Whether you were team Marvel or DC growing up, dressing as your favourite superhero was likely your way of stepping into your confidence. Though you may not have been the most assertive child, dressing up as a superhero was a chance to feel like the most empowered, secure version of yourself. "It's less about making other people feel a certain way but probably about feeling more powerful and confident within themselves," Dr. Saladino says of people who chose to dress as superheroes when they were kids. "It's hard to put on a cape and not feel better about yourself."
As children, there are few opportunities to feel empowered. Halloween, though, extends the opportunity to personify whoever we choose, whether it's Catwoman, Spider-Man, or the pink Power Ranger. In the same way we wear our favourite shoes or outfit to special events as adults, as kids, we tend to put on costumes that make us feel good about ourselves, effectively influencing how we carry ourselves. Superhero costumes, in particular, can make us feel strong and self-assured, even if that's not how we normally behave.
"I think that anybody dressing up for Halloween should really think about if they're dressing up because it makes them feel empowered or because they think that somebody else wants to see this version of them," Shapiro says of wearing Halloween costumes. "There's a very big difference. If you are dressing up for somebody else, even if it's subconsciously, then you will not feel empowered. The second somebody looks at you and they don't necessarily one hundred percent give you the validation or the affirmation that you thought you would receive, you're going to feel like rubbish. That happens whenever we're doing something for external validation." If, instead, we wear costumes that personally make us feel more empowered, "you're not going to need the validation from anybody else," she adds.