More Than A Costume ~ What Message Are We Sending Our Girls?

Image-Teen Girls Costume (Maid Perfect) found online under the Teen Girl "Career Section"

Last week, my two daughers (ages 5 and 11) and I went on our annual adventure to find a halloween costume. Last year when we did this my then 10 year old daughter picked a halloween pirate costume that included a short skirt and fishnet leggings.. since when do pirates not wear pants???? Needless to say after much begging I let her get that one but added my mommy touch by adding a long sleeved leotard and regular leggings. It looked nothing like what we came home with but mommy was happy! So here we are again, standing in Party City, looking at the walls of costumes and once again I am horrified by the highly sexualized costumes for girls. What is going on, are we preparing our girls for the future or to be on the streets? After I got home from the store that evening I looked online and browsed through the tween girl and teen girl section at the costumes that manufacturers feel that our daughters/teen girls should wear.

I found costumes like the maid costume at the begining of this blog which is designed for a teen girl! I also found this Candy Striper costume for TEEN girls seen below (when I first saw this image of the teen girl in the costume I thought it said candy stripper, not striper..geez!) who is hardly dressed like she is going to visit/take care of sick people in the hospital, I mean look at her shoes, they want our daughters, our next generation to dress up like this? The kicker is that these two costumes (Maid Perfect and Handy Candy Striper) are found under Party City's CAREER costume section for teen girls!!!

I am so angry that if you are a teen girl looking for costumes and you search under the 'career section' this is what your CHOICES are! This is just another way the our society is oversexualizing our girls at an early age. The tween costumes were no better, I found costumes with corset shaped tops, too short skirts and more fishnets on girls with tons of make up on in provocative poses.

Now when I searched the career section for boys, I found Police Officers, Air Force Pilots, and Military Costumes. Now for girls under the career section, I found costumes for an Army Brat, Bad Spirit Cheerleader and A Mega SuperStar with her midrift section out! Joe Kelly, founder of the advocacy group Dads and Daughters see this trend in costumes as symptomatic of a deeper issue. "The hypersexualization of younger and younger girls only serves to reinforce gender roles. When an 8-year-old girl can't find a doctor costume because all they have are nurse outfits, that's a problem."

Dr. Sharon Lamb coauthor of the book, "Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters From Marketing Schemes," which includes a chapter devoted solely to sexy Halloween costumes. Lamb points out that most Web sites selling kids Halloween costumes divide merchandise along gender lines, and typically offer more choices for boys than girls (boys get to be doctors, police officers as well as gory monsters and "Star Wars" characters). Of the 22 girl costumes featured on one Web site Lamb looked at, 15 were cheerleaders, divas and rock stars. "That really limits girls' imaginations," says Lamb, who surveyed 600 young girls for the book, many of whom admitted to dressing up as something sexy for Halloween in order to get attention.

As a mother and director of a pre-teen group for girls, Jewels, it is very important realize how our society is affecting our girls. If we encourage our girls to maybe choose another costume or create one on their own which represents more positive images we are sending a message to manufacturers that we want more. Use opportunities when shopping for a costume with your daughter or girls you know to discuss what these costumes really mean and why there is more to being a girl/teen than being sexy. I was thrilled when my 5 year old said she wanted to be a superhero! I was glad to see that there were more SuperGirls on the shelves this year as well. We got home and she was dying to try it on. As she ripped the costume out of it's package a week before Halloween she was just so excited! I secured her red cape, she stuck her little chest out and put her little fist on her hips and struck her supergirl pose! She darted through the house trying to make her cape fly through the air..it just warmed my heart! To think that my 5 year old felt like she could conquer the world in that moment, I realized that it was more than a costume..it was shaping who she is. It starts with choices like this will create a generation of confident girls who will realize their power and what is deemed as being beautiful or cool! We must empower our girls on all levels...they are our future!

My Daughter/SuperGirl in her costume!