Google “women’s Halloween costumes” and try to find an outfit that doesn’t show the model’s bust popping over the costume’s top or her legs stretching from beneath the gaudy get-up that covers only one-third of her thighs.
Google “little girl Halloween costumes,” and the selection you see will consist mostly of smiling eight-year-olds in princess dresses.
We The Threefold Advocate believe the selection of women’s Halloween costumes degrades women and the meaning of growing up.
By condoning barely-there costumes, society is saying that part of becoming a woman is reaching the point at which you’re no longer a princess and have instead been demoted to the lowly position of eye-candy, of sex item, of meat.
These costumes declare that “this”—the costume and what it promises not to cover—makes a woman beautiful. That intense, glaring eyes and a hard mouth trump a smile. That the more body you expose, the more attractive you are. That you are no longer a precious gem to be treasured, but are instead a meal to be visually swallowed.
We’re telling little girls that their aspirations ought to center upon provoking men’s lust and that they’re not special because of who they are, but that their worth is instead summed up in the clothing they wear. And looking at the skimpiness of those costumes, that’s not very much.
If we are a society that claims to protect women and promote their rights, then we need to back-pedal and rethink the image of women we want to project.
Just what kind of people do we want little girls to grow into, anyways?