In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Costume Calculus: Baby costume – sleeves + fishnets = Halloween

Caperton

As evil fizz struggles to find a non-sexualized Halloween costume for her daughter, the dearth of age-appropriate, non-naked costumes for kids becomes striking–particularly considering that your four-year-old sassy go-go pumpkin was, not a year back, an actual sphere.

Hypervocal also has tracked the evolution of girls’ and women’s Halloween costumes as they progress through various levels of nudity. Sigh at the progressive sexualization. Cringe as the costumes start out as cuddly little stuffed animals and turn into rejected characters from Final Fantasy. And flinch as you realize that Baby Pirate and Teen Pirate are pretty much exactly the same costume–using exactly the same amount of fabric. (So evil fizz, whatever you end up getting for Little Fizz, hold onto it when she’s done. You’ll be able to wear it yourself next year. With fishnets, of course.)

51 thoughts on Costume Calculus: Baby costume – sleeves + fishnets = Halloween

  2. I see the same thing in baby clothes too. I don’t have my own, but I have a veritable tribe of babies and toddlers in my life.

    It is so hard to find clothes for baby girls that aren’t like mini-adult clothes. “Skinny” jeans, crop tops (for fuck’s sake), baby versions of whatever the current women’s fashions are.

    It only gets scarier the older the girl in question gets. Having grown up in the 80s, where about 60% of my clothes were handed down to my brother. Lots of earth tones and primary colours for both sexes, comfy and practical clothing that would withstand whatever could be chucked at it.

    Now? It’s either pink and frilly and entirely non-practical, or shrunken adult clothes more suited for clubbing. Girls are apparently being forced into a rigid binary role before they can even talk, all Disney Princess and pink Lego (AAAARGH FUCK) and then into pre-tween. PRE-TWEEN! *weeps*

    Halloween is just a crystallised lump of that bullshit.

    Alongside this is the way several countries are trying to strip back women’s rights. I fear for future girls and women, especially those over in America, and anywhere else that there’s a strong element of religious extremism. Saudi Arabia and Israel have seen some appalling erasure (literally and socially) of girls and women recently.

    1. I don’t really see who your complaints are directed at? Frankly this kind of complaining with no taking responsibility is tiresome. The free market works on demand. The reason that these are the clothes and toys available to pre-teen girls is because those are the clothes and toys that are demanded. Maybe we should be asking why then are mothers buying these things for their daughters?

      I see this a lot in modern feminism, where women want to abdicate all responsibility for propping up and reinforcing a sexist culture. Yet they also want to complain constantly about said sexist culture. Like I said, it’s tiresome. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

      1. If the free market worked on demand, what the fuck would be the point of advertising? Unless you legitimately think that trillions of dollars are spent each year so that people are merely informed enough about products to make rational decisions about them.

      2. Fuck right off with this.

        Has it not occurred to you that part of these discussions is bring attention to the problem so that maybe more people will NOT buy into this shit? We’re not just sitting around complaining about it for the sake of complaining… it’s to spread some awareness so more people WILL take a stand and say ‘Hell no, I’m not buying into this’.

        And sorry, but why assume it’s the mothers buying the costumes? Do fathers not buy costumes? Do older kids not save up their little allowances and maybe buy their own stuff?

        But yeah, fuck right off to your ‘shut up and quit yer bitchin’ attitude.

      3. Totes true. Why, almost thirty years ago, when I was a kid, we were constantly begging our mothers for sexed-up costumes. “Mom,” we would say, as we besieged her with our request for a Sexy Elmo costume for the fiftieth time in two weeks, “Mom, why can’t we have cheap nylon micro-mini skirts with tight-fitting tops? Also, we want to wear heels and pose with our hip thrust out! Why, oh, why are we dined the opportunity to be sex-ay, just because we’re 8 years old?”

        “Write to the costume companies, darling,” our mothers would say, “and let them know about the immense demand for sexy little-girl costumes.”

        Once apprised of the totally natural and unchangeable demand for sexy little-girl costumes, what else could the costume-manufacturers do? They threw up their hands, unable to cope with the onslaught of letters, and, voila, by the magic of the free market, the sexy little-girl costumes appeared!

        What, isn’t that how it works with every product?

        4. I’d seen those appalling costumes before…that’s what I was thinking of when I wrote the comment. I’m kind of disappointed in CTW that they licensed that kind of thing.

        5. From how Yandy describes the costumes (Sexy Green Overalls!), I highly doubt they’re a result of any actual licensing.

        6. Not gonna lie, the jean suspenders would be cute if they didn’t cause such extreme camel toe.

          And if a model is experiencing extreme camel toe during a film shoot? There’s no hope for the rest of us.

      4. I have, in my life, met women who disagreed with other women about stuff. Perhaps you have too.

      5. So who’s getting really sick of doberman’s complete and utter inability to grasp the point of any of the posts s/he comments on or offer anything other than the same tired “Why do you even care” comment?

        3. Yep Jadey. Sick and tired of his libertarian bullshit.

          Doberman, I’ve asked you this before – why are you here? It seems like you have no idea how social justice works, or what feminism even means.

        4. Partial Human why do you assume I am male? For all you know I could be a woman or genderqueer.

          And I do care about feminism. My mum was a feminist back when there was more of a clear goal back in the 70s. I’m just interested in integrating modern theories such as libertarianism and evolutionary psychology into feminist theory, in order to create an ultimate feminism.

        5. I’m just interested in integrating modern theories such as libertarianism and evolutionary psychology into feminist theory, in order to create an ultimate feminism.

          Can’t even.. choking on my own scorn…

        7. Li, it’s like when all the transformers transform together into the ULTIMATE TRANSFORMER. And then there’s cake and ice cream.

          I am pretty sure that’s how babies are made, too.

        9. Libertarian feminism…?

          The libertarianism that is libertarian in the present world is not the true libertarianism. It’s a nice idea, but it will not work in our lifetime because choices are not free.

        10. So, for anyone who knows the song “America, fuck yeah!” from Team America: World Police….

          #Doberman, fuck yeah!
          Ultimate feminist fighting for the ladies.
          Doberman, fuck yeah!
          Loving Ayn Rand in that special wa-ay.

          Feminists your time is through,
          As Doberman will ‘splain to you, cos
          Doberman, fuck yeah!
          Knows Femlibertarishit’s the order of the da-ay#

          Mmmm. Sugar, caffeine and therapeutic opiates make Partial Human get silly. But then Partial Human is not a full human, and therefore knows that her trifling words have no real meaning to the Real Humans anyway.

          So, Mr/Ms/Mx Ultimate Feminist (although I’m sure you said you were male, but whatever you are, your ‘splaining makes you a douche, regardless)

          Fuck libertarianism. Fuck your Ultimate Feminist Cred (lol@ “My mommy was a feminist!)
          Fuck the free market, game theory, the Chicago School, and the rest of them.

          Libertarianism is antithetical to social justice. So, why not set up UltimateFeministDeathmatch.org, and witter on about your World Changing Ultimate Feminism to your heart’s content, and where people who actually care about social justice, who aren’t apparently poisoned by privilege can avoid your toxic Thatcherite crap.

      6. You’re right. There isn’t an arbiter of culture enforcing hyper sexist ideals that we can point to and say, “aha!” but we are talking about culture, which is made as much as it is participated in…and that is grounds for criticism. And it isn’t something that can be changed by one person (or a small group of people) choosing differently, because by the time it becomes culture, it’s so inescapable the choice is between navigating it (fine, I’ll buy the pink legos, but at least they are legos) or not participating at all (we’re moving to the hippie commune in the mountains!) And a lot of it? Is sold to us. It’s marketing. The TV shows, the movies, the music, the way stores are set up, how the ads are coached, especially to children who aren’t aware of the implicit messaging…

  3. Do people really wear the Sexy Bee, Sexy Angel, and Sexy Minnie Mouse costumes? I mean, obviously the costume websites sell them, so it follows that somebody buys them. But do they then also wearthem?

    (Yes, I live under a rock.)

    1. I have never actually seen anyone wearing these costumes, but I’m sure people do. I definitely did the sexy costumes when I was younger (like 20ish), but they were always DIY, and never involved belly tops.

      1. I did one sexy costume when I was in my twenties, but that was only because I couldn’t find my coverall plaid pajamas. I was going as a character that I called “The Plaid Bandit”, and I would safety pin a piece of cut up flannel shirt to a person’s clothes, then laugh that I had ruined their outfit. I ended up having to wear my plaid bra under a plaid jacket with a pair of plaid short shorts, and I painted a plaid pattern over my eyes with make up as a mask. But I tended to do that sort of shit a lot, to play a full blown character for Halloween than just wear a costume, so I wasn’t afraid to look the fool when I was dressed as a tourist carrying a handful of maps in a red Hawaiian shirt, knee length blue plaid shorts, navy calf length socks and white tennis shoes, asking people where Schenectady was.

    2. I have seen a LOT of Sexy Bee costumes on women my own age at parties around Halloween at my university. It’s kind of odd, really weird.

      Also a fair number of other ‘sexy’ costumes but those were not hypersexualized unsexy things. Succubi/whatever and a fair number of people who wanted to take the opportunity to dress in a ‘too much’ manner (as in ‘too dramatic’ or ‘too complex’ or ‘too anachronistic’, not ‘too much skin’ although they tended toward decolletage.)

    3. I’ve been to a couple of adult Halloween parties where there were women wearing sexy costumes like these. Then again, they were all at clubs and bars, so I guess not so surprising a place to wear such a costume. My BIL’s ex-wife has always been into dressing super, over the top sexy, and also wears super sexy Halloween costumes every year (even to take her kids ToTing when they were little and now to answer the door to kids on Halloween night.) I, just, don’t really know how to discuss it further without getting offensive about her costume choices, but I know her kids at ages 11 and 9 are starting to get pretty embarrased about the whole thing.

    4. I’ve personally worn a sexy ragdoll and sexy Dorothy Gale store bought costume, and once made a sexy Toad (i.e. the little mushroom guy from Mario – did you know he didn’t wear anything under his vest? ;)).

      Patriarchy, I have internalized the shit out of you.

  4. I live an Ocean away from Halloween – that is, we go through the same madness a few months later, for Carnival, and have exactly the same problems.
    To cheer you all up, a tumbler compares male and female similar-themed costumes, and it’s so bad that it actually made me laugh.
    I’ve shared it with my almost-teen daughter.

    1. I looked through that Tumblr. Something I noticed is that, almost universally, if the man’s costume has some sort of mask (like the Iron Man costume or the V for Vendetta one), the woman’s will not, or will have a very abbreviated version.

      Also, with half of the women’s costumes, they’re so tiny and lacking in detail that I wouldn’t know what they were unless someone told me. Like the clownfish. There is nothing remotely fish-oriented about it; it’s just a weird orange and white dress with some pubic-hair level tulle. WTF.

      I mean, sure, my costume for Halloween this year is probably going to be “sexy.” But the main Halloween party I’m going to is at a fetish club, and I still think what I’m wearing covers more than most of the outfits on that tumblr. Also, I’m considering dressing up as John Cleese from the Ministry of Silly Walks for any vanilla events.

      1. They sell bras, panties, and lingerie, but nothing too out there. Mostly just hilariously bad “sexy” costumes.

  6. It is REALLY hard to find shorts for girl toddlers that are not short shorts. I found 1 pair at Carter’s and one at the Gap for my 3 year old this past summer. Short shorts are so stupid for little kids! You burn your legs on the slide!

    2. Boys’ shorts: usually cheaper, but more durable and with more fabric. Plus pockets! Best tip I ever got when we had our little one.

  7. These costumes are so trailer park. Keep repeating this. Nobody seems to care about the sexualization of our kids but they do, by dawg, care about the maintenance and appearance of their social status.
    Anybody see Retronaut.com’s pic of JFK’s kids in Halloween costume? The monster masks were some genuinely scary shit.
    BTW, why aren’t we getting Walking Dead kids? Makeup, ripped clothes, easy and up to date.

      1. This.

        Poor people aren’t exclusively stupid, ignorant, lacking in social awareness #cough#Romney#cough#.

        I’m poor as shit, always have been, and I’m sick of people from government on down using my poverty as a stick to hit me with.

        Poverty has no correlation, inverse or otherwise, with morals and taste. We just lack the money to organise coverups.

    2. … I agree. Poverty is not synonymous with degeneracy.

      I’ve actually seen a LOT of non-hypersexualized costumes too, some pretty scary. Cute ones seem to have gotten pretty common though; I remember (this was halloween after the debut of Valve’s Portal 2) a couple dressed as portals.

  8. I almost threw my laptop out the window over this:
    http://www.yandy.com/ANITA-SEDATIVE.php

    Well… um… at least crazy people can be sexy? Do they even still use straight jackets anymore? I’ve never seen one the couple times I’ve been in there…

    … could it be some kind of scummy dubious consent thing? Am I derailing the thread? (YES)

Comments are currently closed.