During my craft and fabric store adventures on Friday, I also stopped by the Halloween store next to Hobby Lobby. I am always curious to see what kind of costumes are popular and see what the hot trends are this year. As usual, and honestly as I expected, the costumes aimed at adult women almost all featured mini skirts, low cut tops (more often than not a bustier), and fishnet stockings. I cannot figure out why a police officer or nurse would wear fishnet stockings but that's what they sell. As much as the need for all women's Halloween costumes to be sexy pisses me off, that was not nearly as disturbing as my trip to the children's section.
Amongst the racks of cheaply made princess dresses and the super hero costumes with the sculpted padded abs I found costumes that were far more disturbing to my sensibilities. In addition to the fluffy princess dresses and the stereotypical ghost and pirate costumes were duplicates of the "sexy" womens' Halloween costumes.
Some of you may be going, "What's the big deal?" but I hope most of you are just as appalled as I am. Now let me explain the problem. As an adult woman, I am expected to wear something like THIS or THIS in order to be "sexy" or "desirable." Notice the micro-mini skirts and the ultra tight fit. One reviewer on the sheriff costume said that even though she was petite (5'2" or so) the skirt was not long enough to cover her butt. And this is decent to wear in public?
Now let's take a look at THIS costume. I would guess the age of the girl in the photo to be around 9 or 10. She is dressed as a referee but certainly like no referee I have ever seen. Notice the close fit of the top and most noticeable for me: the hemline. It's not much if any long than the skirts on the sheriff or taxi costumes. Yet this costume is somehow appropriate for a 9 year old.
This "Night Wing" Costume probably takes the cake for me though. Notice the spandex top that is printed to look like a bustier. Notice the skirt so short I would hedge my bets that it doesn't cover her butt in the back. And notice the fine print that the leggings are not included so essential you're supposed to send your preteen daughter out in her underwear.
I've blogged before about my commitment to purity. That commitment is deeply personal and I don't look down on people for making different decisions but do pray to sweet Lord Jesus in heaven that being sexy is not on the priority list of your average preteen. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I like to think that the most valuable part of who I am is my mind and heart, not my body and I think we should be teaching young girls (and boys for that matter) the same thing. The message that these costumes show, both the adult and children's versions, is that our bodies are the most important part of who we are and that showing as much skin as possible is how one is cute or pretty or whatever.
A lot of this is probably semi-incoherent blathering so I'll give you my main point right here: What kind of world do we live in where "sexy" is the standard for preteens? I find it completely unacceptable and I hope you do too.
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