Does Halloween Give Girls A Pass in Inappropriate Behavior?
Every single Halloween I look at all the cat ears, miniskirts and pleather around me and my mind inevitably wanders back in time to Mean Girls. As Cady Heron, a young (and semi-innocent) Lindsay Lohan didn’t understand that Halloween is an opportunity not to show off your costume-making skills, but a chance to show off your body…without being branded a ‘slut.’
So she puts her all into her get-up, wearing scary makeup, fake teeth, a huge and an unflattering white dress. As soon as she wanders into a party, she realizes her mistake and utters the line written by Tina Fey that I have come to think of as iconic: “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.” Yup, that’s about right.
In the past, I would have sneered derisively at the trollops wearing their spangly underwear out in public, but I’ve had a change of heart. Wearing risque garb doesn’t necessarily mean that you behave in an inappropriate way, does it? No.
Why shouldn’t those of us — especially in LA, where everyone and their sister seems to be an actress — pretend to be someone else for the day? Why shouldn’t we have some fun showing off once in a while?
To me, the way you conduct yourself is just as important as presenting yourself well. Whether you’re dressed as Jessica Rabbit or a sexy nurse, you’re going to look hot. You’re going to attract male attention. But do you have to fling yourself on the nearest guy and stick your tongue down his throat/take him home and sex him senseless? Well no, you don’t. The mystery of what he’s NOT getting is far more tantalizing than immediate gratification.
So tonight when you’re hitting that Beautiful and the Damned party or ready to cuff that hot guy dressed as a vampire who doesn’t sparkle, try to keep in mind that you don’t have to become the costume that you’re wearing. It’s an act. Maybe showing a little skin will give you more confidence or make you feel empowered — and that’s cool. But you won’t be feeling the same way in the morning if you find yourself all alone, costume off and discarded, your police badge lying forlornly on the bed where your one-night stand should still be sleeping.
Becoming someone else for the evening might be exciting in hindsight, but when you morph back into yourself in the morning, just make sure you’re happy with what your alter ego did when it came out of hiding.
