Opinion: Women deserve to be respected regardless of their choice of Halloween costume
Photo via Flickr (Shoshanah) under Creative Commons license
A woman’s choice of Halloween costume does not define her as a person. Women deserve to feel confident and to enjoy their costumes without the judgment of others.
Halloween is finally here, and everywhere you go the chatter of excited people talking about what they will be and do for tonight can be heard. Countless hours of planning have gone into piecing together the perfect outfit for this night — and, unsurprisingly, some women are going to be shamed for what they choose to wear.
Halloween is not the only time women are shamed due to how they dress. Workplaces, education facilities, and even the streets are all moments when women are judged for their choice of outfit.
However, whenever this time of year comes around, annoyed complaints from both sexes are especially augmented. Dozens of tweets that center around humiliating and degrading women in their costumes go viral every year around Halloween.
These tweets say that women dressing in “revealing” costumes makes them never want a daughter and get hundreds of thousands of likes in agreement. People should not be worried about their future daughters simply because women are confident enough to express themselves on a fun holiday.
Men dress up in revealing outfits as well, yet the only slander I hear in school and see online is about women’s costume choices. If men can be shirtless lifeguards, Spiderman in a tight suit and Hugh Hefner’s in only bathrobes and not turn viral the next day with comments about how women now suddenly no longer want a son, then the same should go for us.
Then there are that comments don’t come from viral online posts. Many snarky comments from students in school can be heard in the hallways and classrooms. Why does a woman’s confidence in her body affect people so much? Why does it determine her self worth?
This public shaming of women should have been eliminated way before the year 2019. With all of the advancements in equality for so many minority groups, seeing that people still cannot wrap their heads around the fact that a woman is not what she chooses to wear on Halloween is truly upsetting.
It is ridiculous to see how women are still laughed at, made fun of, and ridiculed simply for their choice of Halloween costumes. We should be allowed to wear whatever we feel comfortable and confident in without being judged or criticized by others.
Whether a woman chooses to wear a tight black cat outfit or a funny Shrek costume for Halloween, it should make absolutely no difference in how she is viewed. She still deserves the same amount of respect because no one’s worth should be defined by physical appearance.
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