Dear Albion Students (more specifically the female population),
I’d like to start off with a memorable quote from everyone’s favorite chick flick, Mean Girls.
“In the regular world, Halloween is when children dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, 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.”
Oh Cady Heron, I’d like to disagree with this premise. The possibilities for Halloween costumes are endless, and college is a time for you to be as creative as possible before hitting the real world. You should realize that any girl could be a sexy pirate, sexy FBI agent, sexy firefighter, sexy…anything. There are several reasons why you can go beyond the animal-ears-and-lingerie outfit.
First, the shorter, the tighter, the lower-cut…the less manageable.
Let’s be real here ladies, when there is dancing, fun and games, you always have to be mindful of clothes. Fashion mishaps, or whatever you want to call them, simply aren’t classy and constantly pulling up or down an article of clothing doesn’t make for a fun night. And I get it, sometimes you want to run up and hug your friends, sometimes you are breaking it down on the dance floor, sometimes the stairs in the fraternity houses can be just plain confusing and you can fall, so wear clothes that allows for things like this to happen. High heels don’t help either.
Less pricey
We’re all college kids here, so we’re talking about a ramen-and-pizza kind of budget that most of us are working with. Those ‘sexy’ costumes aren’t cheap! I took a quick perusal of halloweencostumes.com and the sky-high prices made me cringe. The first few costumes on the list included a “Sexy Sailor” costume for $39.99, a “Firefighter Babe” costume for $36.99 and a “Sexy Sequin Kitty” costume for $66.99. I was aghast. Last time I spent over $30 on anything, it was on textbooks for classes that I had to get.
Show that you have personality.
Probably the biggest reason why I support non-slutty costumes is because different, cooler, creative ones actually show you have a personality. If you can make jokes and witty references to culture with your costume, you are not just some girl who can purchase an outfit and attempt to pull it off. Costumes are perfect conversation starters at parties, on the dance floor or wherever! Look at the lovely ladies in my picture, not only did they win best Halloween costume last year, but they have a fun, silly group costume that makes for a good night.
So ladies, go out there and enjoy Halloween. And don’t get me wrong, cute costumes are great, but if I’m wondering why you aren’t on your street corner, then you know you have a problem. Have a fun-filled night where you don’t have to constantly worry about flashing. Have a night where you aren’t one of an entire fleet of Albion sexy police officers. Have a night with a inexpensive, totally witty costume with all your friends.
Sincerely,
Claire Van Raaphorst
Photo courtesy of Meg Lloyd
As an English department alumnus, I am very concerned about The Pleaid’s choice to publish this article which perpetuates stereotypes of women who choose to wear revealing clothing as being sluts. Such stereotypes are frequently used to justify victim blaming in sexual assault cases. I would like to urge The Pleiad and other Albion College communications to think seriously about the type of culture they choose to encourage at Albion.