A Woman’s Right to Self Respect

A week from today marks one of the most fun holidays of the year, Halloween. It’s our one chance a year to lighten up, let go, and dress up as someone we’re not, someone we admire, someone we think is hilarious, or someone who is from an era we love. Have you ever noticed when you’re dressed up at Halloween as something interesting there is no judgment? Isn’t that a wonderful thing? But on this day a year, we all open our minds a bit. But I have one little bone to pick.

For some reason, on this very day, I can’t help but still think, “What are you wearing?” when I see the way some women are dressed—or not dressed. The trend of wearing next to nothing on Halloween continues to grow. My career has been based around helping women get their sexy back, so I absolutely understand the need to feel sexy, wanted, and powerful. However, when you are within the confines of your home, you can wear whatever you want to wear (or don’t want to wear). When you’re in public, though, it’s a different case.

As I watch the years tick by, young women become more and more revealed at younger ages, and it’s startling. The way I see some women in their late teens and early 20s dress at Halloween makes me shake my head, and those costumes are nothing I’d ever want my granddaughters to see. Unfortunately, it might be a little too late for such sentiments.

The trend of young women dressing up provocatively at Halloween has been so popular that it’s now trickling down to children’s costume offerings. A website with inappropriate kids’ costumes was recently brought to my attention. Sure, some can be interpreted as innocent, but I know the origin of such costumes. They started off as “sultry” and “sexy” adult costumes, and now minis are being produced.

What does this say to young girls? That in order to be normal or fit in they must wear short skirts, belly-revealing tops, and corset-clad dresses? That in order to enjoy a holiday, this is the way to dress? As a parent and grandparent, I’ve seen the pressure kids feel from other kids and the urge they have to get a store-bought costume. I truly do not believe kids should be dressing this way, and it’s distressing to think that these are now the options. It’s even more troubling to think about how dressing this way at a young age could affect a girl for years to come.

As a woman who might be reading this, I ask you to have some self-respect when you dress up for Halloween. Try something fresh and new that makes people say, “What a great costume! Why didn’t I think of that?” Try something that would make people of all ages smile. Whatever you do, please leave the lingerie at home…or at least smartly hidden beneath your costume. Wouldn’t that be a nice treat?