Halloween is just around the corner and no doubt many of you are excited to enjoy this spooky day of the year. However, just as it is something fun to look forward to there is also the opposite.

One thing you can unfortunately expect from Halloween is an increase in danger. Attorneys Hartman, a legal firm in New Jersey wrote a blog post titled “Surprising Facts About Halloween Crime Spikes”.

Attorneys Hartman describes why these things may occur more often during this time, including more alcohol and potential drug use. It is also interesting to note that because Halloween is a ‘prank’ holiday that may also be what is inciting petty or small crimes.

There are also other issues. An article titled “Halloween Safety Tips” was written by Kelli Acciardo from Seventeen gives some great advice. Acciardo recommends to watch your drinks and to be careful on the road.6

Unsurprisingly, there is also more to watch out for, but instead of violence, it is what you wear. It is very likely you have seen some questionable Halloween costumes that could be borderline offensive.

A Halloween article titled “Can I wear that? What to know about culturally insensitive Halloween costumes” from Spectrum News and written by Taylor Bruck discusses such a topic. Bruck wrote about how we wear costumes on the surface level and do not usually think about the deeper meaning behind certain looks.

While dressing up may not seem like a big deal for many people certain styles or articles of clothing hold some sort of significance to them seeing it as a costume is extremely demeaning. A large part of this is ignorance and how we have demoted certain types of peoples and cultures into stereotypes.

So what you can do instead is to attempt to become more aware of the costumes you choose to wear on Halloween and ensure that you are doing your best to not be culturally insensitive.

If you see a friend that may be thinking about what they should wear and you notice them leaning into something that represents a stereotype, just let them know before suggesting something else. One of the other bigger issues in this category is sexualization and the objectification of womens’ Halloween costumes.

An article from The Daily Nebraskan titled “BUCKLEY: Halloween costumes should not be subjected to gender stereotypes” written by Kim Buckley takes both genders into account. Buckley expresses how she feels it is a weird standard to have women be expected to be ‘sluts’ during Halloween while men are not.4

It is still important to not only realize how messed up this is in the sense of having one gender being expected to be ‘sexy’ while the other does not. Just as women during Halloween can be objectified so do men even if it is not inherent with what we connect with Halloween.

This also brings up a larger issue in whole in regards to consent. According to an opinion article titled “More tricks than treats: Halloween’s sexual assault problem” written by The Pit News identifies a greater issue at large.

The Pit News describes how especially during Halloween reports of assault, harrasment, and rape come to the forefront and how this is often because of drinking, partying, and people who unfortunately do not care about the idea of consent. However the thing that stood out to me from this article was the idea that what you wear does not represent giving verbal consent.5

The excuse “women are asking for it” sinks when you bring up the culture we live in, where sexy is expected but respect is never given. Just as this can happen to any woman, it could happen with any other man. To stay safe it would be best to hang around people you trust and let someone know where you are throughout your Halloween night.

With so many dangers you might be asking yourself what you should do for your own safety so you can enjoy your Halloween night!

With the end of that, have a Happy Halloween and stay safe!