Last week news broke that a mother from Victoria B.C. was speaking out against the ‘sexy’ Halloween costumes she found at Value Village while trying to shop for her four-year-old daughter.
Raina Delisle explained to CBC that while trying to look for a firefighter costume for her daughter, she found boy’s versions that were accurate portrayals of what a fire should look like. However, the girl’s version was “a skin-tight, black shiny dress. It [didn’t] have a helmet.”
The company later pulled the costumes from their shelves. However, Delisle’s concerns about the risqué factor of young girls’ costumes highlight the overall sexaulization of the female body, in relation to dressing up for Halloween.
When companies distribute and market girls’ costumes in a sexualized manner, they are reiterating the notion that males can be taken seriously, while females must be reduced to exposing their bodies in order to be considered attractive or worthwhile. This message is damaging to the young female mind and body. If you are a young girl who sees these costumes, it warps your sense of self, leading you to believe that you have to be seen in a sexualized light in order to live up to society’s idealization of beauty.
Even when I tried to shop on line for costumes a few days ago, I couldn’t help but find that the majority of women’s costumes were tight, with low plunging necklines and short skirts. On the other hand, the men’s costumes were almost exact copies of whatever they were meant to emulate. For instance, the female ‘Mutant Ninja Turtles’ on Spirit Halloween’s website was tiny little dress, whereas the men’s equivalent of the costume was a full bodysuit.
It is disappointing to see that this message is being sent to girls at such a young age. The idea that a young boy’s costume is the exact copy of what a fireman or a policeman looks like, but the girl counterpart is a frilly, short, and tight fitting normalizes the idea that girls are prized primarily for their physical appearance.
The level of absurdity in some of ‘sexy’ adult female costumes was recently summed up in a Buzzfeed video where men try on these get ups. It really puts into perspective how ridiculous these costumes can be.
Needless to say, there is nothing wrong with women wanting to dress up in sexy costumes for Halloween, and feeling good about themselves while doing so. That is a matter of personal choice.
However, there is something wrong with how Halloween has turned into an occasion where the female image is marketed to young girls in a way that is directed simply to pleasing a male gaze. It limits girls into believing that ‘sexiness’ determines female self-worth. When boys’ costumes are made to emulate the figure they are dressing up as, why do girls’ costumes have to be underminded by the idea that hyper-sexualizing oneself is the only way females should be portrayed?
Stop sexualizing young girls. Just let them eat their candy, and keep playing dressing up simply as what they are: kids. It only lasts for a little while.