Halloween Slut-Shaming PSA: Dress However The Hell You Want

Women are constantly bombarded with people telling them how they should and shouldn't dress, and this Halloween is no different. There's the "don't succumb to peer pressure and dress like a slut" mentality versus the "Halloween is the day to be scantily clad" notion. And frankly, it's f*cking annoying.

The irony is that the men who say, "Ladies, you don’t need to dress slutty! You’re better than this, you deserve more" are the same men who appreciate and enjoy half-naked girls. "You don’t need to exploit your sexuality just to please others. You’re a victim to marketing, your breasts don’t represent you. You’re making yourselves look like fools. Put some clothes on!" Excuse me, but who are you to tell me I look like a fool when you're wearing a banana costume?

Every time Halloween rolls around, ladies encounter these same predicaments: the same people who beseech us to cover ourselves up are the ones who drool over the naughty teacher in thigh high boots.

And I have a problem with it.

We’ve got serious issues with the double standard in our society that perpetuates this idea that a woman who dresses a certain way is doing something or saying something more than just dressing that way.

I’ve always been a goof when it came to Halloween, favoring Johnny Depp characters to sexy nurses. But just like when I painstakingly doll myself up to go out, sometimes I want to get sexy. Sometimes I want to show a little skin, and who are you to tell me otherwise?

“Mean Girls” taught us that “Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.”

And there was something strangely comforting about this day being a free pass from “slut-shaming,” when no girl-on-girl crime could be committed and we could all embrace our sexuality to whichever degree we saw fitting.

There would undoubtedly be the Cadys and the Reginas, the “ex-wives” and the Playboy bunnies. But they coexisted at this party, free from the diatribe and criticisms for their clothing, or lack thereof.

Because Halloween is fun. It not just an excuse to dress up like a slut, it’s become a day to embrace our fantasies, to become things we could never be. So if I want to be a cop, cowgirl, flight attendant or paleontologist, the choice is mine. And if I wish to preface any of those costumes with “slutty” or “sexy,” the choice is also mine.

Of course, there are several issues with the way that Halloween is marketed to the masses. There’s an unmistakable difference between theoretically similar costumes for men and women and the way they are tailored.

And we, perhaps as a society, should observe the ways through which women are objectified and sexualized. But I won’t stand here and tell you I don’t have a sexy beer maiden costume hanging in my closet right now.

I don’t believe in slut-shaming ever, but I especially don’t condone it on the festive occasion of Halloween. So just shut up and let us enjoy the gifts our mommas gave us. Let this trick chick just be a treat!