stella

Costumes So Cute, It’s Scary

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We went to the local Halloween superstore for some supplies. While we were browsing, my wife Patti noticed they had a “Boys Career” section, complete with doctor, fireman and astronaut costumes.

We thought it would be interesting to compare the boys’ choices with the choices the girls were given in their career section. Would the girls get equivalent options? Or would they be offered nurse, secretary and cheerleader instead?

Halloween_Boys AisleThe good news is that I was wrong. The girls were not saddled with nurses and secretaries as their only career paths. The bad news is there was no “Girls Career” section at all. None.

They did, however, have an entire section – I am not making this up – labeled “Flutter Fairy”. This was separate from the regular fairy section. I’m guessing because there is more “fluttering” involved.

What message does that send to girls about who their heroes are? About whom they should aspire to be?

Looking more carefully at the costumes, we compared the “Boys Fright” section the “Girls Fright” section. The boys were given some truly terrifying options. Freddy Krueger, Jason, Bloody Skeleton, and more.

Over on the girls’ side, there was literally nothing that was legitimately scary. From “Feisty Fairy” to a tutu-clad “Zomberina”, real terror was in short supply.

I mentioned it to Patti, “None of these costumes are scary in any real way. They all are cute.”

Halloween_Girls Aisle 2A passing employee chimed in, “Most of the scary costumes involve a mask. Girls don’t like to cover their face.”  She added helpfully, “They want people to see them.”

The superheroes aisle was not much better. Spider-Girl wore a tutu and had a “princess wand”. Batgirl was clad in head to toe HOT PINK. There were dozens of choices to help a girl look cute. But what if she wants to look tough? What if she wants to look scary? What if she wants to look professional?

It was easy for me to draw a line in my mind connecting row after row of costumes that tell little girls that the only thing that is important is that they look “cute” to the row after row of costumes that tell young women that the only way society values them is if they look “sexy”.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love the spookiness, the costumes and the creativity. I’ve dressed up in everything from silly, to creative, to scary. Hell, if I could pull off sexy, I might go for that, too – but I really appreciate the fact that when I go to the store, I have other choices.

I hope that someday my girls will be able to say the same.

Cosplay: Big Barda and Black Canary

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Anya wanted to be Big Barda this year for her cosplay/Halloween costume. We hemmed and hawed on it, because it is a really difficult costume — but eventually we gave in. Stella selected Barda’s Birds of Prey teammate Black Canary.

We learned so much while making the Big Barda costume. We made armor, a kick-butt helmet, bracers, a “Mega Rod.” Several friends asked us why we did not make YouTube videos documenting the process. That would have been a bit awkward as for a lot of it, we were watching other people’s YouTube videos to see how it was done.  Maybe next year we will feel confident enough to make our own.

As always, we want to thank the wonderful Adrienne Hebb, our extraordinary seamstress friend. This year she was instrumental in resizing an adult-scale bodysuit to fit a kid-sized Big Barda.

Anya as Big Barda
Black Canary
Big Barda
Black Canary
Big Barda and Black Canary
Black Canary
Big Barda and Black Canary
Big Barda and Black Canary
Big Barda and Black Canary
Black Canary
Black Canary
Black Canary
Big Barda
Black Canary
Big Barda
Big Barda
Big Barda
Big Barda
Big Barda
Stella as Black Canary

Anya & Stella vs. Action Figures

Anya and Stella demonstrate what girls run into when they try to buy action figures at the store.

Notes: Gamora is available as part of one of the two-packs of mini-figures. She is also available as part of the Marvel Legends series. Target was out of both of those and has been for weeks.

The only female action figure we were able to find in the entire aisle was Wonder Woman, and she was only available as part of a seven-hero set that cost $50. So in order to get one Wonder Woman, the girls would have to buy six heroes they didn’t want and pay $50 for the privilege. That was a non-starter.

I’m enough of a nerd that I know where to go to get female super hero figures, but they are generally designed for the adult male collector market. They are often inappropriately attired and always more expensive than the lines that are developed to be played with by children.

This is our first ever video. We hope to make more and we promise that as our skills improve, they will get better.