As the father of a nine-year old, there are few things I find more disturbing than the growing trend to sexualize prepubescents. No where is that struggle more apparent than the difficulty in finding an age-appropriate Halloween costume this year.
Gabby Cirenza wanted to be a referee for Halloween. The outfit she liked had a micro-mini black skirt and a form-fitting black and white-striped spandex top held together with black laces running up the flesh-exposing sides. She looked admiringly at the thigh-high black go-go boots that could be bought as an accessory. And she thought the little bunny on the chest was cute."Absolutely not," said her mother, Cheryl. "That is so not happening."
Gabby is 11.
And the Playboy Racy Referee costume was only the latest that her mother had vetoed one pre-Halloween-crazed afternoon at Party City in Baileys Crossroads as too skimpy, too revealing, too suggestive .
Bawdy Halloween costumes, however, have become the season's hottest sellers in recent years. Not just for women, but for girls, too. And parents such as Cirenza don't like it.
Gabby eyed the Sexy Super Girl but decided against it. A friend at her Catholic school had worn that costume for a Halloween parade and pulled the already short miniskirt way up to cover her tummy. "That didn't look very good." But Gabby did like the Aqua Fairy, a vampy get-up with a black ripped-up skirt, black fishnet tights and blue bustier that comes in medium, large and preteen. A medium fits a child of 8.
No.
How about the Funky Punk Pirate Pre-Teen, with an off-the-shoulder blouse and bare midriff?
No.
Gabby pointed to the Fairy-Licious Purrrfect Kitty Pre-Teen, which, according to the package, includes a "pink and black dress with lace front bodice and sassy jagged skirt with tail. . . . Wings require some assembly."
Cheryl Cirenza shook her head in exasperated disbelief. "This is all so inappropriate. It's really disturbing," she said, eyeing a wall of such girl and preteen costumes as Major Flirt in army green, the bellybutton-baring Devilicious and a sassy, miniskirted French Maid, pink feather duster included. She'd just turned down her 13-year-old daughter's request for a Sexy Cop outfit. "When I was their age, I was a bunch of grapes."
Who are these people buying these costumes? Obviously they are being purchased. Surely people are buying these costumes or we wouldn't be seeing them for sale. I mean one year maybe, but the pimp and ho trend of Halloween costumes have been going on for several years now.
Our Halloween costume shopping usually happens at the local Walmart though this is beginning to change. The choices haven't been to risqué, mainly the choices were just crappy. The costume were so poorly constructed. However, there was a fairly large selection of (ironically enough) better constructed costumes for adults that were embarassingly risqué--nearly every male sexual fantasy represented. Lorie called it the "ho" rack. And Miriam, in that tween period of being a child and longing to be grown up, naturally moseyed over to that rack. Lorie kibbashed that very quickly. Noah and Mary-Elizabeth's costume were purchased from, weirdly enough, Cracker Barrel, which had for each of them a very nice, though mildly expensive costumes.
My advice. Let kids be kids. They'll be adults the rest of their life.
Added: The accompaning picture is a dissatisfied child. But she'll grow up to be a healthy one though. And she looks cute.
