lif C and slcyie Countdown to Chaos: Does Halloween simply give girls a free license to dress like sluts? By Stephanie Trembath, Life and Style Editor alloween; the single most glories day for men, when females roam the streets half naked and intoxicated dressed up as sexified versions of soccer players, pirates, and bunny rabbits. While children eagerly await the sunset on October 31" so they can fill pillow sacks with gummy treats and chocolate bars, adults who participate in Halloween look forward to more than just a mouthful of sugar; whomever changed the traditional “feast for saints’ day, into a feast of breasts and booties was surely male, or a women who had the same flair for fashion as Lady Gaga. Formerly known as ~All Hallows Eve™~, which means the night before All Hallows Day, celebrates the Celtic festival Samhain, which is the end of the “lighter half~~ of the year before the “darker half~~ of the year begins. It was believed that during the festival of Samhain that spirits could pass through this world and the underworld, so children and adults would dress up on this day to trick the evil spirits. Today, many of the same themes and practises that originated back to medieval times of celebrating All Hallows Eve are maintained, including trick-or- treating, carving pumpkins, and apple bobbing, but the way with which we dress-up has changed dramatically. For children, dressing as a scary witch, creepy goblin, or even a favourite TV character or animal is customary, while adults usually opt to entertain or amuse in their costume choice. One of the most obscure costumes I’ve ever seen was a man dressed as a breakfast table complete with plate of eggs, toast, and bacon strips, newspaper, coffee cup, and utensils. Not exactly something you can dance in, but interesting nevertheless. I envy my friends who can sew, and use their artistic abilities to create costumes that are memorable; a group of my friends went out last year as “swine flu**, and this year a close friend of mine is going out as a Japanese anime character; she has spent the 10 last month searching for a neon blue wig and attempting to sew a bodysuit made of white stretch vinyl. Although I believe myself to be flamboyant and innovative with ideas, I cannot sew to save my life, and usually end up in something borrowed or purchased for a ridiculous amount of money. I am embarrassed to admit that yes, I have gone as a slutty Alice in Wonderland, yes I have gone as a slutty sailor, and yes I too have gone as a slutty pirate; but it was an act of desperation rather than choice, and I spent days frantically adding clothes to my skimpy costumes in an attempt to look more like Alice in Wonderland, than Alice in a porno flick. The few years I look back with pride at my costumes are the ones my mom made for me, or ones I spent ages putting together, but with school and work I find it difficult to justify spending countless hours on an outfit I will wear for a few hours one night. The majority of costumes worn today are skin tight, skimpy, and tend to all look the same only with slightly different colors and accessorize. And while I am sure this presents absolutely no problem to men, I find it slightly problematic for women; while women deserve respect and equality, how can this apply when we treat Halloween like a free license to dress like skanks? I am not attributing this to all girls, so don’t take offense, and I am certainly not excluding myself from this remark either; this year I am re-using my sailor outfit for the third time (only because it is cute and covers more than my other costumes), but it frustrates me how the most convenient costumes to purchase make women like a bawdy pin-up doll. Realistically, most people do not know how to sew and the majority of girls I know have the exact same problem as I do; which is dress like a cheap whore or do-it-yourself. Obviously there is some middle ground, my sailor outfit is more tasteful since I have designed and added pieces and accessories to it, but for $89.00 all I got was as tight navy dress that reveals my entire back. Each year I see more young girls showing bigger cleavage, wearing loud makeup, and showing legs that are tucked into sky-high heels. I used to love Halloween, but now I find it insulting and degrading the way we’ve become trained to believe that Halloween is justification to go out in lingerie. Girls, you can look fabulous on Halloween without attributing your outfit to Pamela Anderson, it just takes a little more time and patience.