I’ve started looking for Halloween costumes for my 5 year old daughter already, because last year we ended up with a piece of crap I had to sew back together twice (and my husband had to do once).  Every year, I notice how many costumes being sold to little girls are really, well, slutty.  What is the deal with this?  I assume it’s the same phenomena as the loathsome Bratz dolls.  What is with the sexualization of little girls?  It’s revolting.  Now, what really bothers me is this:  it’s a capitaltist system (that itself doesn’t, I’m no commie LOL hang on..) meaning, retailers usually respond to what sells from year to year.  This means to me that a large number of Americans think it’s “cute” or at least acceptable to dress their little girls like prostitutes on the one day of the year they are supposed to imagine themselves as someone else.

I was looking specifically for a cat costume when I came across this one.  The little girl in the photo, who couldn’t be more than 10 (note this costume’s smallest size comes in 4/6) is posing provocativley with hand on hip and slightly tilted sunglasses. Gross. Many little girls’ costumes feature tight corsets or bodices, very short skirts and/or cropped tops for “Diva” outfits.  Oh yeah, and this one–a can can dancer–look how cute, my little girl is dressed for a burlesque show!  Or oh shit, just saw this one–a Geisha!  You can encourage your daughter to go into the sex industry, how adorable.

Looking over a costume catalog, you see little boy costumes: Astronaut, firefighter, superheroes.  Little girls get: slutty divas, princesses, sex workers (the aformentioned geisha etc..), slutty vampires, slutty devils, and slutty fairies.  In all fairness, some of the witch costumes are cute and not sexualized.

Look, I’m not a prude.  I’m all for women getting slutty on Halloween if they so wish.  What I’m NOT for is the sexualization of little girls who are too young to understand the connotations of their costumes.

My husband has always expressed his fondness for plays.  I’ve never liked them, especially when singing is involved.  I’ve only ever liked one play “Kiss of the Spider Woman”–and that one only because it has a scene where two men kiss, causing my husband’s 85 year old grandmother to loudly proclaim “Oh My..” in a dead silent theater.  We all still laugh about it. 

One play my husband’s mentioned over the years he enjoyed was “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, so when I heard they were coming to Denver, I got two tickets for his Father’s Day gift.  I had no idea what it was about, other than the vauge notion that it was a comedy set in ancient Rome.

So we get to the theater, and having bought tickets online without looking at the map of the place, we are brought to our seats.  They ask us to go to the front…and to keep going.  We had two seats literally right next to the stage–you could touch it.  My husband called them “crotch seats” which was vulgar but apt, as I would soon find out.  Right before the show started my husband leaned over and said “I should warn you, it’s a little sexist”.  To give you an idea of what he’s referring to, here is a list of the characters:

A lecherous old man

A lecherous young man

A lecherous middle aged man

A vapid virgin sex slave who can’t tell the difference between 3 and 5

A fat ball busting wife

5 other prostitutes dressed as 1. a belly dancer 2. a large cat 3. Twin 60s sex bombs from a bond film, 4. An Amazon

A Pimp

After the scene where the prostitutes come out high kicking I understood what he meant by his name for our seats…..and I asked him what his definition of “little” is.

My best friend is getting married to a wonderful guy, which is great and we’re all really excited.  This however, means I will be the “matron of honor”.  I loathe with a passion the word “matron”.  Words have power because their connotations say something about their underlying cultural assumptions.  My title of my position in the wedding changes based upon if I’m married or not.  “Maid of honor” if I’m not married, and “Matron of honor” if I am.  Now, the title of “Best Man” doesn’t change based on the participant’s marital status, why does mine?  Why does it matter if I’m married or not?  I was discussing this with my husband and he asked, “What do they call you if you’re divorced?” which is a good question so I looked it up.  Apparently if you’ve ever been married you are still a “matron”.  My guess as to the etiology behind this arrangement is the historic cultural (and religious) obsession with women’s virginity.  I guess everyone needs to know if I’ve gotten some in my life (putting aside the idea of course, that you don’t need to be married to do the deed, presumably had I done so I would have been stoned to death).  My new suggestion for this position: “Best Woman”. 

There are so many “traditions” in a wedding ceremony that have misogynistic roots in the cult of virginity (hello, white dress!, the “giving away” i.e. “this is property I pass to another man”).  At my wedding both my parents walked with me down the aisle, and you can bet I made sure the words “honor and obey” weren’t fucking included.