Halloween and the establishment of gender roles

By Victoria Stiegel on October 13, 2012

In a world where the Sexy Spongebob Costume is a thing that exists and even nuns aren’t safe from the “make it sexy = instant Halloween costume” trope, it’s pretty inarguable that there’s perhaps an excess of sex where women are concerned in Halloween attire. I only consider myself a feminist in as much as I don’t want to be prevented from achieving my goals because I’m a woman and I don’t want anyone (male or female) to tell me what I can or cannot do as a woman, and yet I still find myself side-eyeing Halloween when the time comes to shop for a costume. And even setting aside the problem of over-sexualisation of women’s costumes when the same is not happening to men’s costumes, there is still the problem of extremely rigid gender roles on display in costumes for all ages.

Cookie Monster and "Frilly Cookie Monster"

PartyCity.com’s boys’ and girls’ toddler Cookie Monster costumes

So although I was… concerned? disappointed? … upon seeing a post on Tumblr the other day comparing the boys’ and girls’ options for “Cookie Monster” toddler-sized costumes (see image, left) the other day, I can’t say I was surprised.

Now, I’m not saying that someone sat down and brainstormed how they could make the toddler girls’ Cookie Monster costume “sexy.” I rather hope that anyone who would do such a thing is, you know, in jail.

But I also think that the comparison at left shows the roots of the gender divide in Halloween costumes. The costume intended for boys (and therefore marketed to the parents of boys) is concerned with actually duplicating to some degree what Cookie Monster actually looks like. It also looks like it’s made of warm material, which is important in a large sector of the United States. By contrast, the girls’ “Cookie Monster” costume (marketed to the parents of girls) is merely a hat tip to the character of Cookie Monster slapped onto the basic frame of a frilly dress. There is essentially no attempt to make the costume actually look like Cookie Monster. And if relative warmth of a costume is an issue, parents will have to provide a turtleneck and tights to wear under the dress themselves, because keeping the costumed girl warm is clearly not a priority of this costume either.

On PartyCity.com, the toddler boys section of costumes has separate “career” and “classic” themed sub-sections. In the toddler girls section, the two are combined.  Careers to which the boys might aspire? NASCAR driver, police officer (including SWAT and regular uniforms), soldier (generic army), admiral, fighter pilot, commercial pilot, firefighter, astronaut, UPS driver, postal worker, magician, and clown. With the girls’ “career” costumes combined with the “classic” ones, it’s difficult to pinpoint the precise number of careers Party City believes little girls might be aspiring to. Near as I can tell, they are as follows: cowgirl, cheerleader, clown, magician (although I’d have pegged the costume as a magic-using princess if they hadn’t labeled it as a magician), celebrity starlet (a la Paris Hilton), “half-pint referee” (in a miniskirt – even the NFL replacement refs didn’t wear miniskirts), and a can-can girl.

Superman and WonderWoman

PartyCity.com’s toddler Superman and Wonder Woman costumes

Further perusal of the selection of toddler costumes shows a general tendency for the boys’ costumes to attempt to duplicate (with varying degrees of simplification) the actual look of whatever the costume ostensibly represents whilst there is a general tendency for the girls’ costumes to attempt to fit whatever the costume ostensibly represents to a frilly dress, usually at the expense of direct representation. Often with the girls’ costumes there isn’t even an attempt to pretend a real thing is being represented – a frilly tutu dress with a cupcake on it becomes a “Lil Cupcake” costume. Is she supposed to be a cupcake? A person who sells cupcakes? A person who… eats cupcakes? It’s not a costume! It’s a frilly dress with a cupcake on it!

Another tendency I noticed is that with the boys’ costumes there is a marked tendency to add “muscles.” This is not particularly unexpected when you’re talking about the superhero costumes (such as the toddler Superman costume at left), but it becomes a bit ridiculous when the toddler astronaut costume adds muscles. I’m pretty sure you can’t see muscles in a spacesuit! Maybe I’m just looking at them from the wrong angle. This pattern of adding muscles to boys’ costumes even when logic dictates one shouldn’t is not at all present in girls’ costumes – even the superhero ones. Arguably, WonderWoman should have some muscles. Magic bracelets or no, she’s a superhero, and I’m pretty sure they’ve got muscles. But the WonderWoman costume is just a dress and some accessories.

(And I won’t even mention the fact that whilst none of the boys in any of the age groups are wearing discernable makeup unless it’s an intrinsic part of the costume, even the toddler girls are clearly fully made up. Lipstick, eyeliner, mascara, blush, the whole deal.)

My favorite irony in the toddler section, however, is that in the boys’ selection of TV/movie costumes, there is a costume for Hedwig, Harry Potter’s pet owl. There is not a Hedwig costume (nor indeed any Harry Potter-related costume) in the toddler girls section. This is ironic because Hedwig is a female owl. (Apparently she was played in the films by a male owl, but she was still referred to in said films as a female character.)

Cowboy and Cowgirl

PartyCity.com’s kids’ cowboy and cowgirl costumes

I moved on to investigate the kids section, which is again divided into boys’ and girls’ sections and further subdivided by theme. On the plus side, in this age group there are enough “career” costumes for the girls to have their own section of them. Of course, said section is still littered with “careers” such as cupcake cutie, gypsy princess (nice work if you can get it?), 1950s carhop (aka waitress), another miniskirted-referee, another impractically-dressed cowgirl (my sister is the genuine article and I promise you she’s never looked anything like the girls’ costume at left, although she has come close to the boys’ version), and three varieties of cheerleader, none of whom sound particularly cheery (the “bad spirit” cheerleader, the “cheerless” cheerleader, and the “gothic” cheerleader). There is a doctor costume which pops up in the results, but it is the same costume that’s listed in the boys section, right down to the little boy who is modeling it.

Naturally the boys’ career selection is somewhat better at having actual careers represented.

Additionally, the trend of boys’ costumes leaning more towards actual representation and girls’ costumes leaning towards making the supposed subject of the costume fit onto a dress continues in the older age group, even extending to odd costumes like the birds from the game Angry Birds. The boy version is vaguely angry bird-shaped, whilst the girl version is a little red dress with an angry bird face on it.

"Escaped Prisoner" and "Miss Dee Meaner Prisoner"

PartyCity.com’s boys’ “Escaped Prisoner” and girls’ “Miss Dee Meaner Prisoner” costumes

And then there’s the criminal costumes. For toddlers, there was one “prisoner” costume. It was essentially striped pajamas and was listed only under the boys section.

For older kids, there are boys’ and girls’ options. The boys’ option (far left) is simply titled “Escaped Prisoner” costume and consists of loose-fitting striped pajamas, a pair of over-size manacles, and ball and chain for the child’s ankle. The girls’ option, on the other hand, is titled “Miss Dee Meaner Prisoner” costume. It consists of capri-length leggings, a fitted tunic, and pink “handcuff” bracelets. It’s a pretty short step from this to the “Warden’s Mistress” women’s costume, that’s all I’m saying.

In and of itself, the “Miss Dee Meaner” costume (which again, is intended for young girls, not teens) is perhaps only minorly problematic. Indeed, in and of itself, the toddler Cookie Monster dress isn’t particularly problematic. It’s not particularly effective either, at least not if one’s goal is to dress one’s child up as Cookie Monster, but hey, some little girls just want to wear a frilly dress. Which is fine. If your little girl wants a frilly dress, give the girl a frilly dress. But the problem is that unless the parent (or the child) thinks to/is willing to look in the “boys’ costumes” as well, there aren’t very many options that aren’t a frilly dress or, as the child gets older, a slinky dress.

Lil Cupcake and Cupcake Girl

PartyCity.com’s toddler “Lil Cupcake” and teen “Cupcake Girl” costumes

For example, the “Lil Cupcake” frilly dress for the toddler (far left) turns into the “Cupcake Girl” extremely abbreviated slinky dress (near left) for the teen.

And I’m still not entirely sure what career this represents for the toddler, or how “cupcake patterned minidress” qualifies as a “classic” costume for the teen.

Then again, perhaps the reason why costume makers for young girls find it so difficult to create “girl” versions of police officer costumes or firefighter costumes or military costumes has to do with what the “woman” versions of those costumes look like. As far as people who make costumes for grown-ups are concerned, female Naval officers look like this, female Army commandos like this, female fighter pilots (excuse me, “Air Force Angels,” because obviously there are no female fighter pilots…) like this, female cops like this, female firefighters like this, female astronauts like this, and they have no idea what female doctors look like, because all female medical professionals are nurses who look something like this.

This article doesn’t even really begin to scratch the surface of the murky gender issues surrounding Halloween – and I didn’t even get to reminisce about all the varieties of “sexy _____” to which I bore witness over three Halloweens at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but I hope I’ve given y’all something to think about. I’m not sure what my Halloween plans are this year, but if I do find myself a party to attend, I think I’ll just go as Arthur Dent from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Yeah, he’s a man and I’m not, but all I’d need would be pajamas, a robe, and a towel. Sounds like a plan to me.

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