Avoid gender stereotypes in Halloween costumes

What kind of Halloween costumes will you put on your kids this year?

bunch of grapes halloween costumeWhat will you wear yourself? What messages will these costumes say about girls and women’s roles, and about men’s relationships to women?

It’s worth thinking about!
Missrepresentation.org is a growing movement to change the way women and portrayed in the media and in society.
Our girls deserve a fair chance to view themselves as something other than sexy kittens while young boys are pushed towards hyper-masculinity and aggression.

Halloween costumes for women depict sexy stereotypes

Adult costumes are just as bad! On PartyCity.com the Halloween page features a “Sexy Costumes” section. There are only women’s costumes in this section. There’s a clear imbalance here: is Halloween now for girls to dress sexy for men? The way we adults approach this holiday has a direct effect on how our kids view it. And with more and more of us participating in Halloween each year, it becomes critically important for us to think about that effect.
This Halloween I urge you to consider carefully how you dress yourself and your young ones.
Missrepresentation.org has started a campaign to collect positive and non-gendered Halloween costumes online. Post pictures or videos of your outfits on their Tumblr page and leave a sentence about why you chose it! Together we can start new trends and make Halloween a little less disconcerting for parents.

Scroll to Top