Are you wearing a costume today?

[vaticanplum]

Well there is the problem with society. Women shouldn't be treated like sexual objects, nor should they dress as such. Its sad that kids look up to these 'pop starlets' as you call them, becuase they are for the most part, trashy and trying to sell sex in order to sell music.... I am sure I am in the minority, especially among other men my age, but I have respect for women, and if they dress as if they don't respect themselves, then I don't take much time of mine to be around them. Have some respect for yourself and others will too.

Just my 2 cents.

If it matters that much to you, maybe you should find out if they respect themselves rather than making a snap judgment about it by the way they dress.

Instead, you're judging them by the way they dress, which is the precise reason clothes have certain stigmas attached to them in the first place. You are making them objects instead of people which is the very root of the problem. It is a not-too-distant extension of this reasoning, by the way, that gives credence to the ever so popular "look at what she was wearing, she was asking to be raped" line of thought.

I know plenty of polo-shirted, khaki-clad women who loathe themselves and plenty of skimpily-clad women who are supremely respectful of themselves. The two things are not necessarily related.

[Roy Tucker]

I'm sorry, but some of these things are regarded as sexual because Americans sexualized them in the first place. It's patently untrue that fishnets have always been reserved for strip joints and cabarets. In most of Europe fishnet stockings are better made and are regarded as upper-class professional wear, because they're worn tastefully and with professional clothing. Corsets ARE traditional renaissance, princess wear etc; Juliet did wear a corset. We were the ones who turned them into lingerie.

Seems to me that America is doing an awful lot of complaining about a monster it created itself. 364 days a year, women are supposed to be sexual objects, trashy pop starlets make millions from parent-bought videos and CDs -- those Baby Bratz dolls are gross, but they're not any grosser, or more popular, on October 31 -- and then all of a sudden on Halloween everybody has a problem with it? I don't like the trend myself, only because there's a lot less creativity involved in costume preparation than there used to be. But that whole problem with "sleaziness" -- well, don't encourage it the rest of the time and maybe people will be less inclined to do it on Halloween. At least on that day it's under the guise of a costume.

The Halloween costume trend is not only leading to tense mother-daughter standoffs, but it is also part of a far larger worry that young girls are becoming sexualized. Task forces of psychologists study the trend. Books and academic articles are being produced with such titles as the upcoming "So Sexy So Soon" and "From Barbie to Britney: The Sexualization of Childhood." And yet the costumes sell.

"Youth isn't being lived through anymore. It's being rushed through," Stephanie Terrazas, 20, said as she watched her 11-year-old sister pick out a "deluxe" sequined Dorothy dress that, unlike the chaste, high-necked one in the little girl size, was lower cut and had two strategically placed poofs of fabric.

This phenomena is my problem. If you're over 18 and you want to dress like trash, have at it. You are free to do so (and I'm free to have my opinion of it).

But entirely too much of this kind of stuff is flooding the 10-and-up market for young girls. And *that's* what I object to.

My wife and I are trying to raise our 2 teenage girls in a responsible fashion with character, morals, self-pride, and a healthy attitude towards sex and the opposite sex. Dressing like a streetwalker isn't conducive to anything near that.

[vaticanplum]

This phenomena is my problem. If you're over 18 and you want to dress like trash, have at it. You are free to do so (and I'm free to have my opinion of it).

But entirely too much of this kind of stuff is flooding the 10-and-up market for young girls. And *that's* what I object to.

My wife and I are trying to raise our 2 teenage girls in a responsible fashion with character, morals, self-pride, and a healthy attitude towards sex and the opposite sex. Dressing like a streetwalker isn't conducive to anything near that.

I agree with you, Roy. We're having two separate debates in this thread -- the "dressing sexy" argument and the young girls argument. I do think the latter is happening way too fast and too dangerously, though I don't think it's in any way limited to Halloween. And, again, I think that's a larger problem that America wrought on itself.

[Roy Tucker]

I agree with you, Roy. We're having two separate debates in this thread -- the "dressing sexy" argument and the young girls argument. I do think the latter is happening way too fast and too dangerously, though I don't think it's in any way limited to Halloween. And, again, I think that's a larger problem that America wrought on itself.

I figured that, vp. And I agree with your points. I just wanted to be sure to make my point clear.

I do think we adults have hijacked Halloween as a holiday for kids and have trashed it by allowing these kinds of costumes to get sold to young people. And you're right, it's a much more widespread problem that just Halloween.

What gets my dander up is that there are a heckuva lot of parents that think its all cute and funny and buy this stuff. And then the market follows.

Bah.

[Falls City Beer]

My 12 year old daughter is by no means a shrinking violet or a Holly Hobby--in fact, she's a very popular kid among her classmates, but she doesn't in the least feel compelled to dress in the way that Roy speaks about. She is incredibly strong-willed and particular (go figure!) about what she wears, and therefore, she eschews what's "generically" popular at every turn.

I'm not sure I'd be delighted if she all of a sudden got into stuff like that, but then I guess I don't really know what "this ****ty" stuff is for kids younger than 16. I don't see it in my house, or in the catalogues and things that we get, so I don't really have context for it. More than anything else, I see clothing that's really frowzy and mismatched-looking on the girls that my daughter hangs around with.

[SunDeck]

I wore fishnet stockings and a corset last year for Halloween.


I did not feel the least bit sexy.