Halloween Costumes.... UNBELIEVABLE! (boys, child, 12 years old, friend)

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

I was a kid in the 1980s. Most of the people I knew made their own costumes, but I don't remember there being anywhere near as many mass-marketed costumes of this style geared towards young girls. Or if there were, maybe just none of my friends had parents who would buy them!

I think the I Dream of Jeannie is also different than, say, all the nursery tale characters or even things like bugs, that are not based on a TV show, but were designed intentionally to take a non-sexy (or skanky) costume and turn it totally inside out.

I don't think there's anything new about girls wanting to dress up and wear possibly revealing clothes, but there does seem be something new about the corporate encouragement of such a thing, and the sexualization of almost every outfit, even for those manufactured for kids and younger teens.

I hardly knew anyone who made their own costumes and I am in my 30s. But many, many men found (and still do) that woman, that archetype sexy. Does that mean girls shouldn't dress like that?

Corporate encouragement is the hallmark of this generation. They've never known anything but that and it's certainly not limited to costumes.

[uptown_urbanist]

No, it doesn't mean that girls shouldn't dress like that, but I still think there's a difference (as someone put it earlier) between sexy and skanky; I also think there's an issue of age-appropriateness, too. I don't think it's ethical of these companies to market these costumes like that, and I don't think parents should be allowing their preteen daughters to wear them. Not because I think men will look at them in a sexual way, but because I wonder why any parent would want their daughter to get the message, at that age, that they should be presenting themselves to the world in a way that defines them primarily by how they expose or highlight their bodies? Halloween is all about trying on new identities and yes, sometimes pushing the boundaries, but there seems to be nothing healthy about this message.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I thought flappers were just "modern women". I remember doing a history project about women getting the vote in 1921; I dressed up a Barbie doll in a flapper dress and made a voting booth for her.

Ummmm. Here's a history lesson, flappers were *scandalous*

Flappers in the Roaring Twenties

In the 1920s, a new woman was born. She smoked, drank, danced, and voted. She cut her hair, wore make-up, and went to petting parties. She was giddy and took risks. She was a flapper.

[Hopes]

Sl#tty costumes aside, I hate the political correctness of Halloween today.

There's nothing wrong with scary costumes, cowboys with guns, witches, indians, etc.

It made me sick to see kids in elementary school go as bugs. Who really wants to be a bug?

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

No, it doesn't mean that girls shouldn't dress like that, but I still think there's a difference (as someone put it earlier) between sexy and skanky; I also think there's an issue of age-appropriateness, too. I don't think it's ethical of these companies to market these costumes like that, and I don't think parents should be allowing their preteen daughters to wear them. Not because I think men will look at them in a sexual way, but because I wonder why any parent would want their daughter to get the message, at that age, that they should be presenting themselves to the world in a way that defines them primarily by how they expose or highlight their bodies? Halloween is all about trying on new identities and yes, sometimes pushing the boundaries, but there seems to be nothing healthy about this message.

I just don't get why sexy is ok, but skanky isn't. Isn't it in the eye of the beholder?

[poptones]

Man... ***** **** skank... it really seems women are their own worse enemies.

The kids in my house know not to use the kind of language you're using right now. Why all the indignance?

Worry about your own kids. Problem solved.

[maciesmom]

Originally Posted by nana053

Ummmm. Here's a history lesson, flappers were *scandalous*

Flappers in the Roaring Twenties

LOL - gotta love how she "smoked, drank, danced.....and voted"...

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Sl#tty costumes aside, I hate the political correctness of Halloween today.

There's nothing wrong with scary costumes, cowboys with guns, witches, indians, etc.

It made me sick to see kids in elementary school go as bugs. Who really wants to be a bug?

My granddaughter loves bugs... She's 8, but has loved them since she was 2.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Sl#tty costumes aside, I hate the political correctness of Halloween today.

There's nothing wrong with scary costumes, cowboys with guns, witches, indians, etc.

It made me sick to see kids in elementary school go as bugs. Who really wants to be a bug?

My 17 year old sister who is going to be a lady bug.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by poptones

Man... ***** **** skank... it really seems women are their own worse enemies.

The kids in my house know not to use the kind of language you're using right now. Why all the indignance?

Worry about your own kids. Problem solved.

Agreed. The judgmental crap about how other women dress is wrong, tiresome and contributes to women's social issues.