Oh, laughing out loud looking over this NY Times article which discusses “good girls going bad” on Halloween: otherwise known as Dress Like A Whore Day! lol! Dr. Adie Nelson says,

“Decades after the second wave of the women’s movement, you would expect more of a gender-neutral range of costumes.”

Dr. Nelson, a professor of sociology, discusses how it all begins with little girls, and, this is what interests me most, because, this gets into how the minds of children (particularly girls in this case) start getting warped by the whole television and Hollywood culture. Believe me, I know this first hand from watching my own daughter who’s crazy about these Disney Princesses and Arial and the whole trip, and, this has brought up very mixed feelings in me, because, a mother today is put in a real no-win situation.

You see, on the one hand, I don’t want for my daughter (who is 3) to get brainwashed by this whole Disney culture and celebrity culture; on the other hand, I can’t let her be unaware of popular culture, and, I also can’t let her become alienated from her little peers who speak in the lexicon which has been created by Disney and Sesame and Dora. So, she watches this stuff, and, yes, I am seeing first-hand the beginnings of this whole fucked-up process… and, what fucks me up is that there’s no escape!

Anyway, this is what Dr. Nelson says,

Heroic figures for women or considered icons of femininity are very much anchored in the femme fatale imagery and those include an assortment of Disney heroines, witches, cocktail waitresses, French maids and an “interchangeable variety of beauty queens.

See, that’s where the whole thing starts, and, this is a bit of a ramble, but, I will be writing on this topic in-depth (after research), so, I’m just putting some preliminary ideas down here… the idea that I want to get at in the forthcoming writing is how these gender roles get ingrained at such a young age (and, particularly through fucking Disney!) and something about Halloween connects for me as well, because, Halloween really runs much deeper than we often think… It’s a way for us to express deep-down desires that would under any other circumstances often be considered socially unacceptable…. and, on Halloween we can express these in true (and, so rewarding) voyeuristic fashion.

Oh, me oh my I just had a wonderful memory… all of this reminds me of a Dead Kennedy’s song I used to rock in high school. It’s called Halloween, and, I’m going to paste the lyrics here:

So it’s Halloween
And you feel like dancin’
And you feel like shinin’
And you feel like letting loose

Whatcha gonna be
Babe, you better know
And you better plan
Better plan all day

Better plan all week
Better plan all month
Better plan all year

You’re dressed up like a clown
Putting on your act
It’s the only time all year
You’ll ever admit that

I can see your eyes
I can see your brain
Baby, nothing’s changed
(repeat)

You’re still hiding in a mask
You take your fun seriously
No, don’t blow this year’s chance
Tomorrow your mold goes back on

After Halloween

You go to work today
You’ll go to work tomorrow
Shitfaced tonight
You’ll brag about it for months

Remember what I did
Remember what I was
Back on Halloween

But what’s in between
Where are your ideas
You sit around and dream
For next Halloween

Why not everyday
Are you so afraid
What will people say
(repeat)

After Halloween

Because your role is planned for you
There’s nothing you can do
But stop and think it through
But what will the boss say to you

And what will your girlfriend say to you
And the people out on the street they might glare at you
And whadya know you’re pretty self-conscious too

So you run back and stuff yourselves in rigid business costumes
Only at night to score is your leather uniform exhumed
Why don’t you take your social regulations
And shove ‘em up your ass

And, that’s how everything connects back, because, the key is in understanding Halloween as a time when we can reveal some of our authentic fantasies (and we all have them!) without fear of social stigma. And, what we’re seeing in the NY Times article (link above) is the real-deal fantasies also seem (at least tangentially) to be rooted in Hollywood celebrity trash “tits-hanging-out, nip slip, look at my heinie, baby-got-back, needle in my lip, silicone-in-my-tits” culture.

Okay, that’s it… this is a preliminary sketch, but I feel the idea is stated. Some are contending that this overt Halloween sexuality represents a brand of post-post feminism, and, they may be right; though, those sort of labels are becoming far too simplistic for this discussion. The question to ask yourself is how would the current women’s Halloween costumes be different if our celebrity culture (aesthetic) were different? Yes, the costumes would be different as well. This Halloween women’s costume phenomena (like so many things) ties right back into the all the garbage of seeing the female celebrities with their nipples and asses sticking out all the damn time.

I am not a prude; nor am I against sexuality. I am absolutely pro-sexuality (I love getting laid!): though, I think everyone is best served when sexuality is in a more substantial context, and, (boo-hiss) takes place in marriage.

Yours In Christ,
Katie Witherspoon

Technorati Tags: Halloween, good girls, bad girls, good girls go bad, sociology, feminism, television, celebrity, Dead Kennedys, Jello Biafra, punk rock, celebrity, actor, actress, model, Hollywood

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