Sexy Halloween Costume Doesn't Mean Slutty

Many women take Halloween as a pass to dress up in a slutty outfit for one night. However, putting on a sexy Halloween costume always felt so wrong to me.

I wanted people to admire my Halloween costumes because they were witty and not for showing off my goods. I questioned if I was to wear a sexy Halloween costume, what does that say about me to look slightly whore-ish on Halloween? Does that mean I have fewer morals than the average smart/witty woman?

My original plan this year was to be Daenerys Targaryen from Games of Thrones. It wasn’t the most creative Halloween costume or relevant, but it was free. I already had a costume that I wore for maybe an hour at a Games of Thrones fundraiser last year. I also had a dragon egg that was my labor of love that no one got to ~~see~~ admire. Overall the costume idea was classy, but it was also incredibly boring.

Then I had a friend offer to lend me her Minnie Mouse Halloween costume. My initially thought was to wear the top with my tutu from Burning Man. My friend questioned why I did not want to wear the booty shorts that came with the Halloween costume. I gave her some random answer, but the truth was I didn’t want to look like I was falling into the ranks of women wearing slutty Halloween costumes.

However, when I got home, my curiosity got the best of me and I tried on the entire Minnie Mouse costume with booty shorts and all. I instantly heard Beyoncé singing, “I’m feeling myself, I’m feeling myself.” (This is the song I hear in my head when I think I look good. A bit vain, but I generally keep these moments to myself and my Instagram followers.)

As I stared at myself in the mirror, I no longer felt like I was being slutty if I wore a sexy Halloween costume. Instead, it felt empowering to be in this sexy Minnie Mouse costume; slightly odd as I am not a fan of anything Disney. Yet, it was freeing to own and celebrate every curve on my body as not much was covered up.

I now had this new outlook on sexy Halloween costumes. I think it helped seeing the pictures from Finding Paola that went viral this weekend. Paola and her group of friends dressed up as super heroes fighting the injustice of women and took pictures in a New York subway. If you caught any of these pictures, then you know there was nothing slutty about their fierce and super sexy Halloween costumes. Everything about their sexy Halloween costumes screamed confidence.

I fully support celebrating a woman’s sexuality and confidence. I guess I never saw the little sexy Halloween costume as an act of empowerment until now. I’m not saying I’m about to only wear sexy Halloween costumes, but I do believe in owning your sexy. If you don’t, then who will own it for you?