Now I don’t know about you but I loved shopping for Halloween costumes when I was little. It was my chance to be my favorite character whether it be Misty from Pokemon, Cinderella, an alien, and even be a boy if I wanted to. It was my favorite part of Halloween-besides the candy of course. As I’ve gotten older, costume shopping has just gotten more and more frustrating. Every year I run over to Party City trying to find the coolest outfit only to walk out of the store dejected from seeing all the “sexy pirate”, “sexy Nurse” costumes, leading all the way to “sexy axe murderer”. What? I certainly don’t find anything sexy about an axe murderer. This year I thought I finally had found the perfect costume-a Transformer-only to find the whole entire costume was made of a mini skirt and a bikini top. Halloween night is usually cold enough for which you have to wear a jacket, I find it hard to believe that any costume retailer would think it is okay to go outside in 40 degree whether to go trick-or-treating in a skirt and bikini top. Women’s costume’s are oversexualized.
I used to think it was just teens and women these retailer’s were targeting but now they are even targeting toddlers. Just last month, Walmart set an ad featuring a toddler wearing a “Naughty Leopard” costume which consisted of a black skirt, and a lot of sheer. Public outrage forced Walmart to remove the costume from their catalog but the mini skirts and spaghetti strap costumes are still advertised for teens. When will the public start protesting this?
Many say it is a choice that it is a person’s decision whether they want to wear costumes that are so revealing, and it is true, but according to the American Psychological Association this oversexualtion has spiraled its way across social media causing many teens to look as their body as “not good enough” and forced them to into hurting their physical and mental health. Many of these same girls have ended up with eating disorders, low self esteem, and depression. Unfortunately, it seems like there is no end and it is only getting worse.
Many have found this a very disturbing and have starting selling their own costumes. A Mighty Girl is a website set on empowering women and making them feel good about themselves. They have started their own line of Halloween costumes which accurately portray a nurse, superhero, or animal.
America spent approximately $1.8 billion on Halloween costumes in 2010, and half of those purchases would have been for females. As Americans who have set equal rights for both genders, we really need to look at the impact that all this sexualization is having on our future generation, and take that information to make some changes even if it is with just one costume. One costume could make all the difference in making one girl feel less sexualized and help her feel good about herself.
