Is Stein scary smart or just creepy?

Re “Forget the candy, grab the fishnets,” Opinion, Oct. 26

I visited UC Santa Barbara around Halloween a couple years back, when college girls roamed the streets in nothing but bras and panties. Since when did underwear become a costume? Halloween has shifted from kids trick-or-treating into a devilish night for adults. I still enjoy Oct. 31, but for all the wrong reasons. It is the one night of the year when good girls get the OK to dress as whores, no questions asked.

Joel Stein’s Slut Day seems like a viable option, although the title may need some work. A designated day for women to degrade themselves would grant them the opportunity to whore it up without sacrificing the wholesome family fun that Halloween once stood for. Let’s give Slut Day a chance so Halloween can return to its carefree days when the only thing parents worried about was cavities.

Estin Stewart

Los Angeles

--

Either Stein’s column on Slutoween is unbelievably retrograde and sexist -- a serious assertion that any woman who wears a sexy costume is a slut or whore? -- or a childish and tiresome attempt at being shocking. Whichever is true, it offends me that The Times printed it.

There are plenty of places where I can be called a slut for the length of my skirt, satirically or not. I expect something better from this newspaper.

Erin Tavano

Los Angeles