A few more thoughts on Halloween

Given some of the reactions I've received to my initial Halloween post, I think it might be a good idea to post a quick follow-up.  I think I might not have expressed myself very well in that post, and would like to clear a few things up before we move on.

I do not have a problem with female sexuality, or its expression - in Halloween costumes or anything else.  How much of her body any woman wants to show off in public is obviously none of my business, and I do not want to shame any woman who chooses to show off a little skin.  I've gone out in my own fair share of skimpy costumes, particularly a magician's-assistant-gone-wrong getup involving not much more than tights, hot pants, a torn shirt, and a lot of fake blood.  I had a blast running around the party holding the "gash" in my stomach and asking people to call me an ambulance.

My outfit for that costume was pretty skimpy, because that was part of the character.  It was skimpy enough that it would probably fall into the "sexy" costume category, although I think it's also worth stopping to think about how absurd, backwards, and demeaning it is that minimal clothing seems to have become the sole criterion for whether or not something is sexy.

The problem that I have with "sexy" Halloween costumes is the corporate industry which has grown up around the exploitation of female sexuality.  Going out in one of these prefab costumes is not a statement of your self-confidence as an empowered woman.  Generations of feminists have not fought a sexist society so you could be a sexy pizza on Halloween.  Paternal and puritanical objections to female sexual empowerment are not the problem here, a commercialised, generalised costume which takes something banal like a piece of pizza and make it "sexy" by ensuring that leaves as little to the imagination as possible is the problem.  The fact that our society thinks these costumes are sexy is the problem.  When I say that we as a gender can -- and should -- do better than this, it isn't the showing of skin that I'm objecting to.  I'm objecting to the willful complicity in this exploitative system which is designed in relation to nothing more than the male consumption of female sexuality and the desire to make money. 

Hopefully I've cleared a few things up.  Now that I've spoken my peace, I'm ready to get back to the fun and silliness of this holiday.  Keep an eye out for my next costume!