By Lori Adelman • @ladelman • 11 years ago

Halloween is around the corner, so of course this “naughty” toddler costume is being sold at Walmart

 

“Naughty Leopard” toddler costume spotted by Rachael in WalMart.

We all know Halloween can bring out the worst in already terrible people, with its penchant for insensitive, sexist costumes, cultural appropriation and of course the phenomenon we will refer to as “Sexy Halloween“. But I had hoped we were still too far out to start seeing signs of the Hallo-pocalypse, it being September and all. Not so, according to the Consumerist and a good samaritan reader named Rachael, who snapped a photo of this “Naughty Leopard” costume for toddlers. That’s right, your small girl-child is being urged by Walmart to invoke one side of the virgin-whore dichotomy whilst dressing up for Halloween this year.

Perhaps most confusingly, the outfit itself reads more “adorable leopard” and less “sex sex naughty sex” to me, which means that it’s deliberate marketing and less some necessity of design (?) that’s leading to this completely inappropriate sexualization of young girls.

A friendly public service reminder, one week out from October: Here are some non-racist non-sexist Halloween costume ideas. And don’t forget one of our favorite Tumblrs, Fuck No Sexist Halloween Costumes!, whose page suggests it might begin to update again for the new season shortly.

Brooklyn, NY

Lori Adelman started blogging with Feministing in 2008, and now runs partnerships and strategy as a co-Executive Director. She is also the Director of Youth Engagement at Women Deliver, where she promotes meaningful youth engagement in international development efforts, including through running the award-winning Women Deliver Young Leaders Program. Lori was formerly the Director of Global Communications at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and has also worked at the United Nations Foundation on the Secretary-General's flagship Every Woman Every Child initiative, and at the International Women’s Health Coalition and Human Rights Watch. As a leading voice on women’s rights issues, Lori frequently consults, speaks and publishes on feminism, activism and movement-building. A graduate of Harvard University, Lori has been named to The Root 100 list of the most influential African Americans in the United States, and to Forbes Magazine‘s list of the “30 Under 30” successful mediamakers. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Lori Adelman is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Partnerships.

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