The situation of overseuxalized halloween costumes comes up every single year during Halloween. This time, young girls are being exposed to the problem.
The oversexualization of halloween costumes needs to end.
People slut shame girls. When people on the street, mostly men, see these exposed costumes they react with cat calling or yelling “slut”. This issue has stuck in society for so long, it seems almost impossible to stray away form the mindset of shaming women for the clothing they choose to wear. In the movie “Mean Girls”, the main character and narrator goes to a halloween party and makes the comment, “In girl world, Halloween is the one night a year a girl can dress like total slut, and no other girls can say anything about it.” This quote may have tried to bring a comedic feel to the scene, but it still pertains to the idea that it’s okay to call girls sluts when they wear revealing clothing.
They become objectified at a young age. As the years go on, kid costumes are becoming more and more sexualized. This plants the idea into little girls heads that they have to dress and look a certain way because “that’s just how it is”. The fact that society is objectifying girls at such a young age is inappropriate and disgusting. On Party City’s website, the sexualized cop costume for girls has caused several parents to become angry with the popular store, including Lin Kramer, a mother of one, who wrote a letter to Party City. “Toddler girls are not imagining and hoping that they will grow up to become a ‘sexy cop’ — which is clearly what your girl costume suggests; rather, young girls, just as young boys, see and admire their family members and neighbors offering service to their communities and delight in the idea of doing the same.”
Finally, girls are being sexualized on their bodies. Though an obvious reason, it’s the most important. When young girls see these costumes, it makes them believe they have to look a certain way if you want to be “sexy”. The costumes are setting the beauty standard at a high bar at a very young age. Due to that, the standard can ruin girls’ self esteem. The group “Common Sense Media” conducted a report about the self image of young girls today. “I think there’s a lot of talk about teens and body image, and many parents become aware of that when kids hit puberty, but kids as young as 5 are already expressing a desire for a body that is thinner than their current self or future self.” (Knorr, Common Sense Media)
Many say that women should not be shamed for the clothing they wear, since it’s “just a costume” and “people shouldn’t be so serious all the time”, but the costume industry is still sexualizing young girls- which shouldn’t happen in the first place since it’s morally and ethically wrong to put children in clothes like that that are wrongly sold specifically for them.
It is clear there is a problem with sexualizing young girls. To believe there is nothing wrong viewing 10 year old girls in a sexual manner is disgusting, and in fact perverted. This issue all boils down to the underlying sexism living in society, and unfortunately, there isn’t much to change that. That being said, costume companies should stop making these over sexualized costumes and allow children to look, dress, and act just that-a child.
