Sexualization of Halloween costumes — for toddlers?
I thought about it long and hard (okay, no, I didn't), when trying to come up with an angle for my blog posts. It seemed obvious for me, a women's studies minor, to write about current events from my point of view, offering a perspective a lot of people don't think about.
That being said, my first topic to discuss, with Halloween less than a month away, is this:
(source: katu.com)
Walmart recently pulled this costume from their shelves after a lot of debate and outraged parents. While the word "naughty" does not necessarily have the connotations most adults seem to think it has, the fact of the matter is that when putting out a costume at this time of the year, "naughty" does indeed tend to refer to a sexual meaning.
Also, is it just me or did Walmart completely forget what leopards look like?
While this may not be a sexualized costume like the ones we're so used to seeing, the history of inappropriate Halloween costumes goes way back — even for kids! Every year, "child" versions of sexy Halloween costumes come out that have me scratching my head and going, "huh?"
(source: huffingtonpost.com)
Adult women are perfectly entitled to dress the way they want to, to be as covered or uncovered as they want, because they're adult women. Sure, if you want an authentic costume that doesn't look like you came out of a porn movie, you'll have to make it yourself or spend a lot of money, because adult costumes nowadays are always a "sexy" something.
But at what point is the sexualization of Halloween too much? Sure, the store-bought costume industry is banking it because there are a lot of women who are easily susceptible to their "sexy" costumes, but shouldn't we draw the line at the inappropriate costumes for children?
Girls are so often blamed for the way they dress, criticized for wearing too short skirts, too revealing outfits, but when society is shoving these costumes at us from such a young age, who's really to blame?
