The Women’s Corner: Halloween is scary, but slut-shaming is even worse

Halloween is one of the top rated holidays of the year in the United States. It’s a night full of excitement, scares and more. A night where anyone can dress up like anything they want, however they want.

But for women, it’s just another chance for us to get slut-shamed.

There is this tweet that I was sent recently from Collegian Social Media Editor, Emily Fehrman, that said, “‘You’re using Halloween as an excuse to dress like a slut.’ First of all, I don’t need an excuse.” When I read this, the first thing that came to my head was “EXACTLY!”

Halloween is a night where women can dress like whoever and whatever they want and they should be able to do that without judgment from others. If a girl wants to dress sexy or show a little more skin than normal, let her go for it. I love seeing girls show their confidence through Halloween costumes.

Just because a girl is dressing a certain way, does not give you the right to judge her. I grew up being taught that it’s not right to judge because it’s not my place. But now that I’m older, I realize how much the people around me judge by first look. I think judging a person is somehow ingrained in our brains no matter how hard we try to ignore it.

When it comes to the way a girl dresses, whether it be just a regular day, or the night of Halloween, I encourage you to let her live her life without slut-shaming her or her outfit. If she wants to flaunt what she has in a way that for some reason makes you “uncomfortable”, look away. But her body should not make you uncomfortable because it isn’t your concern. She is dressing how she wants to dress, and if she feels confident, that is all that should matter.

Halloween has no rules, nor should it have any. It is a holiday that promotes dressing the way you want and that should be honored and loved. So empower the women around you this Halloween and have fun knowing that you’re letting her be who she wants to be.

Tabitha Barr is a Nickerson freshman studying media communications and production

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