costumes that don’t make women look like hookers?”
We didn’t notice any costumes for men that tried to make men look like Chippendale dancers.
There are atheist potlucks? Why haven’t I been invited to a potluck?
Zoe, I feel for you. I had your life too, but I was totally in thrall to the power of the Jay-eezus at the time. Took me until I was 30 to sort it all out. I’m happy to see that you at least know enough to not buy into it, even if you have to go through the motions.
I’m going to a huge Halloween bash in the shower curtain rig from The Karate Kid. It encourages makeouts.
Not exactly original, but it still beats the hell out of “some sort of goth fairy or something.” I thought Austin was for creative people…you have to be capable of thinking up something better in the few weeks.
I’m going as a serial killer. They look just like everyone else.
When I saw the title of this from the RSS feed, I figured it was going to be about those Hate Houses those fundie churches run every year.
I’m going as a serial killer. They look just like everyone else.
I’ll take my humor black, with no sugar.
ugh. you want to hear bitter ranting from me, just bring up Halloween.
I remember when people would trick or treat. you know, walking and all that? now, if it happens at all, parents are driving their kid block to block in their fucking SUV.
as a young karpad, I swore when I grew up I’d be that awesome guy who sets up a nice display, wears a costume, and hands out full-size candy bars. Every year, I spend money to prepare, and no one shows up anymore.
now it’s nothing but an excuse for lame costume parties.
arg.
as a young karpad, I swore when I grew up I’d be that awesome guy who sets up a nice display, wears a costume, and hands out full-size candy bars. Every year, I spend money to prepare, and no one shows up anymore.
The silver lining in Halloween-paranoia is that when I take my kids Trick-or-Treating, they invariably get TONS of candy from people who are so grateful to see Trick-or-Treaters that they hand out gobs of candy to every kids.
Of course, there was that one moron family that handed out Christian tracts instead. Mr. Mythago was careful not to tell me about it until we were several blocks away.
Oh man Karpad… if you lived near us, I would totally be taking the kids there. I want to do something like that too, but we live out in the middle of nowhere and no one wants to come to my house. We do drive to the village we liver near (it would be like a three hour walk) but once we get there, the kids get to walk, because it’s good for them and it’s fun. I don’t get why you would even want your parents to drive them around, that would suck.
Anyway, back on topic, I hate, hate, hate this particular trend. I am throwing a dance/costume party for the kids in our respite program at work and I told all the staff that we should dress up, but damned if I can find anything that isn’t super tight, revealing or totally inappropriate for a function that will involve children unless I want to spend 80.00 and go as Minnie Mouse. Equally as frustrating is trying to find something for my daughter- baby boys costumes are easy, my son is going to be Yoda. My daughter, on the other hand, wants to be a princess or a fairy or something poofy. We had compromised on Princess Leia, but I can’t find the costume anywhere. I wish I were more creative or talented, I would just make her a costume.
The double standard on sleazy costumes where women have to sex it up but men don’t is one thing
I’m probably just expressing my general cluelessness about how to dress, but what would be a sexy male Halloween costume? I mean, if you’re really buff, there’s obvious things for you to show off, but I’m curious what counts as a sexy costume for the average dude.
I’m going as a serial killer. They look just like everyone else.
So do Cylons.
The site linked in the article also has Sexy Mental Patient, Sexy Convicts, and plenty of Sexy Teen/Young Girls. And non-shocker: there’s plenty of fully-clothed sexy outfits for men.
Though noticing that there also is a Sexy Eve w/ Snake costume, I wonder if you can wear a costume ironically or with an intended meaning — like, dressing up as Eve but Sexy as either mocking sexy costumes or as a commentary or thumbing-one’s-nose at the intertwining of religion, patriarchy, and sexuality. I’ve heard of other people (or the idea, at least) mocking the sexy costume idea with decidedly unsexy subjects, such as Sexy Richard Nixon or going back to the tasteless, Sexy Terri Schiavo. But then again, I doubt the makers or most people would see such a costume as much more than a short dress and hey, nice rack.
I’m really happy to live in a city that still does trick or treat: the only difference from my childhood is parents waiting at the sidewalk.
When I first moved here, I had this enormous stock of surplus comics from getting the monthly Marvel annd DC bundles for free. I loved comics, but all those Transformers, GI Joe and Strawberry Shortcake issues were just cluttering up the place.
Naturally, the kids went nuts. My favorite experience is that a young boy came to the door dressed up as a ninja. His eyes got real big as he saw the piles of comics, but I told him only one per kid.
a couple of minutes later, the doorbell rang again, and there was obviously the same kid, shivering in his underwear. (It was real cold out.)
I gave him two.
after about five years, I ran out, and so switched to candy. It’s still fun, but not the same.
Two years ago, a bunch of kids came to the door, all dressed in black suits, skinny black ties, slicked back hair and sunglasses. In unison (or close to it) they said “My Name Is Agent Smith.”
Made my day.
I don’t think my comment went through.
I’m going as a serial killer. They look just like everyone else.
So do Cylons.
The site linked in the article also has Sexy Mental Patient, Sexy Convicts, and plenty of Sexy Teen/Young Girls. And non-shocker: there’s plenty of fully-clothed sexy outfits for men.
Though noticing that there also is a Sexy Eve w/ Snake costume, I wonder if you can wear a costume ironically or with an intended meaning — like, dressing up as Eve but Sexy as either mocking sexy costumes or as a commentary or thumbing-one’s-nose at the intertwining of religion, patriarchy, and sexuality. I’ve heard of other people (or the idea, at least) mocking the sexy costume idea with decidedly unsexy subjects, such as Sexy Richard Nixon or going back to the tasteless, Sexy Terri Schiavo. But then again, I doubt the makers or most people would see such a costume as much more than a short dress and hey, nice rack.
As I looked at the last picture (great tandem costume) all I could think was, “Is that Giuliani and his wife of the moment?”
On “sexy anna rexia,” how sad that negative self-image is presented as an ideal, but OTOH, the essence of humor is pain, so there may be a sense in which those who buy this are laughing at the pain of the self-image problem.
You sound like one of my colleagues who is horrified her daughter wants to go as the frilly princess (this is the child who went as “yellow” a couple years ago).
I’ll be eating candy by myself and working on the dissertation that night..Now that’s scary.
I might do the zombie thing again.
I love to look ugly, because I love not being harass, except I still was one year, by some fratboys with asian fetish no less. My skin was painted grayish-white and it was stripping off in places, but they still catcalled me and said stuff about wanting ‘asian pussy’.
Made me really wish that I do have the supernatural strength and want to literally chew open their heads and eat their bite-size brain.
Re: Neil the Ethical Werewolf
Oh plenty! Watch the anime aimed towards women, especially the more adult yaoi genre…
Of course, I doubt it’s available in stores, so one has to be creative, but if ya want to and it’ll be cool if stuff is more balanced;
Captain Kirk, with a ripped shirt, cause that’s CANON.
Lifeguard, wear a speedo and a whistle…maybe a yellow jacket. Spray on tan.
Construction worker, jeans, yellow construction hat, barechested with a flannel jacket.
‘Ninja’, Naruto style, fishnets, fishnets.
Romance Novel Male Lead; Wavy hair, loose billowry white shirt that shows off the chest, shape-showing black pants, matching shoes.
Guy in the High School Band; Jelled or hairsprayed shoulder-length or approaching, hair, black tight sleeveless tee, ripped jeans, and a guitar.
Commander Data, Brent Spinner was the member of the cast who got the most fanmail, and from admiring women.
Neil - As a fellow philosopher, I recommend you dress as any pre-Socratic. The ladies love the toga. Or perhaps Foucault with some leather gear.
A couple years ago I wrote P * ~P on a t-shirt and went as a walking contradiction.
Back in the day, every few years when Halloween fell on Sunday, the local Puritans threw a fuss and there were funcationally two different Halloweens. Apparently, devil-worshipping is okey-dokey on a Saturday.
“So do cylons” I. do. not. look. like. Tricia Helfer.
I love Halloween. I love the creative, inspired costumes. But the costumes shown in the post are lame - boring, store-bought costumes are stupid even when they’re not anti-woman.
We’re dressing our dog up and we’re wearing our own costumes that match him. He’s a little white poodle mix so we’re dressing him up as a smore. Then we’re going as campers. That’s the plan, anyway
I’ve just always made my Halloween costumes, since I’m not hot enough to be a sexy fairy/mental patient/whatever, even if I wanted to be (which I don’t). I was a fish last year–a plushy fish hat, and a long blue dress with a seashell and fishing net scarf. This year I’m going to be Carmen Sandiego!
I have an vintage ankle-length gown that’s black lace that I wore to my senior prom and have no real opportunities to wear, so I figured slap some wings and glitter on it and I can be a goth-looking fairy or something.
What a coincidence, I’m going gothic, too. Only in my case I’m dressing as a 14-century French cathedral.
You should see my flying butresses.
My niece wants to be a princess or something else pink and pretty as well. My sister wanted her to be Wonder Woman, but A absolutely would not, because “Girls aren’t superheroes.” V tried to convince her that this isn’t the case and that girls can too be superheroes, but A is having none of it. They’re compromising on a witch, but V is really mad at her mother in law, who put those ideas into A’s head (because V certainly didn’t, and neither did anybody in our family).
I have two boys and they’re going to be Batman and a puppy, because I’m not crafty and those are the costumes at the kids’ secondhand shop. I’ll be a witch to take them around the neighborhood (black dress and hat).
And our neighborhood is positively overrun with kids on Halloween. The parents usually park at the end of the street and the kids mostly walk, but we get kids from all over on our street (plus there is some low income housing two streets over and those kids all come here as well). Our first year here I completely underestimated how many we’d have and we ran out of candy within 45 minutes. Last year we did better, but we were still out in a little over an hour. This year I plan on practically having my own candy store. Hopefully we’ll have enough to last an hour and a half.
Neil,
The most sexy male costume I’ve seen was two guys (a couple) dressed as Mormon missionaries. Oh yeah, it was good. They even wore bike helmets and got special name tags.
This year I’m going to be Carmen Sandiego!
find someone to dress as Waldo. best couple costume ever.
Incidentally, this year my costume is the Fourth Doctor. while I have full size snickers, they’re going to be for people who aren’t interested in the hefty lil bags of jelly babies.
A couple years ago I wrote P * ~P on a t-shirt and went as a walking contradiction.
Dude, that’s fucking brilliant. I might do that this year. I haven’t dressed up much since I quit trick-or-treating. I’m funny looking the other 364 days of the year and I don’t have the creativity the make it work for me. Having long hair as a default, though, has let me get away with just telling folks “I’m an angry hippie, now fuck off”, which is always fun.
find someone to dress as Waldo. best couple costume ever.
Well, my boyfriend is Indiana Jones this year, and my roomie is going to be The Burger King. I’ve got no one to be my Waldo.
I’ve always loved Halloween- lots of candy AND staying out late AND half day at school AND hanging out with my friends AND dressing up? Yeah, every kid’s basic dream day. Now I’m in college at what we like to call a “party school,” and, yes, the dressing up is quite a bit different. My freshman year I was a Catholic schoolgirl (I already had the uniform), and last year I was a pirate (which was black pants and a long sleeved shirt, because it was cold).
There are a lot of the sexual fantasy costumes, I guess. But I’d also like to point out that, at least around here, the miniskirt/tight or short shirt/heels combo is pretty much standard for every weekend. I’d say that I’ve probably been more “sleazy” on an average night out than on any special dressup occasion.
As far as the being sleazy and getting laid bit– Amanda’s post 5 is exactly the point I make here, every weekend. I’m in a mixed group of friends, pretty even with guys and girls, and I definitely get a lot more flack for doing a lot fewer people than my guy friends do– and this is from people who know and like me. I don’t mean to say that going out and getting drunk and laid is exactly an admirable goal, but I don’t think it’s one everyone should hate on all the time. As long as it’s safe, consensual, and doesn’t happen in front of people who don’t want to see it, I don’t think it should be anyone’s problem.
Elaine Vigneault - right on! i love the idea of doing something creative and although pirate, my choice this year, isn’t too inventive, i’ll make the costume from scratch likely obsessing over it for days. last year i was a black eyed P - white t-shit with a P on it and a grease pencil black eye. as a youngin my dad had charge of halloween. the best year ever was me as a hershey’s kiss, a huge production of wire coat hangers and foil, and my brother as the yellow pages, dyed yellow t-shirt and sweat pants with phone book pages hot glued all over the poor child’s outfit.
LOL, Junk Science. Or I could put a smiley face on my t-shirt and pretend I’m from “Watchmen” since Hollywood is trying to make a movie from that again.
Thanks, Amanda2, I like the cylon idea.
Don’t have an idea for a couples costume, but a few years ago, one of my friends rounded up six folks and they went as the Endless. She was Death. Dream’s disguise wasn’t too hard, and neither was Desire’s. She said Despair’s costume was the hardest; that one ended up with a white body suit and hooks on her hands. I always wondered where they found Destruction and Delirium.
Neil- Did you like Arrested Development? How about “Hot Cops”? I think you should be a “Hot Cop”.
Oh, and is going as a (this just popped into my head as I was doing laundry, and dressed in a long-sleeved black tee, paired with black leggings- noticing how the bulk of my clothing is black) Julie Newmar-era Catwoman slutty? I fucking loved that style! Well, as much as I caught of it on t.v. (I’m 30)
I love the cylon and serial killer ideas, as well.
I do have to say that I’d prefer to see another stupid French maid or “schoolgirl” outfit, anytime, compared to that anorexia bullshit. Not. Funny. At. All.
I’ve got no one to be my Waldo.
Just tell people that someone at the party is your Waldo, and then ask them to help you find him.
The last costume party I went to, we were supposed to show up as religious figures. I grabbed a toy gun, arranged for smoke to be drifting around me all night, and explained that I was David Koresh…
I pretty much suck at Halloween any more. My best costume was in college, when, as a theatre major, I had access to the costume department, and I went as Rita Hayworth in “Gilda.” It was the girliest thing I’ve ever done. My BF and I went as Eurotrash one year, and on more recent occasions, I’ve just thrown together whatever and used the professional-quality prosthetic fangs my dad got me (yeah, don’t ask) to be a ____ vampire. The last good one was the children’s book heroine Madeline–as a vampire!
My younger one is making her costume this year, she wants to be a dancing Native American. She has a very clear idea in her head of what this entails, so I’m just buying her the supplies she asks for.
I am usually a zombie. Easy, and mildly frightening.
My older daughter once took an old broken bike wheel and put her shoulder through it, and I drew tire tracks on her face and shirt and put some leaves in her hair.
I love Halloween. We get hundreds of ToTers at our house - lots of houses, close together, and wide sidewalks make for safe walking.
“how sad that negative self-image is presented as an ideal”
Correct me if I am misinterpreting you, but anorexia not the same thing as a “negative self image.” At all.
Correct me if I am misinterpreting you, but anorexia not the same thing as a “negative self image.” At all. The two are closely intertwined.
bah, store bought halloween costumes suck. if i dress up at all this year im going as a racoon. lots of black eyeshow, a grey hoodie, and ears on a headband. i might sew a tail too if i have time. i like my halloween costumes to be an extension of my everyday wardrobe where i do a fantastic impression of a 15 year old boy. i do tend to wear skirts and dresses on halloween, but not in a “slutty” way, more like i wear jeans every single day of the year except special occasions and halloween counts as a special occasion just like new years eve, so i dress up more than usual.
Everyone at my work is dressing up as a character from Peter Pan this year, and it’s going to be *awesome.* I’m going as Wendy, my (female) boss is Peter, and we’ve also got confirmed a Hook, a Tinker Bell, a Tiger Lily and a crocodile. We work at a a school, so the kids are going to get a kick out of it.
I think dressing up as fictional people is way more fun than picking a profession and being the sexy version of it, honestly.
To Procrastinating_Revolutionary: That’s such a creepy, yet oddly awesome idea. Though it would guarantee going home alone. And maybe having Rosario Dawson beat you up.
The Anna Rexia costume broke my mind into a thousand baffled pieces. Just when I thought it couldn’t be worse than all those “Sexy Indian costumes I keep seeing. (But that’s another rant.)
I’m a sucker for fetishy costumes, and I’ll be attending a delightfully sleazy party, so I’m going to be a nurse. It may not be doing anything for the movement, but neither is my choice in lunch food.
I’m usually too lazy to do Haloween, but I’ve got a brilliant idea that I’d love to do if I weren’t so lazy.
One of the kids at the school I work at has a t-shirt that says “pirate radio” across the front. The first time I saw him wear it, I thought it said “pirate rabbi”.
Pirate rabbi.
That’s a fucking good costume. Feel free to borrow if you’re so inclined.
I want to dress in a barrel and get a lantern and go as Diogenes.
Would you really say that johns are categorically “sick, evil men?” In general, they’re not great people, and they’re ultimately responsible for horrible human rights abuses (at the very least, in the same sense that chocolate consumers are ultimately responsible for slavery in Côte d’Ivoire cocoa plantations, and also probably much more so, since a john is much closer to the abuse and has far less of a claim to “invincible ignorance” in the Catholic sense). To me, though saying they’re sick and evil seems to imply some sort of malice or culpable indifference to suffering. I’m sure that there are plenty of johns like that, but does this all really describe them as a category? (It might; I’m not really sure. I was just somewhat surprised by the phrasing.)
That story on the Jesus Camp thread about the myth of Adam’s first wife, whom God made of goo and glop (just as God had made Adam, but he didn’t have to watch that process) right in front of him, like a sushi meal, whom Adam rejected out of squeamishness, reminded me of Lilith, whom I’d always understood to be Adam’s real ex.
And not a gooey human, but some kind of demigoddess. In Middle Eastern Mythology class I got the notion that Lilith also means “screech owl.” And that the whole Classical world had myths and legends about bird-women in various guises–the Sirens, harpies, etc. A bas-relief of Lilith from ancient Mesopotamia (or one of these bird-women anyway) shows her as having wings and bird feet.
I also saw a magnificent Etruscan funerary (?) sculpture in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, meant to be the grave cover. It showed a very realistically sculpted man, presumably the deceased, reclining in his shroud on top of the cover, and at his feet a bird-woman (presumably a Siren) is singing beautifully, her head slightly back.
I interpreted this to mean that while the living had better not listen to the Sirens, this is because we are meant to hear and understand them in the afterlife. And that the ancient European goddess traditions revered these bird-woman images as symbols of the wisdom and mystery of the Goddess and cycle of life, but the later dominator societies got the story garbled and also vandalized it out of fear and guilt.
Anyway as I understood the traditional myth of Lilith, she rejected Adam, perhaps because she refused to bear him children.
When my (then sister, now brother) was attending Occidental, after coming out as a lesbian, she lived in “Lilith House.”
So anyway I’m saying you’re just a few black feathers and talon-shoes away from a Lilith costume here…
karpad, where do you live again? (Hmmm, can I whip together a dalek and hang around the porch yelling Ex-TER-mi-NATE! in a few weeks time? Probably not, darn it).
btw, I was contemplating the Princess fantasy the other day, and I don’t think it’s that awful, or maybe it depends on the girl. I wanted to be a princess, all right, but it was about being *powerful*. A princess can give adults orders, and no one can tell a princess if she’s being too bossy or selfish. Selfish princesses are almost a mainstay in fairytales, ones that are true to the original, anyhow. When I dreamed of being a princess as a child, it wasn’t about princes and rescues. It was about being rich (we weren’t) and having things done MY way. Those who are arguing with girls over being princesses, maybe you should talk to them in a little more detail? There may be a subtext that’s in their minds that is really about empowerment, and it might be possible to connect and find mutual ground rather than tell her she *can’t* do what she wants, when her dream is simply to do as she wants.
Costumes from my past — princess Leia, when I was a girl. A robot, when I was a teen(no one understood it and I got teased, oh well). Sarah from Labyrinth in her ballgown. Mina Harker from Dracula. And I’ve been generic ghosts, gypsies, and witches as an adult.
I love making costume stuff. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7153762
Guy in the High School Band; Jelled or hairsprayed shoulder-length or approaching, hair, black tight sleeveless tee, ripped jeans, and a guitar.
Tiny quibble, but I would’ve killed for this guy to ACTUALLY be in the high school band, back when I was in high school band. But hey, Halloween is a time for dressing up as make-believe things too …
Two very cheap and easy costumes:
1) Get a pack of “Hello, my name is:” stickers. Write things like “Cinnamon” “Basil” “Cardamom” and such. Stick all over. You’re a Spice Girl!
2) Cut a piece of white paper into a circle. Draw a number 8 on it in black marker. Wear all black, stick 8 to your front. You’re a magic 8-Ball! To make things fun, I also printed out a bunch of Magic 8-Ball fortunes and put them in an envelope and handed them out all night. (i.e., “Not this time,” “Definitely yes,” “Don’t stand near an open window tonight,” etc.)
My favorite costume from that site was the “Sexy Mental Patient.” Because nothing says “sexy” like mental illness!
i’ve never understood the concept of sexy halloween costumes.. the latest one to disturb me was a harry potter themed costume, complete with red and yellow striped tie (over a low necked white blouse) and mini skirt.
i’ve also never grasped the idea of the sexy feminist. the idea that since men can go out and fuck anything and not be called names, women should have that same privilege.
that’s silly. do you really want that privilege?
i feel like we’ve gotten to a point where we, as women, shouldn’t have to use our sexuality to get where we want in life.
but i guess we haven’t, not when women are too busy fighting for the right to get laid and not be judged harshly for it.
When I was in college, five of my friends dressed all in black and were the Velvet Underground (and Nico). That was a fine group costume.
For the manyeth year in a row, I’ll dress up like a dad handing out candy to the goulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties who come trick-or-treatng.
Amanda wrote:
Which brings up the question (which you may have answered elsewhere, and I just didn’t see it): do you believe that prostitution ought to remain illegal, and, if so, what ought the penalties to be?
Maurinsky wrote:
Small town (two traffic lights), and we get so many that we always run out of candy.
I am saying I find the incredibly quantity of female-only sleaziness that surrounds Halloween, in which women are expected in many cases to dress up as slutty cats
Agreed. But you took a swipe against their sexual behavior and desire. I hate to come down like that, but conflating female-as-object with female sexuality is the tool of the sexists to erase that women have desire worth respecting, and any opportunity to point out there’s a difference is useful. I would add that I think the patriarchy exploits women’s desire—if a young woman wants to get some action, she may feel she has to dress a certain way to get attention, which demeans the self-esteem, since men get attention as a birthright and don’t have to walk around half-naked for it.
I realize guys who don’t get laid often are sputtering, but it’s well worth asking yourself if you human need for attention has ever led you to walk around dressed in your underwear with animal ears on for approval.
I’m all for women in short skirts, but the reason many women I know love Halloween is “because it’s the only time they get to be slutty” and no one says anything. Don’t you find that problematic? I do. Either you should get to be slutty all the time and no one says anything (which, sadly, nope, not yet) or–actually, that’s it. You should get to be slutty all the time, of your own volition, in your own way, not necessarily in a way which conforms incredibly closely to porn tropes (oh, look, a slutty pizza-delivery girl. Haven’t seen one of those in years).
Not especially. The whole point of holidays is that this is a day set aside to indulge behaviors that our daily lives don’t give us opportunities to do. By your measure set here—that doing something on a holiday you wouldn’t do on a workday is somehow wrong—Christmas is wrong, Easter is wrong, the 4th of July is wrong, Thanksgiving is wrong, your birthday is wrong. How dare you fall into an orgy of present-giving if you don’t that every day! How dare you throw patriotic parades if you don’t do that every day!
I doubt you would attack pride festivals or Carnival for being a time set aside for people to act out sexually. So why down on Halloween?
I’m glad we have a day set aside for costuming, ghoulish humor, and sexual acting-out (carpe diem being the other side of morbid humor). I’m glad that women who don’t get to wear mini-skirts and want to have a night when that is allowed. I like the idea of holidays and no, I don’t think one should be required to eat turkey in gratitude every day in order to be allowed to indulge on Thanksgiving.
Now, if you have a problem with the fact that women and only women indulge the “sex” part of the sex-and-death aspect of Halloween, I agree. I too want to see men running around shirts off in booty shorts and calling it a costume. Nor do I feel they should do that every day in order to have fun one night. I respect the idea of setting time aside for the bacchanal. In fact, Americans might get the war-mongering stick out of our asses if we did it a little more, you know?
I always thought that part of feminism was not denying a womans ability to actually enjoy sex. To crave it and really do it.
The days of the June Cleaver’s and such lying there ‘getting it’ and not threatening their husbands power with sexy talk and changing positions.
I thought that one of the angles used by the ignorant anti-lib was to portray ‘liberated’ women as not needing a ‘man’ anymore.
It was all a sick joke.
I do question the ‘Anna Rexia’ part. They could have chosen a ‘better’ name for the thing but pushing buttons was what the marketers were after. Having all the models look like they weigh 95 pounds dripping wet doesn’t make the name redundant?
I look at Halloween as yet another holiday completely controlled by the Chinese crap merchants and am glad that I live in an area where we get no tricker-treaters, and thankfully no hoodlums either.
I did, though, chase a kid around my yard one year with a scythe (plastic). He remembered the next year, and so did I.
One year I went as Sandra Day O’Connor… Complete with a large book, blonde wig and robe and a weeks worth of stubble… People thought it was hysterical.
Was at a costume party where someone came as a ‘taco’. A 5-foot long taco! Complete with lettuce, olives and ground beast… Best costume I’ve seen!
Once went as ‘Dent, Arthur Dent’ to a large party with what I thought were intelligent and excentric people. No one got it. Even with towel and pocket fuzz and bag of peanuts and a several mugs! I did have someone ask what was under the robe…
In the spirit of “generic sexy Halloween costumes,” check out this hilarious ad for Nick’s Costume Warehouse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4rUiV_Hh74
It starts out, “Are you a GIRL? Is it HALLOWEEN?”
Awesome.
To Procrastinating_Revolutionary: That’s such a creepy, yet oddly awesome idea. Though it would guarantee going home alone. And maybe having Rosario Dawson beat you up.
The guaranteed solitude isn’t different than any other night I spent at “the goth bar” or costume party. (The first part). I’d probably scare off the ‘meta babes’ dressed like Wonkette. Maybe I’d find the one woman who liked Grindhouse…or maybe the women woman who SAW Grindhouse.
I’ve been Dieter from Sprockets too many times. I tried “Murder King” which was a giant paper machie cow skull (formed from a real one) combined with a death costume. I was going to alter a Burger King crown so that it was spelled the protestors way. I skipped it since I figured no one would get it. I just thought it was funny. I recycled it the following year again sans crown as “Mad Cow Disease”.
There are some ‘political’ costumes I thought of trying. Such as a Blackwater mercenary (redundant) with “permanent” bloody hands and baby skulls around my neck like the alien predator. Lots of cash sticking out of every clothing crevice as well.
Evil Uncle Sam (opposite colours, black beard) and a world with a huge bite out of it (ala Homer Simpson’s “Try and Stop Us” T Shirt).
There is a sarcastic black t-shirt line you can buy. It simply says “suspect” in white letters.
I usually go as a Mad Scientist. That means putting on a special costume, with….
Hmm, just my regular clothes, I guess. But a *lot* more “Ha HA, fools! I’ll destroy them all!”
Either that or the Mad Hatter.
Funny, now that I mention it, I detect an overall theme…
Public flaunting of sexuality - male, female, hetero-, same-sex - is kind of behind the kind of problems that were highlighted, e.g., in Mommy economics. It should be considered bad manners. I do not see how it interferes with your right and enjoyment of sex, which, hopefully, would be in private anyway.
In any case, until we really achieve equality, connotations that some humans exist for the entertainment of others, IMO, should be avoided.
I think public flaunting of sexuality should be encouraged, dammit. Just think if we straight people had as much fun as gay men on Halloween!
The idea that a good sleazy lay is anti-feminist presupposes that only the man is getting off and you’re somehow “giving it away” — and even that hews surprisingly closely to original patriarchal precepts (albeit in the name of undermining them, perhaps) if you ask me. Sexual libertinism would seem at the very least to be a more fun way to go. Strip sex of its power connotations and proceed as thou wilt.
Everyone deserves to get off as often as they can!
I feel like there’s one justifiable use of the pimp constume set, and that’s if you’re deliberately trying to be as offensive as possible (an ex and I were big into the horribly offensive costume thing one year, but you probably don’t want to know.) It works better when it’s clearly something everyone knows is awful though.
Someone should use my costume idea - I promised my mom and my ‘mother-in-law’ I wouldn’t, as it almost made them cry:
Chanel-style suit, pillbox hat, blood spatters = Jackie Kennedy.
On a happier note, I’m going as Bunnicula this year! Bunny ears and tail on a black/white outfit, kid’s cape, fangs.
That story on the Jesus Camp thread about the myth of Adam’s first wife, whom God made of goo and glop (just as God had made Adam, but he didn’t have to watch that process) right in front of him, like a sushi meal, whom Adam rejected out of squeamishness, reminded me of Lilith, whom I’d always understood to be Adam’s real ex.
Ah, but you need to read Gaiman’s story: Adam had three wives.
Since I’ve developed a love of knitting that borders on the obsessive over the past year, I’ve decided to get myself a French Revolution-era costume from the local costume house (yay Los Angeles!), spatter an apron with some fake blood, and go as a tricoteuse. I may even carry a severed head with me so people get the idea.
Death to the aristos! Vive la France! Liberte, equalite, fraternite!
damn mnem, as a french major, how did i not think of that?! brilliant!
Anyway as I understood the traditional myth of Lilith, she rejected Adam, perhaps because she refused to bear him children.
Actually, Lilith’s desire to be on top during intercourse is cited in the Midrash as the reason she left. Seriously.
And the Gaiman story Mnemosyne refers to is a pretty good summary of the midrashic myth; Lilith was the 1st wife created at the same time as Adam. She ditched him for some demonic booty (I guess the demons didn’t mind the ole reverse cowboy) so Yahweh created another wife right in front of Adam - she is never named and is referred to as simply “The Virgin” - which grosses him out so much he boots her out of the Garden. So then Yahweh waits for Adam to go to sleep and makes Eve out of his rib.
Just a rabbinical version of the tripartiate goddess. The Virgin as maiden, Eve as nymph and Lilith as crone… and, apropos of this thread, a sexy crone!
Mnemosyne: that costume rules. Maybe I should go as the Incorruptible this year. Ça ira!
I actually thought the first costume was alright until I saw the name for it. I thought it was a kind of subversive way of reminding people who would ogle the model that she’s not just a mannnequin, that there’s a real person there, complete with bones (and “goo”). Oh well.
So, whatever happened to Adam’s see-through wife? I’ve heard the story, but I’ve never heard what happens to her after Adam gets all grossed out over her innards. Hope she didn’t just get turned loose with a mumbled “Sorry, kid, thems the breaks” and a pat on the ass.
I thought the twist of the “Anna Rexia” costume was that a voluptuous woman dressed up as a skeleton is “sexier” than an actually skeletal woman. It’s not that anorexia is sexy, it’s that it’s NOT sexy, so the costume goes in a differently exploitative direction.
I hate Halloween. I didn’t like dressing up as a kid, because I’d always be sniffling into some kind of itchy fake beard. I liked even less the abstractly pseudo-witty dressing up that grad students do, where you have to go as a concept. Bleah. And then I never recognize anybody, because I can’t match names to faces on a good day, but now there’s this irritating additional challenge. Not for me.
My favorite costume ever was my Lizzie Borden outfit. Nothing like a prim, Victorian costume spattered with blood.
Problem being is that the whole sexxay costume thing is predominately a women dressing up sexxay. Not even because they necessarily feel comfortable wearing the costume or even that it’s about THEIR sexuality - but to look sexxay for the menz. Which I don’t blame them at all for wanting to do, but I do blame the patriarchy for juxtaposing the sexiness of a woman and her self-worth.
I’d even go so far as to hypothesize that the vast majority of sexxay male costumes are worn FOR OTHER MEN (as you say, the gay male community).
If it weren’t for the fact that they have sexxay costumes for, like, first graders - like pimp and ho costumes for kids or that the child’s costume for Heidi or French Maid in a couple places is EXACTLY the same as the “sexxay” version for adults (uber short pinafore skirt, fetishized costume, etc). Or the entire fact that there IS a French Maid costume for preteens and children under 12, much less a sexualized one.
And sexy costumes for women range in the hundreds while sexy costumes for men range in the… fives.
I’m going to just carry one of these around.
http://www.wral.com/golo/image/1904375/
I haven’t worked out all the details yet. Suggestions welcomed.
Costume suggestion: couples go out as mixed drinks.
A couple years ago I was tonic water and my S.O. was vodka. We got some poster board (blue, for the Skyy vodka and yellow for the Polar tonic water) and used metallic and colored paints to draw on and fill in designs like you see on the bottles. We even made hats: a white chef’s hat cut in half to be the plastic bottle cap of the tonic water and we used paper towel carboard rolls covered in aluminum foil as part of a spout pushed into the vodka bottle. We easily had the best costumes at the party but we didn’t win the contest. We got beaten out by Hannibal Lecter and a black cat - the best friends of the couple hosting the party. It was total favoritism. I still feel robbed.
“The two are closely intertwined”
I’m going to disagree. Many girls and women have a negative self image but are not anorexic, and many anoretics experience their illness as unrelated to body image/self esteem, but instead linked to control issues, family dynamics, sexual abuse, gender identity, anxiety, obsessive/compulsive urges, and cultural misogyny.
Feminist philosopher Susan Bordo has done great work on the subject of eating disorders in women, although I don’t remember the exact title of her book/essays.
As someone recovering from an ED, I resent when anorexics and bulimics are assumed to be either excessively vain and shallow or else suffering from low self esteem. My illness had nothing to do with these things.
I don’t like the fact that every time at this time of year, the sale papers depict women in slutty ways. It doesn’t matter if it is Toys ‘R Us or Wal-Mart, they always show outfits that degrade women in one form or another. And superhero outifts are no exception.
My 5-minute costume is Hunter S. Thompson. It’s not even a costume so much as a small handful of props. And felicitously enough, one of them is an umbrella cocktail.
Plus, it’s very sexxay.
Drat - the first thing I thought was - do they have the skeleton thing in a body suit/ long gloves. Hottie Radiologist, M.D.
“i feel like we’ve gotten to a point where we, as women, shouldn’t have to use our sexuality to get where we want in life.
but i guess we haven’t, not when women are too busy fighting for the right to get laid and not be judged harshly for it.”
I don’t see how saying that women should not be shamed for wanting to have sex has anything to do with using “our sexuality to get where we want in life.” Sorry. No dice.
I’ve gone as Buffy several times. Easy: I put my hair up, wore black flares and a black tank top, and carried a bloody wooden stake. Only a few people got it, but it was worth it when they did.
Last year, I dressed as a construction worker, and made finger puppets of the other Village People. It was funny, but the rest of the damn band hindered my drink-holding ability.
that sexy mental patient costume
(http://www.costume-shop.com/index.php?p=product&id=1461&parent=0)
is terrifying- check the caption:
So let’s review here: medicated, hands bound, and not mentally capable of giving consent is sexy. Awesome.
of course i am reading in the not mentally capable part… maybe i shouldn’t jump to conclusions
moss- what, you aren’t into Hannibal Lecter? mmm tasty crazy.
I laugh because it’s better than punching things.
That is brilliant. I may have to do that this year when I take the kids around (although as a woman, stubble is kind of hard for me). Unfortunately, no one would get it. Even the husband has never read those books (and I own a nice leather bound copy of the entire thing) and I’m pretty sure none of our friends have either.
What bothers me about Halloween these days is that all the costumes marketed to women are “Sexy ____!” It’s so boring and it’s getting predictable. I usually make up my own costumes.
Two years ago I went as Rainbow Brite - a costume I made myself.
When I was about 2 my mom turned me into a Jack-in-the-box for Halloween; it was cool.
This year I think my beagle and I might go as Snoopy and Woodstock, respectively.
Zoe, et al.,
So should Halloween be something that is worth introducing my fiancee’s daughter to? I guess she’ll be introduced to it soon enough via day-care and the like. But my fiancee is, it seems, maybe a little too frum to celebrate Halloween. How much of a problem is not taking the kid out trick-or-treating going to create?
An acquaintance of mine dressed up as Sexy Kim Jong Il last year. It was fabulous.
Just a rabbinical version of the tripartiate goddess.
No, not so much. The ‘triune goddess’ is not really a feature of Caananite mythology; they go in more for “fearsome she-demon goddess of fucking and slaughter” vs. “wife of the gods” type of a split. The Celtic triune goddess reflects the life stages of a woman; Lilith is never a crone.
And of course, Eve and the unnamed virgin aren’t even goddesses.
The Celtic triune goddess reflects the life stages of a woman; Lilith is never a crone.
Okay, if anyone ever plans to read Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” series and has not yet done so, please STOP READING THIS NOW!
Okay?
Pretty much the whole “Sandman” series involves the triune goddess, mostly from the Greek side, and you get everyone from the Muses to the Furies showing up. The specific story ends by implying that the three wives of Adam were the triune goddess: the Nameless One as Virgin, Lilith as Mother, and Eve as Crone.
Of course, as Eve tells the story, “There are those who say that Adam had only one wife. And they speak truly, too.”
My 5-minute costume is Hunter S. Thompson. It’s not even a costume so much as a small handful of props.
A shotgun cartridge and a supply of ashes?
My two favorite costumes from my past were Roadkill and the Headless Horseman.
Roadkill was great. I had tire marks on my face and clothes, one ear missing, tail missing, horrible fringed booties (ragged flesh, you know). I got an award for most original that year.
The Headless Horseman was one my mom did when I was about 10. She made a papier mache pumpkin helmet, with cut outs for my shoulders, and a long black cape. It was hard to see through, but I thought it was so great that once the paper part of the helmet had been ruined, I broke it all off of the chicken wire and re-did it. It would have been even better if I were taller, but at 5′2″, I’m a short Headless Horseman.
There was another year I went as Mother Nature, and my best friend was a barrel of Toxic Waste. It was even better because the toxic waste costume was a recycled soup can costume.
I’m going to steal the mormon missionary one. I’ve got the shirt, the tie, the black pants, the bike helmet-
Most of my friends go for some variant on “zombie”- this will horrify them.
One year, I went as the evil preacher from “Night of the Hunter”, which consisted of me putting on a tie, grabbing my bible, and writting the words “love” and “hate” on my knuckles.
I thought it was baddass…
My mom made me a really nice scaramouche costume when I was in third grade.
–I don’t see how saying that women should not be shamed for wanting to have sex has anything to do with using “our sexuality to get where we want in life.” Sorry. No dice.–
i agree with you on that. women shouldn’t at all feel ashamed for wanting to have sex. or for having sex. i was referring more to the “drunkly sleazily laid” comment and “men do it, why can’t we?” mentality. and speaking from my own personal experience it’s not the least bit empowering to have random sex.
also, i think my phrase regarding “using sexuality to get *where* we want” can certainly be applied to this subject. we use our boobs, our ass, our sexxxy halloween costumes to get attention and to hook up.
anyways, i should have said *what* not where.. my bad.
i’ve gone through the slut phase, the “he can do it, i’m gonna do it too” thing. i told myself the very specific reasons i did what i did and acknowledging my sexuality was a big part of it. still, i’m not a fan of that period in my life.
since then i’ve tried to drop the word ’slut’ from my mentality/vocabulary. it’s so ingrained in us to call girls sluts and i think we judge each other too unfairly when it comes to having sex with anyone other than our boyfriends or husbands.
i just get down at the thought of all the young girls wearing these costumes for the specific reason of looking naughty and hot FOR men! it’s no different from the club scene, parties, you name it. the whole thing makes me sick.
This year I’ll be out of town for Halloween, so I needed a costume I could pack up real small-like, and assemble once I got to my destination.
I’m going as a Freudian slip. I have one of those slip-dress things from a second-hand store, and I’ve written out Freud quotes on index cards. I’m going to safety-pin them to my slip-dress along with a big picture of ol’ Sigmund right on my belly.
I’m kind of excited.
I remember one year going out as a Chargex machine (which tells you how long ago this was, doesn’t it?). I don’t generally ‘do’ Hallowe’en these days, though; instead I attend a friend’s annual Chocolate Potluck, at which formal evening wear is required. This guarantees I have at least one occasion per year to squeeze myself into mess kit.
“it’s well worth asking yourself if you human need for attention has ever led you to walk around dressed in your underwear with animal ears on for approval.”
For approval, no. For the leftover church wine, that’s another story.
If best friend is in town for H’ween, may actually dress up. You guys are giving me ideas….
If not, cylon sounds like a wonderful plan. Hee.
My college always had a huge campus-wide party for Halloween, complete with all sorts of legal and illegal ways to have fun (my favorite part was the bouncy castles, honestly). Anyway, everyone always got really into costumes. Some friends of mine and I went as characters from Alice In Wonderland (I was the Queen of Hearts - we had the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, etc.). Another set once went as all the Batman Villians. Then there were the guys who went as the nihilists from the Big Lebowski, the year my friend went as the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the year a friend won a national award for her jellyfish costume… I guess my personal best costume was when I went as Medea, complete with a gorgeous silk toga and ivy-wreath crown - and a dead baby doll with stage blood and a knife stuck in it.
I don’t know what I’m gonna do now that I’m out of college this year.