When I went shopping for my boys’ Halloween costumes, I glanced over to the “girls” section. My first thought was – where is the rest of the costume?
You may as well make Halloween costumes for girls with 12 x 12 inch felt squares sewn or pinned together because you won’t need a ton of fabric for the costumes you’ll find in stores these days! Halloween costumes for girls are skimpy, tight and inappropriate. The tween costumes are even worse. Let’s not even talk about women’s costumes which are mostly all two-piece outfits – bustier and mini-skirt. You have to rent a Renaissance costume if you want to dress up modestly.
Let’s say your daughter wants to dress up as a police officer for Halloween. This is her choice at the Halloween costume store?
And here is the boys’ option:
When I searched a few Halloween costume shops online, I counted 36 “career” boys Halloween costumes – and only 5 Career Costumes for Girls. FIVE.
On another website, the only careers were a pop star, Hollywood Diva and a police officer costume that is a dress. Who wears a dress as a police officer? Sure let’s chase the bad guys with high heel boots!
Why are Halloween costumes putting a sexy spin on police officers, firefighters and nurses? These are not realistic depictions of these occupations. Girls Halloween costumes are too provocative and sexy. Why are little girls and their bodies being hyper-sexualized this way?
Boys’ Halloween costumes are realistic depictions of these occupations but girls’ versions are not – they are a sexualized image of the real thing. What kind of message do these costumes send to our girls?
Boys and girls alike can aspire to be firefighters and police officers but yet these costumes, send a different message – that girls can’t wear the realistic version of these occupations because they are not girls’ occupations. It sends the message that a female who works in these types of jobs will need to reveal her body and look good in order to be accepted.
For those of you who think this is silly, I know the answer could be as simple as, “then go buy the costume in the boys department.” The point is that these sexy costumes shouldn’t exist for girls, period.
Here’s a solution – don’t separate costumes for boys and girls – there should be just a section called Costumes for Kids.
What do you think?
