The Scariest Thing About Halloween Isn’t the Monsters

Ahhhhh, fall. I love the changing leaves, the warm sweaters, and the return of pumpkin spice. But the best part? Halloween — the start of the holiday season and, in my opinion, the best holiday of the year.

Halloween is great, but I understand it’s not for everybody. Who cares about the free candy and the chance to be a different person for the night, right? All the scary movies that come on and the spooky music to fill the atmosphere. I’m actually the world’s biggest scaredy-cat, but hey, even I can appreciate a good holiday when I see one. 

With Halloween around the corner, I’ve decided to take a trip down memory lane of past Halloween experiences. There was a time I was with my cousin, and as we walked to a stranger’s front door begging for candy, a grown man popped out of the bush and grabbed at our ankles. Pieces of candy flew as little-girl screams echoed through the crisp air. And yes, that grown man laughed at us. I also remember the time I invited a friend over to go trick-or-treating around my neighborhood. Her mom dropped her off at my house. On the way out, my friend managed to dive face first down our flight of stairs, slamming her kneecaps on the hardwood as she went. She burst into tears, and I swear, it was one of the most awkward moments of my life.

Along with the memories, I decided to take a look at costumes I wore in previous years. When I was a wee little thing, I was a bunny, a brunette Tinker Bell, and then Dora. As I got older, I was some sort of spider-witch (where did I ever get the idea for that?), a ghost bride, and Frankie Stein from Monster High. Teenage me was Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany’s), the cutest cat named Marie (The Aristocats), and Ariana Grande. This year, I have no idea what I should dress up as. I’m just handing out candy this year, so my costume doesn’t need to be elaborate — but I still want it to be good, you know?

With this dilemma, I sat down and did what every other girl does… I opened up Pinterest. But the costume ideas I found there threw me for a loop. Let me describe exactly what I saw. If you’re interested in being a strawberry, you should wear a red strapless leotard with a green hat. If you’re leaning towards being a deer, you should wear a tan bra and booty shorts. And if those options aren’t good enough, maybe you could paint your nose purple and wear a blue lingerie dress to become Violet Beauregarde (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

I want to make it clear that I am not trying to shame anyone, especially women, for these types of costumes. It’s Halloween, you’re allowed to be someone that you’re not. I’m just wondering how this became the norm. Why is it that every character or animal must be simplified to lingerie? Why is Halloween the perfect opportunity to show as much skin as possible? I mean, it’s cold out… so why wear less?

Of course, this trend didn’t start on Pinterest — pop culture has been shaping these costumes for years. A perfect example of how Halloween is nowadays is from Mean Girls (2004). When Cady, the 16-year-old main character who goes to public school for the first time after moving from Africa, is invited to her first high school Halloween party, she rushes home to put together a great costume. Cady shows up to the party dressed in a tattered wedding dress and veil, a black wig, a painted gray face, and fake teeth. She refers to herself as an ‘ex-wife,’ but soon realizes that she’s the only girl wearing an actual costume. 

Throughout the movie, we hear Cady’s narration to explore her thoughts and reactions to the new world around her. At this moment, we hear her say, “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. The hardcore girls just wear lingerie and some form of animal ears.” Her friends Gretchen and Karen are dressed up as animals. Gretchen is in a latex bodysuit with cat ears while Karen is in a short lingerie dress with mouse ears. Later on, Cady finds Regina, the group’s ringleader, wearing a gray sparkly leotard with bunny ears.

Now, I’m not going to call girls sluts for their Halloween costumes because that’s tacky. But I do want to state my problem with those who do this for characters that are children or are meant for children. Of all the potential costumes in the world, why pick a child to dress up as when you know you’re going to be wearing the least amount of clothing possible? Pinterest showcases plenty of women who wear corsets and mini skirts and claim they’re supposed to be the Disney princesses. According to the DisneyWiki, Cinderella and Tiana are 19-years-old, Rapunzel and Pocohontas are 18, Belle is 17, Ariel, Merida, Mulan, and Aurora are 16, and Snow White is 14. Let me say this again. SNOW WHITE IS 14-YEARS-OLD. All of these princesses are teenagers. They are meant for little girls. Why, why, why are we dressing up as teenagers in a sexual way?! And I hate when these costume-wearers try to clap back by saying they’re not being sexual, it’s just other people are sexualizing it. Sure, in many cases that can be true, but in this one, you are wearing lingerie to portray young girls.

I think another problem is the fact that young girls are therefore attempting to act older by dressing less. It makes sense, younger generations can be greatly influenced by older generations. They began wearing makeup and doing their skincare and dressing older for a while now, but when it comes to Halloween, I wish they didn’t feel the need to grow up so fast. As I’m writing this, I feel like I’m about to say something like ‘back in my day!’ but it’s true. When I was 12-years-old, I was wearing a unicorn onesie as my costume. Now, we see girls of the same age wearing pushup bras and shorts where you can see everything and high heels. Again, no shame here, I’m just expressing how sorry I feel for them. It seems like teenagers and even kids now are trying way too hard to grow up instead of enjoying their childhood.

After all these thoughts, the only conclusion I can come up with as to why people dress less for this holiday is because they feel the need to. That’s a clear distinction, it’s not necessarily a want, it’s a need. And I feel sorry for these people too. Maybe this is the one time a year they can receive the validation that they’re looking for. Or maybe they spend the whole year being so good, that they want to just let loose for once. Either way, as I stated earlier, Halloween is a night to be someone else. Get drunk. Kiss that person you just met. Eat too much candy. Laugh too hard. Regret it all the next morning. You do you.

I still have no clue what I’m going to be. Obviously, I’m not going to be a slutty Dora or a barely dressed bunny. I think there’s enough people out in the world doing that. Halloween is my all-time favorite holiday, and I can’t just be nothing. I already dressed up as nothing last year for no good reason. My mission this upcoming week is to find the best costume I can get together and eat loads of junk food while watching my favorite horror movies: Casablanca (1942), Roman Holiday (1953), and La La Land (2016). Okay, so maybe my idea of ‘horror movies’ is a little different — but hey, heartbreak can be terrifying too.

Written by Emily Fadako