Sex on Tuesday
Masqueraded Balls

Happy day after Halloween! Hungover? Nah, UC Berkeley students are much too focused to party on a Monday night. But last night and this weekend, you weren't exactly college students, were you? You weren't the scholars that I sit with at the Free Speech Movement Cafe, facing laptops and readers with genuinely perplexed expressions. You were French maids, disco pimps, angels, devils, vampires and pirates. Arrrr! And it was fun, wasn't it? You've proven that you love to dress up as something else at least once a year, but what about the rest of your nights? Don't put those Halloween costumes away just yet; the mysterious power that comes from role-playing can play a role in your sex life.

When I was a kid dressing up for Halloween, I assumed the role of the exotic belly dancer or the ghoulish bride. As a reward for acting out my fantasies, I could gorge on piles of candy. But in adulthood, Halloween lets us indulge a whole new brand of fantasy and brings a different kind of sweet treat: eye candy. Judging from what I saw this weekend, the majority of women's costumes were merely thematic frames for tits and asses. You couldn't tell who was trick-or-treating and who was turning a trick. Over at the Castro district, where people really get into it, you might find an exposed male ass and a bulging crotch to go with that shirtless fireman costume. Not so much in Berkeley-work on that one for next year, guys.

My friend Denise would not normally confront the general public in see-through panties, fishnets and a corset. But in her mind, if she added some red horns and a tail, it made her a devil. So this weekend, all of Las Vegas got to see the lovely lady lumps of a UC San Diego senior. In an aberration toward common decency, her roommate Lindsay made Denise cut out a piece of fabric to place over her pussy, which certainly would have peeked from behind the black lace. "I was sparing small children and the elderly," said Denise. "And the police!" interjected Lindsay.

Not everyone agrees that the Night of the Dead can breathe life into sexual fantasies. Two juniors, Laura and Linh, wore their home-made Harry Potter costumes on campus Monday afternoon. Dressed in black pants and white dress shirts along with red and yellow scarves and ties they had made themselves, Laura and Linh stood against the grain. I asked them what they thought about scandalous Halloween costumes. "I think people like that are stupid, it's such an excuse," said Laura without a moment's hesitation. Linh piped in, citing an example of a girl she saw at night, passing off a black skirt as a dress. "It was so cold! It's not practical." Their quiet friend Ryan whispered in Linh's ear, "You are dressed to have fun, not to get laid."

Since when are having fun and getting laid mutually exclusive? All right, I concede, there are plenty of other things to do on Halloween besides explore your sexuality. In that way, Laura is right: Halloween is an excuse. But is that such a bad thing? I'm not saying we ought to bastardize every holiday, unwrap ourselves instead of Christmas presents, etc. But as we grow older, something interesting happens to the night of Oct. 31, it suddenly becomes common to stalk the streets in outfits fit for bedroom hijinks. You don't have to do that to have fun, but if you want to, you can.

In fact, even the tamest costumes can become empowering. A scene from "The Sweetest Thing" comes to mind where a young woman is turned on by a man in a huge Disney-style bunny costume. So take advantage of those day-after-Halloween sales and buy yourself a couple extra costumes. Use them for a sexy strip tease. You don't even need an audience. Do it in front of the mirror by yourself. Don't feel ridiculous, revel in your freakiness. Take some pictures with your closest friends and lovers. Pick your girlfriend up from work in a police uniform. Examine your boyfriend, Dr. Love, and make sure he's getting his daily dose of you. When you put on a costume, any costume, you are simultaneously stripping away sexual inhibitions and you are free to assume a naughty personality that you wouldn't normally. That is sexual freedom and that means good sex.

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