Halloween is fast approaching and there are a large amount of events taking place to celebrate the holiday. However, this intriguing holiday comes with some issues.
Halloween used to be fun, a time where we would all dress up as something that brought us joy and excitement, but now I am this age it has all changed. Instead of dressing up as something creative that shows my artistic abilities or my originality, I feel as though I am restricted to dress up as something that is ‘less childish’ or ‘sexier’.
The holiday is a celebrated each year on October 31 and it originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. However nowadays the holiday is spent doing various activities such as: trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats.
A strong-minded pupil, Phoebe Doble says,’ we as women should be able to dress however we please, as nobody else should have any power of our bodies.’ When you search up ‘Halloween costumes for women’ on Ebay or Amazon the first images to come up are ‘sexy witch’ or ‘sexy skeleton’ This portrays the idea to girls that the only option they have on Halloween is to be sexy, even if they do not want to, which should not be the case at all.
Halloween has been tremendously sexualised during the years. This has now limited young girls and teenagers in their journey of accepting their bodies and loving themselves because instead their time and attention is fixated on trying to be attractive for boys.
On Halloween I want to be able to express myself and not express the way society thinks I should look or dress, because a woman’s value or worth should never be measured by how provocative her costume is.
Tomini Oyeniyi, Croydon High School
