This column by New York Times resident conservative John Tierney is worth savoring (if you happen to susbscribe to Times Select, which I don’t, so this excerpt comes via Terry Mattingly):
“In principle, I have nothing against women in vinyl thigh-high boots, leather corsets, French maid micro-dresses or dominatrix gear. If American women are determined to set aside one day a year to go public with their inner vixen, I believe it is men’s solemn duty to respect their wishes.
“But should that day be Halloween? This is the great question facing our nation now that Oct. 31 has become known as Slutoween and Dress-Like-a-Whore-Day, much to the distress of moralists on both the left and right. When I see fundamentalists and feminists jointly denouncing something, my knee-jerk libertarian response is: bring it on! If the stores are stocked with nothing but slutty costumes, this must be what customers want. The market has spoken.
“I’ve started to wonder, though, if Halloween is a case of market failure, an arms race that’s out of control.”
Manolo the Shoeblogger makes similar observations:
“Ayyyy, but now the Halloween it has become the massive celebration of the adult id unbound, the holiday during which even the mildest and mousiest librarians and church ladies unleash their inner hoochies, strutting out into the cool autumnal night wearing the micro-mini skirts and the thigh-high ‘Pretty Woman’ boots.”
Tierney argues: How about being really countercultural and holding a slut-free Halloween party?