Oxfordia: Halloqueen

It's november! This is madness. We're in week four now, which means we're mid-term already.

It was a fun Halloween weekend this year--on Friday we went to a pub called the Grapes, which was decorated for the holiday, and I watched Hocus Pocus, which, as you know, holds the official title of Best Halloween Movie of All Time. Do not dispute this.

Really though it was all about the main event: Halloqueen.

At various points in the year, different colleges within the university will sponsor "bops" (which elicits images of 1950's sock hops for me every time). And though apparently Halloween is not generally a big deal amongst the over 7 set in this country, students will take any opportunity to celebrate that they can. St. Antony's hosted the Halloqueen bop: an evening of fabulosity and dressing as a gender that you normally do not. Which generally meant fellas in dresses and women in facial hair, ties, etc.

(Like this. I deeply loved my handlebar moustache and am seriously considering keeping it--or at least busting it out every once in awhile.)

This event is simultaneously a dream come true, living nightmare and sociological field day for someone who does Women's Studies. And here follows my feminist deconstruction because I can't turn it off, people. I loved the possibilities for gender bending and taking on a new persona outside the usual, boring Sexy Whatever that has become the ubiquitous halloween costume for twentysomething women; however, the other side of the coin--and what was in large part the reality of the event--was that dressing in drag didn't so much break down the gender binary as reinforce it. Though some people really did get creative and genuinely dressed as some interesting version of another gender (our Kellogg and WS crew made pretty good men, and I saw a 6 foot Marie Antoinette in full regalia), by and large the guys just dressed as the Sexy Whatevers and girls dressed as Sexy Guys.

I know that Halloween costumes aren't usually done in a serious, social commentary-focused way, but the things we do in jest say a lot about our collective ideas and attitudes. In Women's Studies we talk a lot about how people "perform" gender in how they appear, talk and behave, and Halloqueen as essentially a night of gender performance a fascinating insight into people's perceptions of what it means to be a man or a woman. When everyone's focus was on groping the "girls" or looking hyperfeminine in a Britney Spears-porn star hybrid sort of way, it made my stomach churn. And what's so scary about a woman dressing and actually looking like a man? Why is it still an expectation--even at a party where you're supposed to dress as another gender--that women need to be sexy? Dressing as a man for five hours does not necessarily shake my identity as a woman. So why does it seem to be so scary for so many people? I mean, I think I know why. But I don't like it.

Okay, and my final point (for now): there wasn't a lot of room in this event for people outside the gender binary of man/woman. We were supposed to come as the "opposite" gender, constructing the understanding that there are only two and any genderqueer or transperson was left outside. I dislike exclusion, forcing people into limited categories, etc, so that element was just no good.

I really can't turn it off. But really, this evening was a loud, sequined, over-the-top and in-your-face reminder that there's still a lot of work to be done.

Okay, despite the problems, we had a lot of fun at Halloqueen with the cheesy music and dancing well into November 1st. I was glad to spend time with college and class friends, flail around (because in truth I don't know if you can call what I do "dancing"), and let off some steam. And that's all I've got, so I'll lead you out with a couple more pictures: