Are you already planning your Halloween outfit? If you are considering wearing a corset top or dressing up a “lorax” you can get sleazy remarks.
Halloween is over a month away, but the internet is already divided into fashion choices for women on holiday. In the age of fasting and microtrends, the pressure for the original, especially on Halloween, has been more intense than ever. And ZZ’s obsession with being “basic” led to a hierarchy where niche outfits outperform traditional looks. Every year, a “Rare Cool Girl Halloween Costume” tutorial floods Tiktok. In recent years, corset-based outfits have skyrocketed in popularity, adding spice to the look of Disney Princesses, Fancy Nancy and vampires.
As an antidote to traditional sexy outfits, some users have promoted the “strange girl” outfit, which has sparked a heated debate. The viral video shows a group of girls emitting Alexander Hamilton in their founding father’s outfit with head-to-toe neon orange lolax fit, sports pit bull style bald caps, or powdered wigs.
But not everyone is on board.
Some commenters say that the outfit is merely an aspect of “cute girl humor” or “popular girl humor.” The term described traditional attractive women who became viruses in Tiktok and appear to be eccentric or related to destroying feminine behavior in general.
“If you’re going as a ‘Lolax’, you can’t complain about the basic corset Halloween outfit. You’re both sides of the same basic coin,” one user said in Tiktok, who has over 2.5 million viewers.
Online conversations highlight a bigger issue. This is a way that some women feel that no matter what they do, they can’t get it right.
“We attack girls who are really doing something,” one user commented on the viral video.
“Cute Girl Humor”, “Lolax” costumes and why women can’t win
Halloween debate is a microcosm of women’s daily struggles. Women may be pressured to appeal to men’s gazes, but too many skin and amputations may lead to ridicule or shame. When choosing humorous outfits like “Lorax”, they are accused of being “Pick Me Girl” (inhusband insults of “cold girls” or “only one guy” girls).
There are fine lines between “cool” and “clinge”, and for women, the lines may be even finer.
“There’s a stereotype that women are not inherently funny,” Leora Tanenbaum, author of Sexy Selfie Nation, previously told USA Today. “You can be accused of trying too hard. That’s “stubborn.” ”
Terms like “pretty girl humor” feed into this stereotype and even attack each other ideologies “I’m not like the other girl.”
“We’re just making femininity a demon,” one user commented on the virus video.
Memes can have a big impact
In 2024, terms like “girl math,” “girl dinner,” and “I’m just a girl” had exhausting moments and were fun for a while, but also reinforced negative gender stereotypes.
“The memes are playful, but they’re pretty strong,” Miriam L. Wallace, dean of the University of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Illinois Springfield, previously told USA Today. “My concern is that it will be set up and allows for underestimation of women’s abilities and abilities.”
Similarly, terms such as “basic” and “cute girl humor” can even be “jokes” and can get under people’s skin and contribute to gender-based stereotypes.
“Everyone knows this is something, so we can laugh at it,” Wallace explained. “But we believe in that at the same time. That’s when it really becomes dangerous.”
What happens when a woman leans on sexuality?
Ultimately, this fixation about what women wear and their sense of humor reflects the rise of modern internet police, dissecting, judging and laughing at others behind the screen. After all, this takes the agency away from women who are constantly forced to consider how their appearance is perceived, even in Halloween costumes.
Especially on social media, women’s choices become judges’ performances, and even efforts to “not besides other girls” quickly turn into trends and undergo the same scrutiny. This is enhanced when women embrace sexuality.
Experts say there is a difference between feeling sexy and becoming sexual.
“Sexualization is kind of passive. That’s when you’re sexualized by someone else,” Erin Hipple, an assistant professor of social work at Westchester University, previously told USA Today. “To me, being sexy feels like something embodied and empowered.”
Juliet Williams, a professor of gender studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, added: “If they gave girls and women more permission to imagine possibilities outside the standard norms of sexiness, they would experience Halloween as a more liberalisation.”
Contribution: Jenna Ryu
Rachel Hale’s role in covering youth mental health at USA Today is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editor input.
