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.