But this year we’re breaking from tradition, because I refuse to be Boots for Halloween. So she’ll be Dora (total strangers have said that she looks like Dora… in August…), and I’ll be a Earth Angel (think overalls, spade, flower pot, garden gloves, and wings).

And i like a lot of the creative costume ideas i read. Creative and self made costumes beat store bought ones any day!

Thanks for being less lazy than I am and for posting the same thoughts that I would have.

The fact that they are pretty much all that’s available puts pressure on them, yes.

“Isn’t it therefore not such a good thing?”

It’s not such a good thing that they are all that’s available. Or available at all for very young girls. Which is exactly what Jill and everyone else has been saying.

“And isn’t it therefore not such a good thing for women to dress up sexy/slutty and perpetuate this?”

No. It’s perfectly fine for women to dress that way if that’s their cup of tea. The rest of us would just like an alternative, that’s all. And we are tired of seeing these costumes marketed to young girls who are then overtly-sexualized in a manner which they are unprepared for (usually). I’m not going to get into telling women what they can and can not wear. If you wish to discuss the potential dangers of women dressing in a fashion which conceivably upholds male-dominant standards of women as sexual object, and the pressure to conform to such standards, fine. I’m right there with you. But arguing that women just shouldn’t wear them at all is extremely problematic.

“We’re all against sexy/slutty when the media forces it on young girls, so shouldn’t we take responsibility in this case to not be a part of this culture?”

There’s a big difference between the media forcing sexualization on women and young girls and women willingly -choosing- to appear sexy (I refuse to use the word slutty. I do actually believe the word slut/slutty should die a horrible death.). Women are adults. We are free agents. We should be given the right to determine our own appearance. That doesn’t mean that we can’t critique certain fashions that are directed at women. It also doesn’t mean that we have to wear them. If you don’t want to wear a sexy costume, great. I won’t be either. I’m actually planning on going as a dead maid (long ankle length skirt, apron, and long sleeves. the only exposed part of my body will be my face and hands). A costume which is the exact opposite of sexy.

If you really understood the first statement, you wouldn’t have tacked on the second statement.

Honestly? I actually like most of the sexy costumes. Though I shall never like either the sexy cop or the Shoot ‘Em Up Cowgirl, as no one looks comfortable in those. The Leg Avenue stuff is usually pretty well made, even if two of the ones in stock are definitely not to be worn outside the bedroom. And really, if most of them are too short, they can also have leggings or stockings fairly well added. I like the wink-and-nudge jokes in some of the names, and how the people trying them on usually get a laugh out of the whole thing, even if it doesn’t work out for them.

And just as an odd observation, a lot of the costumes women have been trying on include cop costumes, Robin costumes, or more physical jobs.

Our Goldilocks costume for girls is really insanely short, as is our ladybug. Moms who see it, when their daughters say that, tend to say “Oh, we’ll just get leggings.” It’s very strange.

The political masks tend to get abused a lot, though. I think all of them have new hooks, sometimes for than one. And some of the people trying them on- which seems a bit hinky to me, but I have very little power over that, and most people can scare me easily, I’ll admit- can get really annoying.

Also, Caia, that mask seems to be the one at my job, and it’s not all too bad in person, especially compared to some of the other masks. It’s the Illegal Alien with bug/sci-fi alien eyes that we’re not sure if we should find offensive. It’s either irony or just plain stupidity. *headdesk*

That’s really not what anyone is saying at all. The general idea seems to be that there is nothing wrong with a sexy halloween costume, but when you take a boring, cliche costume and make it “sexy,” it is indeed still “boring/uncreative/stupid;” so it’s a lot more like saying there is nothing wrong with having multiple sex partners, but when you don’t use protection or common sense, it’s “dangerous/stupid.” (I took out the typical because it just doesn’t fit)