Halloween Costumes
I was shopping at the mall this weekend when I observed some interesting behavior. So interesting in fact, I sat on a bench while waiting for my sister and further observed this behavior. The behavior I’m referring to is the gender typing of children.
Halloween is tomorrow. This weekend at the mall children and their parents (usually their mothers) where shopping for costumes. Of course we all know that the best part of Halloween besides the candy is dressing up like someone of something we aren’t. Halloween is a holiday (today in America) built upon children’s imagination. Almost anything a child wants do be they can. What is of interest is why they want to be these characters.
At the mall what caught my attention were the pleas of children. Girls begged their mothers for princess, fairy, and butterfly costumes. Boys begged for anything with swords, blood, goo, or fangs. The correlation seems quite simple. The girls generally gravitated toward soft, gentle, and “pretty” costumes. The boys generally gravitated towards strong, harsh, violent, and “ugly” costumes. The mothers’ reaction to their children’s choices was also very interesting. I found that often mothers would encourage their daughters’ choice of more feminine costumes by saying things like “oh how beautiful and cute.” They would also encourage their sons’ choice of more masculine costumes by saying things like, “oh how scary, strong, yucky.” For the older children this clearly had an influence on their decisions, they would smile at their mothers’ reactions.
While watching these families shop for their costumes I was reminded of my own costumes. I surprised myself by remembering everyone. I was equally surprised by how varying they were in terms of stereotypical gender from a dinosaur, vampire, and witch to a princess, space girl, fifties girl, and gypsy.
I was a:
Dinosaur
Princess
Witch
Vampire
Space Girl (like from the Jetsons...)
Fifties Girl
Gypsy/Fortune Teller
Can you remember your costumes? What do you think they say about you?
posted by Brittany @ 10/30/2006 10:05:00 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Here is my list...
-Superman--age 2 or 3
-An elephant--age 4 or 5
-A pirate
-one year my mom, dad, older sister, and I all dressed up as the Conehead family--we paper mached those styrofoam cones that they sell at craft stores, then made them the color of our skin, and glued them to our heads. That made the car ride to my aunt's Halloween party quite interesting...
-A rock star with a pink skirt/dress and black sleeves and tights
-one year my older sister was Goldilocks and my mom, dad, and I were the three bears
-A witch
-My mom, older sister, and I were the 3 blind mice
...I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting--my memory is failing me right now.
My list seems to have a mix as well, but there is nothing that is too girly or too gross. Over the top girly-ness was not encouraged in my household. I am very thankful for that. My mom always encouraged us to be ourselves.
Happy Halloween! My blog for next week will be about the change in the provacativeness of women's costumes. Beware.
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