One of the major bonuses to being a parent, besides having an excuse to eat pizza rolls, is that Halloween reclaims the title of “Super Fun Holiday”. Halloween has always been my favorite time of the year and I love all the cheesy holiday goodness: carving pumpkins, decorating the house for trick or treators, baking cookies, and dressing in costume. I’m as geeky as Dee Wallace in E. T. What makes this year extra special is that it is the first year that both my girls are old enough to communicate their costume choice. It is also the first year that I have been so horrified at the possibilities.  

I first took notice of the extreme gendered socialization of Halloween costumes for young children last year when my daughter wanted to be Superman.  “Not Supergirl, Mom,” she informed me as we flipped through various Superman costumes on the internet landing on a young girl in a short red skirt and cape, “Superman. That is not Superman.” She was right. In that outfit, the only thing she was going to save was material.

At the time, I was teaching a gender studies class and the next day I slapped the website on the screen for the students to evaluate. We discussed how all cop, firemen, policemen, doctor, ninja and super hero costumes were modeled by young boys. White boys. Not representative of our delicious melting pot, is it? Most girl costume choices were helpless characters in short skirts. The tween nurse costumes looked like something from Maxim. Students finally understood what I meant by intersections of race and gender and were outraged that it was being communicated to children through what should be a “Super Fun Holiday”. On the home front, I was very pleased that my daughter seemed immune to it all and chose a Superman costume with an inflated chest. She still wears it because, as she says, “I am Superman. I know what is happening.” Judging by this year’s choice, perhaps she does.

 I was not surprised that she chose the inflated chest Ninja Turtle costume because she had a ninja themed birthday in September and has been referring to herself as “Rafael” since May. She is a very decisive kid, so to avoid any back order mishap we began looking for her costume a month ago. We received a catalog in the mail from Costume Express and as we flipped through the pages together, I felt like I was holding a Victoria’s Secret catalog for 9 year olds. All girl costumes had a short skirt or a bare midriff, or both, and all the young models sported pouty faces and stood clumsily on knock kneed legs and in heeled boots.

But Costume Express isn’t the only violator; Wal-Mart sells this costume on its website.  

The ad line reads, “Get ready for adventure in this 3 piece Punky Pirate costume”. I am reminded of Jean Kilbourne when I ask “Just what kind of adventure is she going to have?” Is this accurate? Do Somalian girl pirates dress like this on their wedding day or would it be too…tacky. Dear Walmart, I think this costume is a little closer to "child erotica" (1) than a few innocent bathtub photos. 

Where did we get so off track? When I was little, most parents made their kids’ costumes. When I was a bat in fourth grade, I looked like a bat. I grew up in the country and have seen every species of bat at our local zoo but I admit I have never seen a “Sweetheart Bat”. According to Walmart.com, there is one and it looks like this:

Perhaps this is what happens when a bat has sex with a Bratz Doll.     

The frightening concept I have to grasp is that parents are buying these costumes for their children otherwise they wouldn’t be online or in catalogs. Take the “Devil Girl Pre-teen” costume above that is available online. One parent was so confident with the purchase that she even took the time to rate it. The title of her entry is “cute, but it could be better”. Another parent was relieved that it wasn’t made cheaply. Since she proudly typed her daughter “is going to be wearing it”, that must be her only concern. My concern? The description reads, “She'll look put-together this Halloween in this bold ensemble.” How long does it take the wrong person to “put together” that her parents have no idea what is appropriate for an 11 year old. I never thought that as my daughters got older, Halloween would get scarier and scarier.   

 (1) (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/arizona-couple-suing-bathtime-photos-prompt-wal-mart/story?id=8624533)