More like All Slut's Day

By Tatiana Sanchez

Every Sunday after the Halloween weekend, I sign on to Facebook expecting my news feed to explode with notifications that 200 of my friends have changed their profile pictures. It never fails: every year I am bombarded with pictures of my female classmates donning barely-there costumes of Disney princesses and race-car girls. I see countless variations of lady pimps, baseball players and superheroes, but it's probably the bunny and kitty cat costumes that get to me the most. News flash: sporting bunny ears, lingerie and a big white cotton ball on your bum while stumbling down the Alameda is not a costume.

It's a well-known fact: girls take Halloween as an opportunity to wear the sluttiest clothes possible. As Lindsay Lohan's character Cady from Mean Girls once put it, "Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it." Entire Web sites such as Yandy.com are devoted entirely to these so-called "sexy" Halloween costumes for girls to go crazy over. My personal favorite was the "Sexy Snow White" costume.

The Web site College Fashion has stated, "Not only is October 31 an opportunity for girls to dress like total sluts for a night, it's pretty much a night when slutty costumes are required dress code. After all, nobody wants to be that girl who dresses ugly on Halloween when all her friends are sexy nurses and naughty school girls." Santa Clara students are no exception to this rule, and I can honestly say that I've seen girls walking around in Halloween "costumes" that are made up of less clothing than I wear to bed.

I'm all for having a good time and taking advantage of the one day of the year to dress and act as scandalously as possible. But, quite frankly, I have seen more than enough naked fairies, cops, Victoria's Secret models and sexy kittens. As a senior who has pretty much seen it all, dressing slutty for Halloween, along with so many other things, has gotten old. Trashy is not only boring and common, it's passé.

This excuse to use Halloween as the one night where it's acceptable to look and act slutty is much more than a fun joke: it stems from society's pressure on young girls to bare all in order to look and feel attractive.

Part of the reason why girls squeeze into skin tight leather skirts and push-up bras on Oct. 31 is because they feel the pressure to look their absolute best, even if it means compromising their reputations to do so.

I admit that I've also fallen victim to the "go slutty on Halloween" code a couple of times in my college career. But this year I've chosen to be different. I'm still going to look and feel good and I'm still going to have a good time. I'm just not going to dress up as a member of the Animal Kingdom to prove that I can look hot and have fun. I urge you to do the same.

Instead of wearing the sluttiest costume you can possibly find in hopes of getting as much attention as possible on this one special night, I encourage female students to think outside the box and go for funny, creative, exciting or perhaps classy. Trashy is so freshman year. It's time to grow up and show that we are capable of having a good time without going naked. So ladies, as you prepare to go out for Halloween this year, leave the bunny ears at home and remember to be safe, be smart and always keep it classy.

Tatiana Sanchez is a senior English major and opinion editor for The Santa Clara.