Your costume, your choice

[media-credit name="Connor Wells" align="alignnone" width="407"][/media-credit]

It's a tale as old as time. The moment the leaves fall to the ground and the pumpkin spice lattes emerge, women around the world begin to scour their Pinterest boards for ideas for Halloween costumes. And more often than not, many of these costume ideas follow the same theme: Slutty version of (insert common household concept here).

This tradition has changed over the years. When we were kids, we were all excited to dress up like the scariest monster on our block. Or, at least, I did. My friends and I would climb down the fire escape to sneak out to the costume store, and buy whatever costume we thought would get us sent home from school. It wasn't to impress the boys, and it wasn't just to make our parents mad. It was because that was what we wanted to do.

Things haven't changed much since then. I'm sure if my second grade teacher saw what some female college students wore out on Halloween, or any other day for that matter, she would send them home to change. Because, despite what she may think, no one wore their costumes just for Mrs. Long's amusement, or utter horror.

For people all across the world, clothing is a way to display not just who they are, but who they want to be. Especially for women, we have adopted our personal appearance as a way to express how we are feeling at the moment. When we want to feel professional for an interview, we break out the blazers. hen we feel tired and upset, we break out the sweatpants. Every woman has a favorite t-shirt or favorite pair of jeans that gives them the confidence to take on whatever they have that day.

Long story short, most fashion choices we make in a day are for ourselves. Not for a guys attention: just because that is how we feel confident.

It has become a narrative among certain women to judge others based off of how they act or dress, all in the name of feminism. Wearing a "slutty" halloween costume has been looked down on as simply portraying yourself as a piece of meat or, for this season, a trick that comes with a treat.

I feel like I have to explain the basic idea of feminism itself: for women to have the same rights as anyone else. And while many of the women who seem to not be okay with giving up the right to equal pay, or the right to govern our own bodies, they have chosen to forget about respecting the one right we have had for a while now: the right to choose what we wear.

Someone who truly is a feminist understands that showing some thigh doesn't mean that you are any less of a great person. If it is acceptable to wear a certain color shirt because it makes your eyes stand out, then why is it not acceptable to wear a top that highlights your cleavage?

The whole point of feminism is to give women choices. So, whether you choose to wear a tiny hooker skirt or a box on your head, wear it with confidence. Pull a Tim Gunn and make it work.

mintona2@miamioh.edu