I went costume shopping earlier this week with a friend and was so disgusted with the selection. However, I began to laugh out loud when I saw the "sexy nun." WTF? I'm not catholic, nor am I particularly religious, but seriously, can't the nuns, at least, be spared from the oversexed Halloween frenzy?

Wow, when I read the title "Ella Mental" I thought it was going to be a cute chemistry reference. A girl as a sexy periodic table or something...but, alas we can't escape the sexy histeria plug.

Oh my god. I'm vomiting out of my eyes. There's been some rotten shit talked about on this site, but I think these costumes are a new low for all of humanity, certainly for western civilization. They should just pull all the costumes in the lineup and sell these:

Stripper
Porn Star
Prostitute
Skanky Prostitute
Slut
Slut w/ Gonorrhea
Housewife

I love Halloween, and maybe it hasn't gotten worse over the years, but it certainly feels that way. The kids thing is just appalling. I was a couple of "feminine" characters when I was younger- a "female" pirate, gypsy, etc, but my mom made the costumes and they were nice. I was also a football player, Peter Pan (NOT Tinkerbell!), an astronaut, a bunch of grapes... what happened to kids getting creative? It's not THAT hard to come up with something unique! Thank God my mother in law still sews so well and lets me jump on the machine now and then. Bah.

Oh, wow. A child nurse? I can't tell you how alarmingly disgusted I am by that.

As for the "adult" costumes, I'm just waiting for the day when bras and panties with leopard prints are going to be marketed as full costumes. Shouldn't be too far from now.

Also, I notice that the Deluxe Shabbas Queen Child Purim Costume and the Kohen Godol Child Purim Costume (under "Religion") are among the least sexy. This is flagrant discrimination against Jewish pedophiles. Somebody call the Anti-Defamation League!

http://www.costumesupercenter.com/product/womens+costumes/humorous/bun+in+the+oven+adult.do

Not only can you be a trophy wife, you can literally have a bun in the oven. I just threw up a little in my mouth.

My question is if you want to be a slutty crazy person, how are you supposed to hold a drink?

Still more: the boys' section has costumes to dress up as George Washington, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson! Where's the Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton costumes? Hell, I think we'd even accept a "Sexy Susan B. Anthony Child" costume at this point.

The boys' occupational is incredible -- doctors, astronauts, airline pilots, firemen. None of them sexy, though.

This post and comments read like The O'Reilly Factor. Ugh.

This post and comments read like The O'Reilly Factor. Ugh.

Well lbacher, I'm assuming that we wouldn't need to hold a drink in that costume. After all, the woman is already completely incapacitated. No need to waste good date-rape drugs.

/Sarcasm.

When I was a kid we all wore plastic masks and inflammible plastic smocks for Halloween. I never thought I'd think of that as the good old days.

My only hope in this case is that everyone's mother will decide it's too cold to go out dressed like that.

ugh... halloween suits for children like this is just... sigh.
Just made me annoyed.

Why oh why does the theme allways have to be sexy!? sexy mental patient?!
I wonder when this kind of stupidity will change.

Sigh. Remember when Halloween meant dressing up as something frightening? Homemade is always the way to go.

Major Flirt is the worst. What a bloody insult to women serving in the military.

Dean... I think you may be responding to the 'slutty' comments, but they are directed at the manufacturer of the costume and are not an aspersion cast on the women wearing the costumes. This is about how unfortunate it is that the fun of dressing up like someone else in an evening of strangeness and creativity is being appropriated by those who would like it to be an evening in which women perform sexual fantasies for a happy (male?) audience. Performing a sexual fantasy is fine as a personal choice, but problematic as an only option.

And getting children to perform sexual fantasies (there is no other read on a French maid outfit) is absolutely reprehensible. Forgive us for calling people out on it.

Also, some of those "costumes" are just kids dressed in trendy clothing! That's not a costume! I see that on the street everyday!

I would so love to see a little girl in a Lisa Simpson costume. That would make my day. :)

What's everyone dressing up as for H-Ween? I am going as a clapping monkey! Or a gay politician, we haven't decided which. :D

I always dress as Sylvia Plath and my husband is Ted Hughes. Since it involves no real change in our dress (except for me to put on a skirt rather than jeans) we do it every year.

Our baby will be Tinkerbell. So sue me.

I'm going as a Sexy Child Soldier.

That's the same maid costume I found for my daughter when I was looking for something so she could be Mrs. White from the game Clue. I decided to make it instead.

How are you supposed to imbibe or smoke pot with that mental patient uniform? I guess only people crazy enough to tolerate that situation would wear it! Oh,m the irony!

Thank God I live in an area of town where nobody trick or treats.

"I would so love to see a little girl in a Lisa Simpson costume. That would make my day. :)"

I did that once as a kid, since everyone called me Lisa Simpson in an attempt to make me feel bad about being smart and being the only girl who played saxophone in the band. I really only took it as a compliment.

I usually do the Audrey Hepburn from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" thing...just easy because I have a similar black dress and fake pearls that are fun to wear. But hey, maybe this year I'll go all "Sexy Holly Golightly--now with pasties!". You know that's out there somewhere.

Oooh, I change my mind. I want to go as a violent feminist. I can were that "This Is What a Feminist Looks Like" shirt with the word "violent" added in it ...with blood spots all over the shirt, and a baseball ball or something, and a list of misogynistic assholes I want to beat up!

That is disgusting. I just wrote an angry letter to the company.

That is disgusting. I just wrote an angry letter to the company.

All I can think of when I see these types of costumes marketed to girls is: Humbert, Humbert where are you? Salivating over at the Halloween costume shop I'll tell you.

"But hey, maybe this year I'll go all "Sexy Holly Golightly"...

Yes, Elle, and I'm trying to figure out a way to sex up my Sylvia Plath outfit, but I'm drawing a blank. I could be Bondage Sylvia, with a short skirt and a leash and collar held by my Ted Hughes-dressed husband.

My friend, boyfriend and I made plans to do sexy costumes for Halloween. She is going to be Sexy Don Quixote. He is going to be Sexy Blockbuster Assistant Manager. I am going to be Sexy Ronald Reagan.

ProFeministMale, if you went as a paranoid homophobic closeted conservative homosexual I would be very pleased. But you should probably find a silent, nodding, supportive wife-bot to go with you :)

Andrea- that would be so hilarious... Marc- it would be funny if you taped a piece of toilet paper to your shoe as part of your costume- it would be very "Senator Craig."

I'm going to be Frida Kahlo! My boyfriend is going as either Diego Rivera or Trotsky. He can't make up his mind.

And to actually try to stay on topic, those child costumes are creepy. The "sexy" adult costumes bug me somewhat too, but at least they're marketed to adults, ffs!

Wow. And to think, my eight year old daughter didn't want a 'sexy' costume this year. She asked for a ghost costume - you know, long, full white dress and hood with a gauzy overlay, it's big enough to fit a winter jacket underneath... That's what Halloween in Canada isn't a 'sexy' event, I guess. You can't get a snow suit under the French maid costume.

Thank goodness I live in Canada.

I'll never forget when I was in Walmart several years ago and saw a belly-dancer type outfit meant for the 6-10 set called "Harem Girl." To me that one still takes the sexist costume cake.

The issue at hand isn't that the adult costumes are revealing, but that many of them are making serious issues (mental health, anorexia, the trophy wife, etc.) a laughing matter. That takes away the serious attention that these matters need.

The sexy children costumes, however, are --- yikes. In a culture where people love watching "To Catch a Predator," you'd' think they'd take issue with the way we as a whole culture are sexualizing children earlier and earlier. I think immediately of the awful t-shirts marketed in Walmart's junior section. Most of them have some obvious sexual innuendo, but I saw one that just said "EASY" in big glitter letters on the chest. How could there be any other interpretation of THAT?

I, however, have no problem with the Sexy Mustard costume.

I came across Ella Mental a few days ago myself, sick. And since when were being home wreckers or mentally ill considered occupations anyway?? WTF?

And I cannot BELIEVE those child costumes exist. Who on EARTH could put out a costume like that?? How would you even think of it? I can't imagine a parent being okay with buying that.

You missed "Pimpette" "Home wrecker" and "Moneyhoney".

I can't decide whether to cry or go buy my baby daughter a Batman costume. Batgirl costume. Why are there no Batgirl costumes? Hmph.

Well, I'm going as Blossom from the Powerpuff Girls, as part of my ongoing Halloween theme of female superheroes/ass kickers. I live in Miami, so I've seen FAR more revealing costumes, and can gaurentee that my pink and black mini-dress and mary janes will be incredibly tame.

My little sister (who's 12) is going as Elizabeth from the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Specifically, Elizabeth as the Pirate King, I believe. But we've got a mom who will make costumes for us, so we're the lucky ones who don't have to conform to the costume industry's idea of what girls should be for Halloween.

"I would so love to see a little girl in a Lisa Simpson costume. That would make my day. :)"

My son's best friend (a girl) dressed up as Lisa a couple years ago - actually, the whole family dressed up as the Simpsons. They lacked a baby to be Maggie though.

This same girl showed up at a costume party recently in a knight outfit (helmet, shield, sword.) Someone asked her if she was Joan of Arc. She looked at them like they were stupid, and responded "No, I'm a knight!"

I entertain fantasies that she and my son will get married some day, because if I'm not going to have a girl of my own, I want a daughter-in-law (or not in law, as they choose) like her.

one of my favorite, recurring Subvert teh Dominant Paradigm costumes when i was a skeptical, anti-frilly-crap kid was oscar the grouch. this year, though, it will be cardinal richelieu!

The onion had a great photo up the other day. It just had a photo of a guy hugging a little girl, ostensibly his daughter, with the caption, "Your children: Are they sexy enough?"

PS If you really want to vomit, compare the Boys' Occupations.

well....as I agree more than anyone that the children's costumes are out of hand and we shouldn't be marketing such things to young girls... I have created an account just this moment so I can add that yes, I have bought the Ella Mental Costume. and I wore it at a party last weekend and plan on wearing it again this weekend. As a plus sized girl I have never ever worn a "sexy" costume before. I have always created my own unique costumes out of my own clothes and been fine with it. But, this year I decided that I would search plus size costumes online myself and I wanted to do something different and confident. I can see your point that its demeaning that a woman is "crazy" or needs to be tied up. But, if its my choice to wear it, I think thats just fine. The plus size version's skirt is a bit longer, but it is still just as low cut in the front. I don't see my decision to wear this costume as wrong or "unfeminist". I know about the showing your body as backwards in feminist culture. I've read female chauvanist pigs. I have to disagree that if with my small group of friends, I want to dress up once a year, dressing as a crazy girl who likes to be tied up, isn't so bad. I actually had planned on being a stereotypical 50's housewife, like june cleaver for halloween, but dresses and shoes were too expensive. I think that halloween can be a time to play your opposites. I also believe that even though many of the "sexy" costumes are degrading for women, its still that woman's choice to be wearing it.

Awww, what a sweet story about the little girl, Kat. Strong little girls always makes me smile.

I had an ex who once told me that as a child, she once went trick-or-treating as Michael Irvin of the Dallas Cowboys. When asked why she wanted to wear that, since she was a girl, she told the lady who gave her candy: "And what makes you think girls can't play football?" She was, like, eight at the time. :)

Maggie with an axe and a tape recording of James Earl Jones saying "This is indeed a disturbing universe."

And I'm glad to hear that Michael Irvin explanation; they probably think she was asking for cocaine.

I was already planning to go a as a patchwork zombie, mostly because I really enjoy doing elaborate makeup. My husband was at a loss so he got a lab coat and glow stick to be Dr. Herbert West, Reanimator. Which resulted in no one knowing what that was all night.

People get jaw droppingly callous about costumes. I was at a rather hipster party last year where a couple showed up as Jon-Bennett Ramsey and her killer. I tried to ignore them for about 20 minutes, then left before I punched someone in the face.

My husband and I are going as merfolk. He'll actually be wearing less than I.

I agree that "sexy" costumes for little girls are inappropriate. But for most* of the adult ones, the only things that bother me are 1. there are very few sexy male costumes and 2. since most store-bought costumes are generic and stereotypical, what you get when you wear them is a very pre-packaged and stereotypical kind of "sexy".

I think that the sexiest costumes are those whose wearers use their own style and carry it with confidence.

*Some, like the "sexy Indian", are downright racist.

I am not going to lie, I did do the sexy halloween costume one year a la "mean girls" (a Devil but basically a short skirt and deveil horns) and I don't necessarily fault women for wanting to dress sexy on halloween just as I dont fault women who dress sexy any day of the week. However, I do agree that costumes are becoming hyper sexualized and i don't like that idea for kids AT ALL. My friend is going as a cop and she went to a sex store to by her costume cause she said they were cheapter and made better and they covered the same about of skin as the regular costume

As for my costume's this yeah: my husband and I are probably going as Dwight and Angela from the office, we needed cheap costumes and neither of us are incredibly creative. My husband suggests Anakin Skywalker and Natalie Portman's character but I refused cause I hate how they once again turned a strong female character into a romantic partner for the man...

I am not going to lie, I did do the sexy halloween costume one year a la "mean girls" (a Devil but basically a short skirt and deveil horns) and I don't necessarily fault women for wanting to dress sexy on halloween just as I dont fault women who dress sexy any day of the week. However, I do agree that costumes are becoming hyper sexualized and i don't like that idea for kids AT ALL. My friend is going as a cop and she went to a sex store to by her costume cause she said they were cheapter and made better and they covered the same about of skin as the regular costume

As for my costume's this yeah: my husband and I are probably going as Dwight and Angela from the office, we needed cheap costumes and neither of us are incredibly creative. My husband suggests Anakin Skywalker and Natalie Portman's character but I refused cause I hate how they once again turned a strong female character into a romantic partner for the man...

I don't think I could find a single women's costume on that site that wasn't sexualized. I get so discouraged around Halloween because I can never find anything creative. The holiday has turned into a a weird heterosexual male porn fantasy or something. My boyfriend and I wanted to do something together this Halloween, but even though I see Princess Fiona online, she's no where in the stores. Shrek is. There are Homer and Bart Simpson masks. No Marge or Lisa. I wanted to go as a Wizard/Warlock. Nope. Only have the robe for men.

I miss when Halloween was about being creative and my mom would make my costumes.

Damn. Are you telling me I could have been a deviant housewife for halloween? That would have been alot easier then making Flintstones costumes for everyone. I could have just put on an apron and underwear, duct taped my daughter to a stroller and had my boyfriend dress up in his suit and taped fake cash all over it.

WOW, sexy little girl costumes. What is with parents?

As a kid (with the help of an insanely creative mom), i was Puff the Magic Dragon (a dragon, not a joint), an alien with one eye and a glowing head, a gypsy, an artist (in a beret & smock), a clown and so forth.

As a drunken undergraduate, i wore some 'sexy' outfits, but i was a sexy mosquito, a sexy poodle (with a homemade costume, including a long snoot), a boy scout, and with two other friends, a woodland nymph. I was very shy and serious, so i loved wearing a disguise and being flirty and physical for one night. But my costumes were for ME and for my fun and fantasies - not for some beau who wanted a sexy french maid etc.

i am tired of the emphasis on sexy in a stereotypical corporate promoted fashion. i used to love halloween for the opportunity to cut loose and for the opportunity to enjoy the wit and creativity of the other people out for the night. Now i'm just tired of the holiday. In fact i'm tired of all of the holidays being shoehorned into some corporate preconception that requires a lot of buying to achieve.

I'm short on time, so I have just three quick responses:

Re: Sexy child costumes
I'm just trying to decide which is more appalling: That some scumbag actually had the nerve to pitch these pedophilic fantasy costumes to a marketing team somewhere, or that the team actually thought it was a great idea and went with it, rather than, say, lynching him/her. Very disturbing.

Re: "Ella Mental"
Not at all offensive to people with actual mental disorders! They're a barrel of laughs, and waaaaay sexy. What's next, sexy retard? Sexy gimp? WTF?! [/sarcastic rant]

Re: Sexy Halloween
I used to love Halloween, but I've begun to think we might as well just start calling it "Annual Dress Like A Slut" day. Seems like that's where we're headed.

My "costume" (such as it is) is a T-shirt that says "Trapped in a human costume; please help unzip." And you know, when I see "sexy" costumes being marketed for children, I kind of wish it were true...

i'm going as Victim of the Patriarchy. Red heals, short black skirt, back-seamed hose, red bra. and then i'm having people write in fake blood on my skin derogatory things about women.

My daughter wants to be a princess this year, so princess she is. Her dress is long and velvet, which is good for New England at the end of October.

I don't mind the sexy women's costumes, but sexy girls' costumes blow my mind and not in the good way. Can you imagine the horror if they made a 'sexy Tarzan' costume for little boys?

I and my friend are going as "clients" from Hostel (the movie). We bought aprons and "tools" at Home Depot, as well as going to a costume shop to get fake blood, which I will spatter all over myself. We will also be super glueing fake severed body parts to the costume to complete the effect. It'll be interesting to see how many people guess what we are without us having to tell them.

I've done the sexy costume once, three years ago, and I don't care to do it again, my goal is to scare the shit out of people and I figure that since I'll actually be armed I won't have to worry about assholes bothering me all night:)

For more horrible Halloween costume commentary see this sadly non-ironic piece in the Chicago Tribune about how sexy is the fun new trend in costumes. It is, of course, written by a guy.

Let's see...probably the best costumes I had when I was a kid were a Holiday Inn (I was three, my mom painted a cardboard box to look like a hotel with windows and did the lettering of an actual Holiday Inn, then cut a hole in the bottom for my head and the sides for my arms and I wore it upside-down), Captain Hook (black pants, boots, and my mom's red blazer with a plastic sword and a kaleidescope for a telescope), and a Rich Old Lady (very gaudy dress of my mom's from the eighties and a feather boa with old high heels of my grandmother's which she couldn't wear anymore, but her feet were small enough that they fit 10-year-old me). Weird, creative stuff that didn't come from any store and wasn't at all sexy.
My boyfriend and I considered dressing up as a (male) corporate executive (me) and a housewife (him) this Halloween, before we realized that we'd have nowhere to wear such costumes. It would have been funny, though, since he's 6'8 and very hairy, and the whole gender-bending thing is cool.

Sexual fantasy/ role-playing costumes.

Halloween costumes.

The thing that bothers the hell out of me with the whole "sexy" thing that Hallowe'en seems to be turning into is that if you leave it to the last minute, that's the only option you're left with (unless you're pretty creative - I've thus far managed to avoid it). This year I'm going as Alice in Wonderland. I'm carrying a stuffed rabbit with fangs and generally going for something a bit disturbing. :)

I now feel like I need to learn how to sew better so that I can make my children costumes at Halloween. My mum once made me, my brother, and one of our friends Ninja Turtle costumes.

Last year I went as "sexy" batgirl for lack of a better costume. This year I'm going as Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction. I just wish I could find some sort of syringe so I could do it as an "after" instead of "before".

OK...the kids costumes are pretty sick.

Anyone else remember when children's Halloween costumes had mesh or flesh-toned fabric covering any excess skin like the stomach? I remember that from the year I wanted the Ariel costume from the Disney store...but I was too fat for it.

I'm going as Tinkerbelle after she went to college and took a women's studies course...........I bought a Tinkerbelle costume and added cool patches and buttons and wrote "this is what a feminist looks like" on it, etc. I also bought a long orange flowing skirt that I will wear under the costume for a colorful layered look. I'm looking forward to explaining my costume over and over at my school's party tomorrow.

You know, my best Hallowe'en costume, from when I was a kid, was for one year when I dressed as a Valkyrie.

There's one couple in Ottawa who always have great costumes. One year they dressed as Raelians. Another year they were a UN Weapons Inspector and a Weapon of Mass Destruction. Still another year they wore Grim Reaper robes with chicken masks, and went as the Avian Flu.

Last year, for HallowChristmas (my friend looooves Halloween, and pretty much just wanted to do it again in December), my boyfriend went as Dick Cheney, and I was his hunting buddy. I dotted red lipstick all over the side of my face, and, if it hadn't been birdshot, I probably would have been more sensitive about it.

I'm going as Athene this year.

In past years, my little sister (who is now 11) and I dressed up, in tandem, as Hermione Granger and Prof. McGonagall. (And yes, I was enough of a nerd to go as Ginny Weasley to HP7.)

To all the mothers out there:
Please do not let your daughters dress as witches for Hallowe'en. The gendercide that was the witchhunts in medieval and early modern Europe and North America are not to be taken lightly. Hundreds of thousands of women were murdered as 'witches' simply because they were, well, women who were "mysterious" and didn't quite conform to societies expectations.
After all, would an African American woman dress her child as a slave for Hallowe'en? Ofcoarse not, that would be appalling. Well, I argue that dressing your daughter as a slave is equally as offensive.

I disagree. Witches are symbols of female power, which is one of the reasons they were used as an excuse to attack women. I'm always happy to see girls dressing up as symbols of female power.

And not in the medieval period. We had to wait for the enlightened Renaissance for the witch-hunts.

oops, I, ofcoarse mean dressing your daughter as a witch is equally as offensive.

end rant
lol

I think many have gotten too riled up over Halloween costumes. If a lady will feel good by wearing a sexy costume, go for it.

This, however, does not apply to children's costumes.

EG, I actually do agree with you that a witch CAN be a symbol of empowerment for women (ie. Anne Sexton's poem "Her Kind")
We, as feminists, can feel empathy for and connected to women in the past who were ostrasized or even murdered for being witches. However, I do not believe that a young girl dressing up as a scary witch for Hallowe'en is portraying this with her broomstick and green face complete with a wart on her nose.
But if a mother is dressing her daughter up as a witch with empowerment in mind, I could get on board with that.
It's all about consciousness-raising. I just want mothers to realize the implications before they decide.
Also, I mention the medieval period because women were beginning to be murdered in smaller numbers for heresy in line with what was sometimes called witchcraft in documents as early as the 12th century.
If you know of any works on the witch as an empowering symbol that you could recommend that would be great. Thanks :)

I work at a store which sells Halloween costumes and I've found that most of the boys costumes are associated with violence (Ninjas, killers, etc), which girls costumes center around princesses and anything with a short skirt.

*while girls costumes

I never knew Slut was a costume. Aside from Slut here are some more suggestions:

Skanky stripper
Gigolo
Skank
Slutty Dominatrix
Skanky Dominatrix

I wonder what happened to creativity in Halloween costumes?

I never would have thought that girls would be targeted for sexy costumes. I checked out some of the costumes for the girls and women and was a little shocked at some of the things that are advertised. I saw the one for the working woman, cuz you know every woman is in the habit of wearing thigh high boots and a shirt that shows off every inch of skin of the neck to their waist lines. Little girls should be wearing costumes that empower them to be real women, not some sick idea of the way a woman should be.

I do not believe that a young girl dressing up as a scary witch for Hallowe'en is portraying this with her broomstick and green face complete with a wart on her nose.

I take your point, but my experience is different. I dressed as the Wicked Witch of the West three times as a child because she terrified me and at the same time attracted me. Her power, as a witch and simply as a figure of terror, in the Wizard of Oz (the film) was massive. My dressing up as her was in the most classic Halloween sense--trying to partake of the power of the most terrifying thing you can think of by becoming that thing. I don't think it's easy to parcel out what's happening when a kid chooses a particular costume. I'm sure there are many kids who pick it as a sort of mockery--but I think there are probably also many who pick it because it frightens them, and fear is one response to power.

I didn't pick the WWW specifically because I was explicitly thinking "Wow, what a powerful woman," but that was, in part, what was going on subconsciously, before I was necessarily ready to make that leap. I gotta say, I'm far happier at the prospect of kids dressing up as witches than as Cinderella.

I'm not sure I came to the realization of witches = powerful women through any one nonfiction book. I was powerfully attracted to the figure of the witch throughout my childhood, and just picked up any book that had a witch in it, good or bad. I loved reading about them.