No, I don't think the baby doll is supposed to be sexy, but it certainly is disturbing.

the Baby Doll, the Little Girl (the photo above Baby Doll), and the Girl Scout costumes are the most disturbing and gross. Sexualizing little girls? COOL!!!

Well wait a minute...aren't Halloween costumes supposed to be silly/disturbing/sexy/ridiculous? Don't we put on costumes and act like someone else for the sole purpose of tapping into fantasies and people's imaginations? I guess I just find it hard to take something so incredibly goofballish like stupid Halloween costumes and force it into serious sociological commentary.

Here's what I see:

Prepubescent girl + fishnets and corset and miniskirt and hooker boots + pretending to be a slut + begging for candy = disturbing and wrong

Grown woman + fishnets and corset and miniskirt and hooker boots + pretending to be a slut/fairytale character/Mother Theresa with a huge rack + getting drunk at a Halloween party = so what?

My point is that Halloween for adults is (or should be) something very different than Halloween for kids. Look beyond the sexual/titillating costumes. Axe murderers, suicide victims, cannibalistic walking corpses, vampires with gore dripping from their fangs....it's supposed to be scary, unreal, shocking....and pretend.

Am I the only one really, really bothered by the fact that the first "baby girl outfit for grown women" costume has an OPENING IN THE BACK? The kind through which babies might poo through but through which sexy grown women might...oh God, my brain, I can't clear it! Burn the costumes, quickly!

This is a great post that really pins down a sexualized pathology in our culture for me. I especially like the post's title, which perfectly encapsulates the paradoxes driving that pathology.

I do wonder if most of these are meant for use outside the bedroom.

I certainly don't think the baby costume is at all sexy, but I do wonder about the exposed midriff. I think maybe it is supposed to be sexy. Ick. There's a men's version without an exposed midriff: http://www.unitedmask.com/Halloween/images/blue_baby_kit.JPG

I wonder if this trend is also tied to the lack of role models or characters for women that are *grown women.* Women are encouraged to be hyper-sexual, especially on Halloween, but when you think of female characters, what do you think of? Most women grew up with Disney and fairy tales, so it seems like an easy place to turn for ideas. Which is not to say that this trend is any less gross, but that perhaps if there were more memorable adult female characters in movies and comics, the trend might be ameliorated.

May I please point out that Alice in Wonderland has always been sexual? Rev. Charles Ludwig Dodgeson (who's nom-de-plume was Lewis Carroll) wrote the original novel "Alice's Adventures Underground" as a Christmas gift the the eleven-year-old Alice Liddell, whom he was deeply in love with. It's generally considered fact that he wrote the novels as a way to let out his (sexual) feelings for the little girl without acting on them, as he knew it was wrong. The book was never intended to be published, and he only did so with encouragement from the girl's mother.
If you're to be upset with anything about that particular example, it should be that Alice Liddell (often photographed by Dodgeson) was actually a brunette, and was changed by Disney (and I'm sure others before that) to a fair-skinned blonde girl to make her "more appealing" to the public.

I would be interested in identifying what is perceived as the actual objection in the sexualizing of these characters and uniforms. Is there the sentiment that there are masses of latent pedophiles, who are using these costumes to aid visualizing prepubescent girls in a sexual way, or that society is, in some collaborative fashion, inching towards mainstreaming pedophilia, of which these costumes are a symptom? Or is mainly an issue with the ever present hyper-sexualization of women? The selection of costumes that the issue taken with this blog is not focused on the hyper-sexualization of women, instead dealing with concerns over the transferal of imagery and icons associated with prepubescence and applying a rather uniform sexual veneer.

From my observation, I don't believe the sexualizing of these things (for males or females) is an issue unless it is believed that doing so actually increases or encourages sexual assault on minors, or diminishes the perception within society that such assaults are unacceptable. Would anyone agree with that?

Arguing hypothetically, it would make sense that society is not constructed of
a immiscible binary of practicing pedophiles and those without such inclinations but instead had at least some spectrum. That would allow the inference that material that encouraged the visualizing of young girls in a sexual manner could potentially lead to an increase in such activity. It's hard to say. Is anyone aware of research into this area?

Ummmmmmm, has it occurred to anyone that all of these highly sexualized costumes are out there because women want them for halloween? And they sell? I mean, what more is there? You can talk about how much you like/don't like it all you want, but they are

Still. Being. Sold.

I went to my local shop/costume warehouse to get something for my girlfriend the other night, and she went straight for the Beer Wench costume area. Of course they were

All. Sold. Out.

You don't see female gorilla costumes, female death costumes, and such because women are not buying them. It is like all of the high fashion stuff you see on the runway worn by the stick women: who is buying the stuff anyway???

And someone tell me how "women are encouraged to be be hypersexual" over halloween? Don't we all have the choice to wear what we want? And the choice obviously is to wear the dirty maid or the beer wench or the alice in wonderland. It is all about choices people. If you don't like the choices make something yourself...

Thanks for this post. I am put off by the sexy costumes for women, but even more put off by the sexy costumes for children.

If I don't have a lot of time to think about a costume, it's easier to simply grab what is on the shelf. If all that's available is a sexy ___ costume, I just take it and deal. One of my girlfriends was complaining about not being able to find a normal Dorothy costume. The only one she could find a sexified version that came with thigh-highs. This does not mean that we both endorse the sexy versions - we don't, and we dislike them. But, golly gee ... when the sexy costume is all that's available, it seems as though it's not just normal, but there's no use expressing a desire for anything else - 'cause there isn't very much available that hasn't been sexified. At one store, for example, I counted exactly two non-sexy (and ugly) costumes. I agree with a previous poster that store-bought costumes are gendered, with the women's costumes emphasizing sex.

To another poster, I feel compelled to mention that I have actually seen a Sexy Death costume in the women's section as well.

oh these are so hot!!!
i m gonna get dresses like these from here...
http://99.dresstailor.com/
they make dresses eaxctly according to my choice and size!!
good luck!

Yes, these images are of outfits of women, dressing as girls, dressing as sexy sexy women... but.

Halloween seems to serve two groups these days.
1) children- to dress up, stuff their faces, get scarred out of their wits, and stuff their faces again.
2) young-adults/unmarried adults - dress up ('slutty' [male and female and everyone in between]), get wasted, hook up with count dracula or 'sun-burnt man,' and get wasted some more.

So basically it's Kids and Sex.

Or, more aptly - Dressing up, doing things that are bad for you, doing things you'll regret later, and then repeating..

So based on its background I'm not too shocked or concerned (which kind of concerns me).

Excellent points -- check out a complementary Oct. 31st post about mainstream media and college student activists who addressed this topic from feminist, sociological perspectives on the Girl-with-Pen blog: http://girlwpen.com/?p=1756

The only thing I'd like to add to this (and I know I've joined in on this one late...I was just looking up something for my bullsh*t "sociology" class and this popped up) is that regardless of the clothing, it's the person IN the clothing who is still the object of desire, the clothing cannot really be blamed. If some sicko gets aroused looking at kids, I can bet you a week's pay that same sicko isn't going to get aroused by some woman dressed up as a slutty girl scout or cheerleader or anything. Because they're freaks who are attracted to children, and they're attracted to children no matter what they wear, right? So let's worry more about pedophiles actually interested in your child in "that way" more than the hot chick in the schoolgirl uniform. Totally different thing altogether. With everything bad and very REAL in this world, skanky costumes are the least of my worries. And as far as young girls dressing up inappropriately, well, that's you, the PARENT, who can make that call and say "no". Of course, truth be told, I've probably dressed up in more slutty female Halloween costumes than male costumes, so where does MY deviance fit into the equation??? lol

I saw a sexy hamburger costume for sale, no lie. However, I don't think society is trying to make hamburgers sexy, nor is it trying to make women into sandwiches. I think there is always a pressure on women to look younger, and on girls to look older. (Perhaps 20 is the happy medium? Lucky me!) However, I don't think this really reveals much. There is a sexy everything for Halloween. (Yes, even skunks and crayola crayons.)

What the hell is the problem with these girls

I think sexy costumes are great and I'm glad they are available. I don't want my choices to be limited by anyone or anything. If YOU don't like them, YOU shouldn't buy them.

I want to be a girl for so long my mom dressed me like a little girl now before and I liked it she buy me panties and bras I miss paid every day very happy

Bollocks - if women want to dress as sexy trollops - let them

I love dressing like a little girl. It fits my personality and get lots of compliments.

It's not legal most places to have sex with girls under a certain age. It's 100% legal for your wife or girlfriend to dress up like one and have sex with them. I don't see the problem.

Men are attracted to young, sexually mature women. That is nature, not a bad social trend. These costumes accentuate sexual maturity, and allow for a youthful fantasy. Women increasingly think they have the authority to determine what men should find attractive, and that is the disturbing pathology. Either we can't control what we find attractive and you are wrong, or you are anti-LGBTQ, because that is the basis of their entire demand for equality.

It might kee6 pedo. At home.

Holy shit!!! Lol. You're all taking it soooo fucking far hahaha. Damn Melliunial and liberals. Ok for one thing. Look up what Halloween costumes were meant for in the first place. Yeah? Got it now? To scare away or blend in with bad spirits? So these aren't 'Halloween costumes', these are to turn on men type costumes you morons. There's a HUGE difference. And they can wear whatever they want. Stop judging other women. And start judging yourself fuckers

And guess what???? Men find young girls sexy and appealing. Women are and always have been pissed off at that realization because their bodies aren't as soft and cute as girls are anymore. Suck it up. Move on. It's why women dress in these costumes idiots

That mean

Lots of pervy dudes getting really triggered by this post.

When our daughter was 15,she finially made her First Holy Communion in the class of 7 year olds. We were told by the Rel.Ed.Director that to 'fit in'with the little girls,that she had to be dress like them,which didnt make her to happy!We got her the traditional,poofy,short sleeve,above the knees communion dress and matching veil with the white gloves,lace anklets and white 'mary jane' shoes.The Rel.ED.Director then told us that under her dress she was supposed to wear a white tee shirt,cloth diaper and rubberpants[plastic pants] just like the little girls wear under their dresses! The daughter was really unhappy then! I got a package of ten cloth diapers in the 24x27 inch size and sewed them around the edges to make one diaper out of them,then got the diaper pins to pin it on her with.I ordered the white,rubberpants in adult size from a website,and got the tee shirt at Target.The morning of the ceremony,she took her bath,then laid on her bed and i slid the folded diaper under her,applied the babypowder,then pinned the diaper on her.I put the crinkly rubberpants on her next over the diaper and they fit her blousy.Then she put the tee shirt on,followed by the lace anklets and the mary janes.She was complaining about how 'babyish' she felt and looked! I put the dress on her next,followed by the veil and the gloves.The dress came to above her knees and she was worried that people would see the diaper and rubberpants under her dress!At the parish,the Rel.Ed. Director had her lift up her dress so she could see that she had the diaper and rubberpants on under it.The daughter felt embarrassed walking down the aisle with the little kids and thought it was so unfair that she had to be dressed like the little girls on her special day!

I have always dressed for sex it makes it really exciting the partner I have now is very much into spanking he messages me before he leaves work telling me what would turn him on and I dress accordingly and yes if he wants a sexy school girl I am happy to oblige and am guaranteed to be spanked or caned really love the fun