Slog - Comments on Oh, Baby... http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby For those who think the sexualization of Halloween* is just for grownups: What will your daughter be for Halloween? How about a sexy go-go girl? Or a sexy prison bondage girl? (Actual title: "Miss Behaved.") Or a sexy army girl? (Actual title: "Major Flirt.") Or wicked, wicked Dorothy? Or hell, why not just doll her up like Britney Spears? I'm no prude. I like sexy clothes, in context. (Said context preferably not being the one day a year I'm given "permission" to "go bad"—because as everyone knows, overt female sexuality is always "bad".) However, correct me if I'm wrong, but... Copyright 2008 Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:55:01 -0800 Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:03:58 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by David Schmader Dear God. I feel like just looking at the "Major Flirt" outfit should get me investigated by the FBI.

]]> David Schmader http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480504 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480504 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:54:53 -0800 Comment by Goat Bastard I'm going this year as a pregnant Mudede.
I'm childish, sorry...

]]> Goat Bastard http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480510 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480510 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:00:43 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo No, you're right. That is deeply fucked up.

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480511 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480511 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:01:30 -0800 Comment by catalina vel-duray Part of the fun of wearing slutty clothes as an adult is that you didn't get to wear them as a kid.

Or at least that's how it was for me.

]]> catalina vel-duray http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480512 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480512 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:02:11 -0800 Comment by monkey And a great couples costume could be John Michael Karr and JonBenet Ramsey. It's so adorable when you make pre-teens look like expensive call-girls.

]]> monkey http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480516 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480516 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:04:50 -0800 Comment by treacle I totally agree with you Erica. It's totally creepy.
I'll bet the religious right blames it on "liberalism", while the progressives blame it on socially regressive, desperate capitalism.

]]> treacle http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480518 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480518 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:08:00 -0800 Comment by Dougsf Monkey, that is brilliant. I need a blonde date this year looks like...

]]> Dougsf http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480520 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480520 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:09:50 -0800 Comment by Gomez Goat Bastard, don't forget the viagra.

]]> Gomez http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480522 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480522 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:10:36 -0800 Comment by Mr. X Ick.

I say just go back to Dan Ackroyd's Mainway toy company costumes and adapt em for girls - Johnny (Jenny) Human Torch, Johnny (Jenny) Invisible Pedestrian, as either of the preceding would actually be less harmful to kids...

]]> Mr. X http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480523 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480523 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:11:21 -0800 Comment by COMTE I wonder, if you were to actually posit to a Fundie that this sexualization of pre-pubescent girls is simply a manifestation of the Free Market system at work, would their heads explode from trying to sort out the logical conundrum?

And also, would anyone in say, S.C. even look twice at nine or ten year-old girls wearing these kinds of outfits?

]]> COMTE http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480554 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480554 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:10:19 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle This is bad. Seriously.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480613 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480613 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:38:01 -0800 Comment by Doink You guys are old and out of touch.

these girls aren't particularly slutty. No cleavage and the skirts are pretty low. these costumes have obviously been toned down for children.

]]> Doink http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480638 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480638 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:48:08 -0800 Comment by Fnarf I am so turned on right now.

The JonBenet/Karr idea is the funniest thing I've heard in a while.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480670 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480670 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:57:21 -0800 Comment by Dianna Ew. Ew. Ew.

I can't imagine a parent letting their kids wear this.

]]> Dianna http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480675 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480675 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:58:47 -0800 Comment by Gloria Doink, I hope you're joking, but if not ... eight-year-olds don't HAVE cleavage. They're pre-pubescent ... which is what makes this all so disturbing.

]]> Gloria http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480691 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480691 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:03:20 -0800 Comment by Doink Yeah, but where the cleavage would be is covered up. these are pretty modest costumes. They are trying to be cute, not sexy. I'm pretty sure that pre-menstrual girls occasionally wear skirts and short sleeves on days other than Halloween. Just because childless adults can only see sex when looking at these costumes doesn't mean that the kids who wear them do.

]]> Doink http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480766 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480766 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:26:11 -0800 Comment by Kristin I remember seeing the Harem Girl one on Amazon a few years ago and being horrified. Until I saw that you already mentioned it, I was going to post about it, but also, there is the fact that the SKU number for the one I found (not on Amazon, btw), is "rub881060".

Ew.

]]> Kristin http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480773 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480773 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:27:58 -0800 Comment by Gloria I'm not sure why you'd single out childless adults specifically, over adults who do have children. Are we somehow more prone to viewing children in sexual contexts?

]]> Gloria http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480810 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480810 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:43:31 -0800 Comment by Geni There is no way in holy hell my mother would have let me wear a single one of these costumes as a child. It's not so much that the costumes are revealing in and of themselves (most are not, particularly), but they ARE conveying an idea of a girl as a sexual being. Attaching the word "sexy" to anything having to do with a prepubescent child just squicks me. Don't young girls have enough shit to deal with without being tarted up and pimped out from the time they're little?

What the hell happened to the kitty and clown and ghost costumes? Where are the nonsexy witch and devil costumes?

Take a look at the boys' costumes. Superheroes. Ninjas. Firemen - and not the calendar variety, either. Not a one with the word "sexy" attached to it.

]]> Geni http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480906 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480906 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 17:17:00 -0800 Comment by Gitai Why are you surprised by this? The sexualization of children isn't anything new and it isn't restricted to Halloween. Have you forgotten the A&F thongs for children? I mean, it's still absolutely disgusting, but it's not suprising.

]]> Gitai http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480959 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c480959 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 17:41:28 -0800 Comment by Dat Bathani Once again folks, we are dealing with labels (the labels here are more inappropriate than the costumes) and the Judeo-Christian myth. Sexy women are to be discouraged, put down, feared but sexy girl children,… no problem. Yes, it is a sick society that sells “sexy” to prepubescent girls and that their parents would buy it for their little dears. (Children aren’t people, they are dolls to dress up?)
Unfortunately, this theme is played out in subtler ways on a regular basis. It’s a twisted message. Made more so by the opposite message that only “bad” girls are sexy and a girl/woman is responsible for every man’s sexual reaction.
We are inundated by these messages daily. Just look at the 12 year old models wearing women’s sexy cloths and make up. Look at the costumes for the dolls that are sold as age appropriate. Look at the message behind so many advertisements with which children are inundated.
Adults playing out the FANTASY of sexy prepubescent girls in another thing altogether and a very common, too.
What a can of worms!

]]> Dat Bathani http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c481013 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c481013 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:06:49 -0800 Comment by Sean Yes, sexiness + children = yuck. However, as usual the rest of your post is completely lost on me.

Who says you need permission to dress sexy? And since when is Halloween the only day of the year when dressing sexy is allowed.

Who says dressing sexy is always bad?

How is dressing sexy the equivalent of "playing out male fantasies of subservience"? Who says male sexual fantasies are primarily about female subservience?

Who dresses sexy in the interest of "reclaiming stereoptypes"? Don't most people dress sexy for the fun of it?


]]> Sean http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c481015 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c481015 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:07:50 -0800 Comment by Dilda Doink: two things. First, what happened to the innocence of childhood? Second, whether it's sexy or cute - it spells out loud and clear "I'M AVAILABLE" to older boys wanting some action and, most worrisome it serves as advertising for pedophile rapists.

]]> Dilda http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c481019 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c481019 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:09:46 -0800 Comment by Phan There's nothing wrong with these costumes as long as there's a 4-foot minimum distance.

]]> Phan http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c481118 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c481118 Life Tue, 24 Oct 2006 20:48:02 -0800 Comment by Frank Ronco I love when little girls wear toght clothes, their tight little butts and...oh if you can catch a camel toe, WOW!

]]> Frank Ronco http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c485848 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/oh_baby#c485848 Life Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:03:58 -0800