I’m a mouse - duh.
- Karen, Mean Girls

The house party scene from this 2004 comedy perfectly sums up the Halloween experience that seems to become the norm for this holiday.

“Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it,” Lindsay Lohan’s character Cady says.

Add an accessory (a set of ears or wings) to a tiny dress and voila! Instant “sexy” costume.

Every October, I anxiously anticipate the flier insert advertising the new costumes for women, and every year they become more and more ludicrous.

Feminist website Jezebel.com recently published a “Guide to Absurdist ‘Sexy’ Halloween Costumes,” and while it makes for a great laugh, it is also disturbing (especially the sexy straightjacket).

It makes one wonder why women doll themselves up to be ogled this one night a year, and why it is considered appropriate, and even expected in some cases.

“It seems so contradictory to the message women put forth the other 364 days of the year - that we’re not just sexual objects and we resent those who make those assumptions based on what we wear,” says Rachel Fields, a University of Manitoba psychology major and member of their Womyn’s Centre.

At a local Party Stuff, a destination for Halloween shoppers, there are very few modest options for women - though there’s an abundance of sexy Disney princesses, women in uniform and a variety of swashbucklers.

The costumes take an absurd turn with the sexy Big Bird, and a telegraph machine with the instructions: “Tap This.”

The “sexy” inanimate object is the newest addition to the tradition, with everything from the sexy takeout container to the sexy shower to the beer mug in a mini skirt.

The employee at the party store admitted a “sexy banana” was the strangest costume she had ever sold. While some are absolutely silly (sexy clownfish?), others are downright offensive, such as the television remote with a “mute” button and hotness levels.

Fields, however, has decided to turn the fad on its ear with her costume selection this year.

“This year I’m going as sexy Abraham Lincoln (beard and all). I got the idea from a friend, as my theme this year was ‘sexy things that aren’t really sexy,’” she says.

“I wanted to put a spin on the whole sexy costumes thing. I make my costumes myself and I think men (and women) appreciate the effort and find the deviation from the usual sexy costume fare to be refreshing. I don’t dress up for men, I don’t dress up for attention, I choose costumes I think are awesome, and when other people like what I do, that’s a bonus.

“If you want to do sexy, do something unconventional or ironic.”

Published in Volume 66, Number 9 of The Uniter (October 26, 2011)