Dear Halloween Costume Makers, Please Stop Selling Slutty Girl’s Costumes.
Next time you go to a Halloween costume store, look at the women’s and young girl’s costume aisle. See a big difference? Yes, you’re correct. After the age of 13, all of the costumes are slutty versions of basically everything. There are slutty nurses, police officers, teachers, etc. Why is this a problem? This sets an unrealistic expectation for women to reach about their body shape and this also tells girls from a young age that their body and their looks are more important than the professions and/or the characters they are representing.
From a young age, I personally was told by a number of relatives that I needed to lose weight in order to be beautiful. It took a long time for me to accept myself – stretch marks and all. Thankfully, my Halloween costumes have consisted of clothes I already had and a dash of creativity, so I never wore any store-bought costumes. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all the teenage girls who are forced to buy the sexier version costumes including well-loved childhood cartoon characters like Minnie Mouse, Winnie The Pooh, Snow White, Olaf, and many more. Even though clothing companies preach about being more size-inclusive, there are still stores that sell such costumes. Society’s notion that sexy clothes can only be worn by women with XS or S sized bodies just adds fuel to the flame. This just tells young girls that thin or skinny people can buy such costumes and that all other sizes aren’t good enough.
In addition to the impractical standards set by such costumes, making these costumes slutty doesn’t show young children the reality of that profession or character. Let’s look at the slutty nurse and police officer. The real police officer uniform and the real nurse uniform are drastically different from the costume versions. Revealing necklines, short skirts, and no sleeves just tells children that looks are valued rather than what is in their head or what their chosen profession is. Young girls should know that getting a job is important and that their looks and body shape is not all that matters.
If they included more normal sized and realistic costumes, it would empower girls and help them love their bodies no matter what size.