Hooching All Hallow's Eve?

Halloween skin: objectifying or empowering?
First, check out this article at SFGate.

By JILLIAN AUSTIN, Winnipeg Sun

Last Updated: October 25, 2010 8:01am

Naughty nurse, sexy schoolgirl, bad cop, foxy firefighter.

Ladies, what’s it going to be this year?

Year after year, the most popular Halloween costumes for young women are the risqué options, according to retailers.

“Women can come in and they can pick a costume out, something they wouldn’t wear for the rest of the year — something skimpy, low-cut and ... be that person in that costume as opposed to who they are on a day-to-day basis,” said Colleen Mitani, manager of Spirit Halloween Winnipeg.

Why the shift from scary witches and goblins to sexy firefighters and maids? A Winnipeg psychologist says Halloween is a day where people are “free from society’s inhibitions”, so they are given a license to wear things they normally wouldn’t.

“It’s an opportunity to act out our fantasies and fears ... you get a pass here. All bets are off,” Toby Rutner said. “It’s very interesting how things have evolved from death and gore to the projection ... of sexuality.”

While the French maid and harem woman have been around for years, there has been a shift in the last decade to more explicit depictions of sexuality, according to Fiona Green, chair of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

“I think there’s been a gradual sexing up of young women and girls, which has not happened to boys,” she said. “Pop music icons, like Britney Spears and other young women, to make it in pop music, videos, TV and film, there’s more and more exposure of not only nudity ... but it’s the sexualization of young females.”

The shift in what’s acceptable for every day wear has become more and more revealing, Green said, and that has reflected on to Halloween costumes.

“Everything is sexualized,” Green said. “If you’re a nurse, a doctor, any profession seems to be sexualized.”

But on the other hand, we generally don’t see men dressing up as Chippendales dancers. They tend to go for the frightening, intimidating or humorous costume.

“I think that the expectation that females are going to be attractive sexually, the pressure for that is far greater than for boys,” Green said.

Dressing up in a sexy Halloween costume may be a way for women to feel empowered, but it may also objectify them, Green said.

“What does it mean for the person who’s wearing it?” Green said. “I don’t think it’s unhealthy to express our sexuality ... but I think it may put a limitation on how (women) may see themselves.”