Seems like everyone's got a tale to tell.

Mal ,'Safe'


Spike's Bitches 46: Don't I get a cookie?  

[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.


Atropa - Sep 28, 2010 1:39:02 pm PDT #4410 of 30000
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

Steph, thank you for posting your thoughts so articulately. Because you outlined ALL of my objections to the sexy costumes.


Laga - Sep 28, 2010 1:39:13 pm PDT #4411 of 30000
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.

I think I don't know enough about childhood development to hold up my end of the conversation. I believe people should be able to dress however they want, but I don't know in what way how a child is perceived effects how they mature. I do recall that when a t-shirt I had as a tween that said, "saucy" elicited a couple of weird reactions from strange men, I stopped wearing it.

Much as I hate to go back into the oven, I have to go home. sigh.


Trudy Booth - Sep 28, 2010 1:46:02 pm PDT #4412 of 30000
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart

But if a kid wants to dress as, say, one of the Avatar characters (and NOT a "sexy nurse" or "sexy bee," let me be very clear) that's her creativity and expression.

If she's young enough she's not thinking about being "fuckable," she's thinking about liking that movie and those characters and she should get to do that without adults putting their expectations on her.

If she's old enough that she IS starting to feel sexual its an opportunity to begin to express that. It's her new body she's growing into and figure out and my discomfort with that fact (and some pervy dude's "comfort" with it) shouldn't get in the way of her first baby-steps into developing her sexuality.

Now, it gets a talk -- several... before, during and after. Its a decidedly teachable moment. And she's going trick-or-treating in a large group or to a fully chaperoned party in it. She can explore these things safely both becuase its halloween and the rules shift and because I'm her mother and I'm actively raising her.


Scrappy - Sep 28, 2010 2:02:10 pm PDT #4413 of 30000
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Yes, but there's a difference between developing sexuality naturally and something like this for a 9-year-old [link] I know this is a celeb-kid, but I see stuff like that on Halloween on regular kids.


Trudy Booth - Sep 28, 2010 2:04:50 pm PDT #4414 of 30000
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart

That violates my rule though. It's not an actual costume, just a whore version of an actual costume.

She's not playing a character, she's playing "a slutty witch."

If she were dressed as, say, The Bee Girl (and it were fifteen years ago) she wouldn't be showing about the same skin but she'd be expressing something besides "I'm a nine year old looking weirdly hot". I wish I could think of a more contemporary example.


Amy - Sep 28, 2010 2:11:45 pm PDT #4415 of 30000
Because books.

Steph, thank you for posting your thoughts so articulately. Because you outlined ALL of my objections to the sexy costumes.

THIS. Absolutely. And thank you.


Hil R. - Sep 28, 2010 2:15:16 pm PDT #4416 of 30000
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l

I dressed as Catwoman for Halloween when I was 11. I can't remember why I chose that costume -- "Batman Returns" had come out that year, so I'd seen the ads for that, but I don't think I'd seen the actual movie. We wore our costumes to school for the afternoon, and I remember spending much of that afternoon veering between, "Eeek! I'm wearing something tight, and everyone can see that I have breasts! Must hide!" and "Hey, I look kind of like the woman in the movie. I look good."

The year before, I'd been Robin Hood. I think my mother asked me if I wouldn't rather be Maid Marian, and I said no, and she left it at that. I think my reasoning was that Robin Hood got to carry a bow and arrow, and Maid Marian didn't really do anything interesting. Plus, Marian wore a dress, and I hated dresses. My mom probably figured she'd rather sew a Robin Hood costume -- which was basically a brown tunic worn over green tights -- than a Marian dress, and she could work on getting me to like wearing dresses some other time.

Now that I think about it, very few of my Halloween costumes were specifically girl costumes. I can remember two costumes that were specifically male characters, three that were specifically female, and most of the rest were non-gendered things like pumpkin or cat.


Steph L. - Sep 28, 2010 2:33:25 pm PDT #4417 of 30000
I look more rad than Lutheranism

I think I don't know enough about childhood development to hold up my end of the conversation. I believe people should be able to dress however they want, but I don't know in what way how a child is perceived effects how they mature.

Well, not only is my problem with the effects on children's maturity, but also on the overall effect on society. I think that sexy costumes for little girls creates a world in which sexualized children become more and more "normal." Not quickly, but over time. And that, too, is dangerous. And unsafe.


§ ita § - Sep 28, 2010 2:36:01 pm PDT #4418 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Very much what Steph is saying. Premature sexualisation of girls especially is bad for everyone, not just the girls.


Liese S. - Sep 28, 2010 2:38:14 pm PDT #4419 of 30000
"Faded like the lilac, he thought."

Yup, not to pile on, but I agree here.

Also, it's difficult for kids to make decisions about stuff that's sexualized for themselves, because they don't always have a clear understanding of what that means.

Like me grinding on the dance floor. Because I had no clue how that motion translated to sexuality, I didn't really realize that I was projecting a sexual image, only that it was a dance move I'd seen done by older dancers I admired.