Halloween Costumes for Women: Sexy or Conservative?

Now that Halloween is just around the corner, I've started my hunt for the perfect character to dress up as- Snow White. At first, I wanted to be Jasmine from Aladdin because we both have tan skin and long dark hair, but then I realized she had a gaping belly. Because of that, I changed my mind and picked sweet, safe, and covered up Snow White instead.

After searching for 20 minutes online for Snow White costumes, I came to the conclusion that her costumes were either too sexy or too expensive. On the website, Buycostumes.com, they had 12 Snow White costumes, but only three of them were conservative, while the other nine were very revealing and sexy. Not only that, the three conservative outfits were the most expensive ones! Are they purposely making the sexy costumes cheaper so women would buy them instead of the conservative costumes?

Many of the costumes were titled "sexy." For example, there was "Sexy Snow White costume" or "Sultry Gypsy." What ever happened to just being simple? Is this the way women should dress or maybe want to dress? Short skirts, high platforms, and knee-high tights? Even though I didn't pick Jasmine so that I could avoid wearing revealing clothes, I came upon the same problem anyway with Snow White.

What are the Halloween costume options for women nowadays? Over the years, I have seen an increase in sexy costumes for women. I've noticed a costume company titled "Leg Avenue" that creates many sexy costumes for women. If you go to a Halloween Express or Spirited store, you will see this brand throughout the store. Their costumes are usually wrapped in a plastic container of some sort with a sexy picture of a girl in the costume. It is almost impossible to find a regular costume in these Halloween stores nowadays and even if you did find one, it is likely that it will cost more than the sexy costume.

SO what does this mean for a mother like me who wants to dress up and take her kid out on Halloween night? Do we choose to be sexy or do we choose to conservative? What are we supposed to be like and why? Who made these decisions? Those are some questions to ask yourself.

I don't know about you, but for Halloween night, I'm wearing a jacket, jeans, and tennis shoes.

Please click on the websites below to see some of the costumes I saw.

• http://www.buycostumes.com/Classic-Snow-White-Adult-Costume/38994/ProductDetail.aspx
• http://www.3wishes.com/fairy.asp
• http://www.legavenue.com/en/women/costumes/fairy-tales/83642/

Thank you for reading this post!

Proposal

Feminism and media representations

For my research project, I have decided to focus on feminism and how it is projected in the media. Feminism from my point of view, has anything and everything to do with women and the roles and ideas they occupy in the society. Feminism deals with the idealistic ways women should act and behave.

Over the years, I have noticed that women are appearing more and more in ads. In fact, they seem to be appearing in ads even more than men are. Why is this? Aren't men viewed as the epitome of all living things? Is it because women are more attractive than men? Is it because women have a certain aura about them? Do women have a natural selling ability? In doing this research, I hope to find the answers to those questions.

Sometimes the media portrays women in positive lights, while other times they may be negative. Because of this constant label change and stereotyping of women, I want to research how women have been portrayed in the media throughout history up to now. I have a desire to know if the wave of women being displayed as sex symbols has minimized. I also want to uncover if women are playing new roles in advertisements. These new roles would consist of managerial positions, tough, and independent roles that men occupy. Do women have a chance at taking over commercials like Oxi-Clean and Shamwow which are advertised my men with demanding personas? I want to discover what the media pathway for women in the future will look like.

Not only do I want to discover the different ways women have been portrayed in history and compare it to how they are portrayed now, I would like to learn how women feel about the way they are portrayed. Do they accept that they are being portrayed as sex objects? Do they accept that they are never portrayed as a strong, independent, and highly paid individual? How do women want to be portrayed?

In doing this research project, I hope to uncover the answers to all of the above questions. Answering these questions will aid me in finding out what the future of women in media holds. It will give me an idea of what women expect from the media and how they would like to be portrayed. This information will be beneficial to women everywhere who want a change in the way women are being represented.