I guess the word “stylish” has been thoroughly hijacked by ad copy writers and now obviously means nothing at all (among other once-useful adjectives).

And since when did rioters have costumes? I thought they were traditionally “come as you are” type events (unless you’re an official police rioter or agent provocateur) so all you need to dress up as a riot boy or riot grrrl is to carry a brick or beer bottle full of gasoline with a rag stuffed in the top.

Perhaps I should’ve been clearer with the McDonalds analogy. The point was that, of all of the different ways you can put together a costume (from thrift stores to craft shops or things laying around the house…), and of all the autonomy you have in choosing whether to wear one at all, the shops that sell prepacked costumes simply happen to represent the most convenient mass-produced option for the laziest or most hurried people. McDonalds minimizes its stock to the fast sleazy food with the highest turnover so that it can maximize its profits. And the prepack costumes stick to cheap sleazy and instantly iconic costumes that people are most likely to buy.

Now, the analogy that I made unfortunately was too kind to McDonald’s. If you’re hungry, nowhere near home, and the only available options are fast food, that would certainly constitute a pressure to buy it (this used to happen to me a lot at work). For a sexy costume to be truly comparable, there would have to be a genuine imperative for you as an adult to get dressed up against your will. And then there would have to be no materials with which you could possibly construct something that suits you. There’s really no circumstance in which both of these things could ever be true.

Your point about women in general feeling pressured to be sexy is not one I disagree with. Even though a huge amount of this perceived pressure happens to come directly from other women or girls, I’m well aware of the culture of sexism underlying this behavior. But unlike the vast multitude of situations in life where you as a woman or minority have no genuine alternative to discrimination and hostility, you have the absolute freedom to cover your body (and face) as much as you please, with any material you desire, on Halloween. If the worst consequence of resisting some perceived pressure is that you get called “uptight,” then you aren’t the victim of oppression – you probably just need nicer friends.

When you’re denied your civil rights or stripped of your sense of human dignity because you didn’t dress like Catwoman, be sure to post your story!

What parent wants their young daughter to turn heads??

So… maybe that’s not an improvement over men wearing men’s costumes exclusively, ya think? The number of men in drag is certainly *not* a good indicator of how well female characters/costumes are respected.

(Assuming you don’t live somewhere with a huge visible gay subculture – otherwise, you certainly will have seen far more flambouyant drag than “sexy cat” by now!)