Persuasive Reasoning

Recently I got in to a discussion on facebook about how scantily women dress on Halloween. My brother actually began the whole conversation by posting a status basically saying that he didn’t understand why women felt that it was ok to go out wearing practically nothing on Halloween, and that it gives off the wrong impression. He added that if you go out dressed in such a way, you aren’t likely to end up meeting a nice guy. SO if your motivations in dressing that way are to meet someone, then know that you will most likely end up with some perverted bar fly who when he looks at you, sees nothing but all of the skin you are showing.

Now usually I try to stay away from confrontational conversations on facebook (regardless of if I agree or not), but after seeing this silly feminist comment someone made on his status I couldn’t help myself. The girl was droning on and on about how she’s thinks it’s wonderful that women can wear as much or as little clothing as they want on Halloween, and basically calling my brother sexist, and accusing him of calling women who dress in barely there clothes “sluts” (which he did not do). She said that regardless of how revealing a woman’s outfit is, men shouldn’t look at them and perceive them as being skanky or provocative.

Now, in my personal opinion, I don’t quite understand why women go out in a bra and panties and call it a costume just because it’s Halloween. I found it to be kind-of silly that she would argue that a woman in an extremely revealing costume could be perceived in a non-sexual or wholesome light. So in my response to this woman I used deductive reasoning and analogical reasoning. I won’t get in to my entire response (partially because I don’t remember all of it lol), but I will give a couple specific examples. One example of my deductive reasoning was that “ if it would be considered inappropriate to wear a bra and panties out in public on any given day, than it wouldn’t be ok to do so just because it’s Halloween.” I also used analogical reasoning by making comparisons between the situations of how someone perceives women who dress in very revealing clothing with someone’s perception of an inanimate object. My argument was basically that you cannot fault men for seeing a woman in an extremely revealing costume and perceiving her as being (pardon my language) “skanky”, because that is how she is presenting herself. A man isn’t going to look at a woman who is practically naked in public and think, “wow, I bet she is just an angel”. Likewise, if you see a nice juicy apple, you will likely say to yourself something along the lines of “ what a delicious looking apple”, not “hmmm, well it looks like an apple, but I bet it’s really a meatloaf”. So when it comes right down to it, if you don’t want to be perceived in a certain way, then don’t present yourself as such. ;)