![]() ![]() But dressing up as your favorite saint for Halloween is strikingly different from dressing as a caricature of a nun in a violent, provocative, or mocking way. ![]() Many are aware that Halloween, a secular holiday with connections to All Saints Day, originally celebrated saints. But we were told by several sisters in the order of the Daughters of Saint Paul that, since one of the purposes of a habit is to prevent the sexualization of women religious, a sexy costume that integrates a habit is not only disrespectful, it negates a habit’s original purpose. “Bad habit,” “sinful sister,” and “twisted sister” nun costumes are sexy cosplay intended to make the wearer more attractive. Habits are also purposefully modest, keeping parts of a woman’s identity private, and preventing her sexualization by others. As another sister from the Daughters of Saint Paul explains, “my habit is also a way of living a simple life, not having to decide what to wear or to be concerned with keeping up with the latest fashion.” Orianne Pietra René, another sister of the Daughters of Saint Paul, explains that the habit “much like a wedding ring, is a treasured symbol of the bond between spouses, both for the couple and to others.”įinally, the habit is closely connected to the values of religious orders-values like simplicity. Before the profession of religious vows, Sister Allison tells us, there’s a ceremony attended by the community where a new sister is blessed with special prayers and receives her habit for the first time. This is especially true for consecrated individuals like women religious, who devote themselves to religious service, and wear specific clothing as part of their religious calling. Religious clothing also communicates identity and community belonging. Sister Allison Regina Gliot, a member of the Daughters of Saint Paul order, describes the habit as “a reminder to ourselves and to others that there is more to life than this world and we are all called to an eternal destiny with God.” Other forms, like hijab, a turban, or a nun’s habit, are worn to help religious believers navigate even spaces and activities that are not explicitly religious. Some forms of religious clothing, such as the Native American headdress, the tallit, and chapel veils, have specific meanings within the context of religious rituals and ceremonies. In order to assess the ethics of a sexy nun costume, however, we need to first understand how a habit functions in the religious life of these women. But the real impact of nun costumes isn’t on the hierarchy, it’s on women religious, who already face mental and physical abuse within the Catholic Church. Some believe that nun costumes don’t qualify as appropriation since they borrow from the Catholic Church, one of the most powerful institutions in the world. Sexy nun and similar costumes represent women religious in ways that directly conflict with their identities and core values, so this Halloween it’s critical to remember that religious appropriation can also be problematic. And yet, costumes based on religious clothing-such as the sexy nun-seem to get a pass. ![]() Over the last several years, there has been growing attention to the role of cultural appropriation in Halloween traditions. ![]()
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