Sexist Halloween Costumes; Trick or Treat?

Halloween always sparks controversy; whether it's the costumes, the pumpkin waste, knocking on strange doors or all the sugar, 31st October does not pass by without concern! 

If I say to you sexist Halloween costumes what do you think? For me I am instantly reminded of Mean Girls, you know the scene; Cady aka Lindsay Lohan does the normal thing for Halloween, she gets scary! Unfortunately, she's the only one. The other girls have gone with the theme of wearing as little as possible, even when that means their "costume" is pretty irrelevant "I'm a mouse, duh". 

But the problem runs deeper than that.. the people who design, make & sell these costumes are perpetuating the idea that there are some roles that aren't for women; unless of course they can look sexy at the same time. The choices available for women in the costume department are outdated and continue to reinforce stereotypes that should no longer have a place in 2015. 

Of course there are some "barely-there" costumes for men too.. remember the mankini era (eek)?! But the gap between the genders in this area is still far too big. Luckily, myvouchercodes.co.uk have done some research to make it a lot clearer to see! 

Above you can see what happens when you put a woman into a men's doctor costume, and a man into a women's nurse costume. Now I don't know when the creator last visited a hospital (I'm there quite regularly) but not only was there not that much leg on show (tights ladies!) but since when did splattered blood become scary? Forgive me, but I'm not scared.

The survey shows that 51% of women felt offended by some of the costumes, and thought that the ones on offer were sexist. This is compared to just 23% of men feeling the same way. 

Of course, it's all down to personal choice, no-one is forcing you to dress up for Halloween (I won't be) but surely we want to be giving a better example to younger generations? Whilst children might want to dress up as their favourite tv character instead of something scary, surely there are more gender neutral options available for adults? If you work as a surgeon your scrubs are exactly the same no matter whether you are a man or a woman. They're not there to make you attractive, they have a practical purpose. 

I've dressed up as a Thunderbird before; sure they were all guys on the tv and yes I had to buy a small men's costume, but if I would rather be Gordon than Lady Penelope that's my choice! It would be nice not to have a costume that drowns me though.. ;) 

Want to find out more? You can read an article on the research here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/halloween-costumes-sexist-claim-more-6721824


I'd love to know what you think! Do you find Halloween costumes sexist? Would you go for sexy or scary? If you're dressing up for Halloween I'd love to know about your costume.. send me a photo on twitter! 


Stay safe and don't get scared, x