Halloween is one of the sexiest holidays around. No, it may not be considered a sex holiday of the likes of Threesome Day or National Sex Toy Day, but there’s plenty of erotic magic to All Hallows’ Eve. When else do you get to dress up and role-play as an adult, or even put on a sexy costume that could involve going out in public in super skimpy attire and have everyone cheer? There’s even lots of Halloween erotica because something about October 31 just makes people horny. It’s a chance to throw caution (and sometimes, covered clothing) to the wind and become someone else for the night, with the full sanction of everyone around you.
As Grazia explains:
The phenomenon known as ‘enclothed cognition’ explains the appeal of fancy dress, explains MindFashion’s founder and cultural marketing expert Janne Baetsen. ‘The reasons why we dress-up and whom or what we dress-up as might be broad and personal, but one thing is certain, a costume allows us to imagine and transform into someone else, or, in a different version of ourselves. Giving us ‘super’ powers that normally don’t come naturally or maybe even make us uncomfortable, from feeling sexy, less shy or like a kid again to brave, funny, scary or strong.’ Costumes allow us to let our inner selves loose, even if it’s just for one night a year.
People of any gender have the opportunity on Halloween to dress up however they desire. This can be a wonderful opportunity to try out a look or even a sexual practice like BDSM in a simple way, such as by wielding a pair of handcuffs or a cat o’ nine tails as part of a kinky, sexy costume. Just holding a sex toy like that at a Halloween party and discovering the reactions you get may tell you a lot about whether this is something you want to explore in a more intimate setting. You can add full makeup or a mask to disguise yourself, or be recognizable, just in a more sultry version of your usual look.
According to a history of sexy Halloween at HuffPost, there were several major milestones that led us into the era of the sexy costume. One was that, says Halloween historian Lesley Bannatyne, in the 1940s, Hollywood studios would get their starlets to pose as sexy cats or sexy witches, alongside pumpkins, in order to get publicity. A few decades later in the 70s, gay Halloween parades flourished in major cities, with wild and outrageous costumes. These parades featured drag queens and were centered around the gay community, but also had wider appeal in the mainstream.
It was the advertising industry that helped cement the sexy version of Halloween we know and love today. As HuffPost explains, Elvira’s 1986 Coors Light ad revealing her long legs in a sexy dress was a major milestone in Halloween’s erotic evolution.
“They had a wildly successful campaign and discovered that they could make Halloween into a beer holiday, by using a very sexy lady,” Bannatyne said.
“Around Halloween time, they would send these life-sized cutouts to liquor stores to help them distribute Coors. So many college kids stole those. Elvira was everywhere, and all of a sudden Halloween was much more of an adult holiday and a beer-drinking holiday.”
Whatever your version of Halloween looks like, we encourage you to use it as another opportunity to explore a new side of your sexual self, whether you dress up, dress down, or anything in between.