1. It's late October.
Have you ever gone trick-or-treating in the Midwest or Northwest or Northeast? It’s cold! Average temperatures in my home state of Wisconsin are between 39 and 51 degrees on the 31st of October. No small child needs to be walking around in a promiscuous princess costume if all that’s going to be covering their arms is goosebumps! In states like this, trick-or-treaters are left with two options: tough it out or cover up that short skirt with a jacket that just kind of detracts from the illusion.
2. You're paying more for less.
Unless you’re going to DIY or Walmart route, odds are your child’s Halloween costume is a little bit more on the pricey side – especially if they want to dress up as the year’s most popular character. Girls' costumes at Party City can reach an upwards of $40 (not counting any additional accessories you might want to add), while boys’ reach an upwards of $50. And if you’re going for the more sexualized costume, that dollar per square inch of fabric ratio is becoming more and more disproportionate.
3. It isn't just little girls wearing these costumes.
Our society is beginning to be more accepting of the breaking of gender norms – for instance, Target removing gender labels from their toys. So let’s say that a six year old boy decides that he wants to dress up as a witch or Wonder Woman or even a princess. That might be a very big deal for him, admitting that he wants to. It is going to be significantly harder for him to do so when traditionally female costumes are as sexualized as they are.
4. It's just not accurate -- or practical.
Have you ever seen a female cop? A female firefighter? A Disney princess? How practical do you think it is for them to be running around in short skirts and low cut tops? The answer: it’s not. And we all know how important accuracy is when mimicking your role models.
5. Oh, yeah. They're freakin' kids.
The hypersexualization of the children’s costume industry is something that, though it has improved over the past few years, is still a large issue for us. It draws unwanted attention to areas that don’t even exist yet on girls this age. This isn’t a matter of slut-shaming – there is no existent sexuality yet to be shamed. These are four- to twelve-year-old children who should be able to go out and get some candy without being the object of desire for creeps and disdain for others. The hypersexualization of women’s costumes is bad enough – don’t force it on to little kids, too.
