http://www.brandsonsale.com/sexy-costumes-2015.html
http://www.brandsonsale.com/halloween-costumes-2014.html
These two Ebola Halloween costumes demonstrate Patricia N. Limerick’s idea that an ideological frontier is defined not by factual data but rather by distorted and decontextualized rhetoric.
The costumes are both deflecting attention away from the virus by making the matter of the Ebola virus trivial.
This is one of the mechanisms by which the real threat of Ebola is sidelined therefore making adequate response less likely, similar too the ways in which Ebola has been associated with deviance and Africans rather than a general public health issue. Instead call for such as immigration denial, quarantines, and flight cancellations, all of which are inadequate response to a virus because of the misrepresentation.
Focusing on a sexy costume a deviant continent of origin or racially-motivated scapegoat attention is deflected from a health care system that is inadequately prepared because of continuous funding refusal, this all serves to reinforce a policy that diminishes social spending by vilifying individuals not policy.
Why do you think the female Ebola nurse’s outfit is over sexualized while the man’s is not?
Introduction to American Studies- Tuesday section blog 
Immigration denial, quarantines, flight cancellations are all methods used by not just the United States, but by all nations to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. These are all valid measures, but you are correct in saying that these procedures are just Band-Aids for a broken bone. The real issue lies with the health system and how costumes like this portray people and their roles. The Ebola costume is very similar to a “sexy” nurse costume. The only difference is that the Ebola costume has boots. “Sexy” business attire costumes do not exist because these costumes would undermine a mostly male dominated sector of work. However, since mostly women are nurses, these costumes can be made. “Sexy” nurse costumes have undermined women nurses for decades, but they still exist. These costumes present the gender roles in society; male work cannot be undermined, while female work can be.
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This costume perfectly displays how today’s women’s Halloween costumes have been over sexualized, even when it is not appropriate. Sexual women’s Halloween costumes have become hegemonic, almost to the point that it has become out of the ordinary for women to wear a costume that is not sexual. On the contrary, if a man were to wear a similar costume, it would be viewed by society as ludicrous. This just shows how our society has normalized objectifying women’s bodies and making even inappropriate costumes sexual; Americans have become so used to the idea of sexual costumes that it no longer appears unusual or inappropriate. This displays women and their value as nothing more than physical, which enforces the discrimination that women have faced in society.
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The contrast between the male and female Ebola costumes is nothing different than is seen in any other Halloween costume. If a male and female version of a costume exist, the female will pretty much always be highly sexualized. We live in a society where it is still considered okay to sexualize women, and where most people don’t even see anything wrong with it. It has become hegemonic in American society. Go to the women’s section in any Halloween store and it is pretty much impossible to find a normal costume that doesn’t have “sexy” in the title. The “Sexy Ebola” costumes are a perfect combination of two hegemonic American favorites: trivializing current global or national issues and treating women as sexual objects.
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