Group Protests Slutty Child Halloween Costume Trend

It's that time of year again, when parents mysteriously let their little girls dress up like slutty whatevers for Halloween. But this year a group of concerned moms are trying to "Intervene on Halloween" to show kids "there are lots of other ways you can dress on Halloween." Last week they held a workshop at Hunter College called the SPARK Summit—which stands for Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge.

One of the event’s organizers, Deborah Tolman, tells the Post, "Halloween is the only time of year that people and the media talk about this problem [the sexualization of young girls]. But enough angst already. Let’s do something about it." At the summit, a costume designer came to help girls make costumes that weren't provocative, but with so many adult woman going for the sexy-whatever look on Halloween, there are a lot of bad influences out there. How many Lady Gaga at Yankee Stadium costumes will we see this weekend? (Or Sexy Double Rainbow Guy, for that matter?)

"I think we’re in big trouble,” Diane E. Levin, a professor and co-author of So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids, tells the Post. "Halloween costumes for 7- and 8-year-old girls and even younger have become downright titillating, and for tweens and teens, the vast majority of those sold in stores and on the Internet are unabashedly sexually alluring." There are a lot of them sold online, and it's a safe bet that many of the people Googling for these costumes aren't potential customers.

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By John Del Signore in News on October 29, 2010 12:06 PM

Comments [rss]

the3rdbridge

Wait. Why is sex bad for kids, again? I thought sex was good. Damnit, I hate biddies.

BigUps

When did Halloween become some slutty?

Dogsbody

I've just thought of a perfectly well-timed Halloween costume: Charlie Sheen's Hooker escort girl!

JenChungsBaby

Just recycle your Ashley Dupree costume from last year.

JenChungsBaby

Is it bosom or bosoms? Either way I enjoyed your post.

JenChungsBaby

ARGH! For nicemarmot above ^^^^

Sassafras75

What about the fact that "slutty" costumes have co-opted kid's clothing styles? Short skirts, knee high socks, crinolines, Mary Janes, etc...? Maybe kids are just "taking back age/size appropriate small clothing" as opposed to mimicking adults? Don't even get me started on Brazilian waxes allowing grown women to unconsciously mimic prepubescent girls.

robingee

Final costume decision this year: Slutty Ghandi.

hotstepper

...and Rock Me Sexy Jesus!

Dogsbody

Not exactly on topic, but here's one thing I don't understand about Halloween (for both adults and children) - isn't the theme of Halloween supposed to be ghosts, ghouls, vampires, witches etc? Why do people go dressed as pop-stars, fairies, bumble-bees etc?

I don't object to the idea of sexy vampires, slutty zombies etc (for adults), but I don't see the relevance (or even understand the concept) of a sexy bumble-bee.

tmz is evil

"Not exactly on topic, but here's one thing I don't understand about Halloween (for both adults and children) - isn't the theme of Halloween supposed to be ghosts, ghouls, vampires, witches etc?"

Yeah, it is. And it's also about dressing up as other characters, creatures, and people, not *exclusively* about monsters and ghosts. Have you never trick or treated as a child, gone to a Halloween costume party, or what?

Dogsbody

"it's also about dressing up as other characters, creatures, and people, not *exclusively* about monsters and ghosts.Have you never trick or treated as a child, gone to a Halloween costume party, or what?"

But why is it not *exclusively* about dressing up as ghosts, monsters etc? That's my point - I don't understand why it is just carte blanche to just dress up as some random character that has nothing to do with ghoulishnes.

I *did* go trick-or-treating as a kid - always dressed as satan, frankenstein's monster or dracula or somesuch (albeit that was in a different country). I just find it strange that in America the point of halloween fancy dress is simply to dress as "something" rather than "something related to the theme of halloween."

Guest

Well, if you define Halloween by ancient traditions, then everyone should dress as a monster. But, now that we know such monsters do not exist and we have no reason to dress like them to scare them away or keep them at bay, we have the freedom to dress up as anything we want. If no one dressed as a superhero with your group of friends growing up, then you missed out. When I was a kid, I went as the Six Million Dollar Man and Mork from Ork, just to name a couple of costumes that don't fit into your narrow view of the best holiday ever.

Dogsbody

Well I don't think you necessarily have to believe in monsters etc to abide by the traditional dress code of halloween. I just think part of the fun of halloween (for me at least, as a ghoulish little boy) was that everyone dressed as, and celebrated, the macabre.

There are plenty of birthday parties and other occasions to host a fancy dress party with other themes (or none at all) so you can dress as superman. I definitely remember dressing as both superman and spiderman at different parties, so if that's an essential part of growing up, I certainly didn't miss out.

I think deviating from the ghoulish theme of halloween is like deviating from the eggs/bunnies theme of Easter or the gift-giving theme of Christmas. (and yes I'm aware that the original "themes" of those holidays were religious, but at least there's a tenuous logical link between baby jesus and gift-giving, or eggs/bunnies and resurrection, unlike halloween sexed-up bumble bees).

Boogie Down

Yule was around loooong before the Christians decided to appropriate the holiday and lie about Jesus's birthdate (he was actually born sometime in March or April). C'mon, bloke, I'd expect you to know that given that it's your ancestors' tradition and all.

Dogsbody

Err...Thanks for the "History of Christmas" lesson. Doesn't really have anything to do with my point though. And how do you know anything about my ancestors??

Boogie Down

Um, you earlier said you're a white guy and only people in England use the term "fancy dress". I did the math. (Yes, I know there are lots of other types of white people in England. I lived there too. Chill out.)

Dogsbody

Good detective work. You're probably right that my ancestors might have celebrated Yule.

But I like to think that I'm actually descended from Roman imperial nobility, so you have offended my minority status as a Romano-Briton by assuming that I'm descended from Yule-celebrating Germanic/Norse people ;)

SP's Ghost

Again, people are stupid.

oinonio

This article is giving me a headache. Is self-esteem determined by one day out of the year? What of the onslaught from the Rightwing against feminism the rest of the year? I'd say that that has potential for longer lasting damage than one day of dress-up. #1 is right, it was fun as a kid partially in rebellion.