Halloween is approaching, and for many in the cosplay community, it’s an opportunity to dress up in some of our most favorite costumes outside of a comic convention environment. It’s also sometimes a way to show others who may not have some of the elaborate costumes that some of us may have, how we do things when not waiting for certain days to have an excuse to dress up. Also as we have seen over the past few years, there have been celebrities who have dressed in certain costumes which were very questionable because they were tone deaf to the sociopolitical environment in which we live.

This year, it seems that TV Guide not only got a head start in showcasing these celebrities, but the title of their article is tone deaf as well. Entitled, “Celebrity Halloween Costumes that Might Even Be a Little Too Sexy”, TV Guide showcases 68 photos of celebrity costumes. There is no preamble as to why this list exists, when the pictures were taken, and since some of the characters may or may not be obscure to some, no name as to who they are.

This list is a lazy attempt to just gather nearly 70 photos and say ‘Hey, she has her boobs out so, this is too sexy!’ and since there is no follow up article or blurb after the title, it can make readers wonder, “Too sexy for what?” because without anything ‘attempting’ to back up the ‘too sexy’ portion of the title, I don’t get what the context is.

Considering the political climate such as it is right now, the article’s title with no follow-up premise is tantamount to slut shaming. On the surface, it’s as if someone just decreed that whatever it is that they are dressing up as, it’s too sexy and there may be an implication that something might happen.

What’s even crazier is that if you look through the pictures, it makes one wonder even more as to what the criteria is for “too sexy”, as there are some costumes that are very conservative with a few people who are fully dressed. Also, of course, the list is mostly women. You can count on one hand the amount of pictures of men that made the list. Again it begs the question: what the criteria was for creating this list from the beginning?

So, TV Guide, I am not sure what you were going for here, but this list was lazy at its best and sexist at its worst. Not sure if you all got the memo, but we are at a point where we are doing our best to try and teach people that it’s OK to dress how they want and not feel ashamed about it; and trying even harder to teach others to keep their hands to themselves when people choose what they want to wear. This list would have been ‘fine’ in the 1950’s but in 2018 this is inappropriate.