Costumes on the internet display tight, short and revealing costumes, which can have a negative impact on the way teenage girls and women view themselves.
Halloween impacts girls’ body image
Horror movies, creating jack-o-lanterns, eating candy and going trick-or-treating are just a few aspects associated with Halloween. But as you get older this all becomes childish, right?
Although Halloween is a day that is supposed to come across as a harmless holiday, costumes for teenage girls and women have become hypersexualized, which can lead to feelings of pressure to constantly fit into society’s beauty standards. The over advertisement of sexualized costumes can make teenagers feel pressured to wear these outfits, potentially causing negative thoughts on their body image.
“Being expected to wear scandalous costumes can inflict anxiety,” Sydney Chinitz ’23 said. “Expectations around girls’ Halloween costumes can cause body dysmorphia and isn’t something that they should feel obligated to follow.”
Some girls feel peer pressure as well. Alex Hackett ‘25 has been influenced in the past to buy a Halloween costume that she does not feel comfortable in simply to fit in with everybody else.
“I’ve definitely bought a costume that shows skin because all of my friends were buying costumes like that,” Hackett said.
There are powers trying to combat the negative feelings teenagers feel about their bodies. On social media platforms like Tiktok and Twitter, a spread of body positivity works to dispute unrealistic beauty standards so that girls of all ages can feel more comfortable in their bodies.
“It’s terrible that this is the way teenage girls constantly feel,” Chinitz said. “I hope that there will be a time where everyone feels confident and comfortable in their own bodies. We shouldn’t have to conform to society and feel badly about the way we look.”