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School Boots 3 Girls in 'Underpants'
This article struck me as interesting/amusing in part because of the recent spate of articles I've seen about how women's Halloween costumes are "too sexy." I find that whole bundle of issues problematic in several ways, but I don't really want to unpack it right now. Short version: I don't think sexiness should be so looked down on in our culture that women wanting to show skin are typed as "slutty", and freak out the media. On the other side, it is really obnoxious that so many store-bought Halloween costumes for women rely so heavily on short skirts and low bodices. There should be more variety, and people who want to wear short skirts and low bodices should be free to do so without being judged for it.
Anyway, the thing is - these particular young women were dressing up as Captain Underpants. I've read those books with kids I sit for. The character is not about sex appeal, and there's no indication in the article that the women who dressed up tried to "sex up" the costume at all. As one of them says, "[the costumes are] not see-through or anything". But because the character from the books doesn't wear a shirt, and the women simulated that by wearing skin-colored leotards, their costumes were deemed inappropriate by the principal of their school.
Now, maybe the costumes were very disruptive. Maybe other kids dressed up, but none of them wore anything that was skin-tight, or had the appearance of underwear on the outside of the costume (no Superman or Batman costumes, I guess?). I don't know about any of that. All I've got to go on from the article about why these costumes were objectionable is the following:( Read more... )
This article struck me as interesting/amusing in part because of the recent spate of articles I've seen about how women's Halloween costumes are "too sexy." I find that whole bundle of issues problematic in several ways, but I don't really want to unpack it right now. Short version: I don't think sexiness should be so looked down on in our culture that women wanting to show skin are typed as "slutty", and freak out the media. On the other side, it is really obnoxious that so many store-bought Halloween costumes for women rely so heavily on short skirts and low bodices. There should be more variety, and people who want to wear short skirts and low bodices should be free to do so without being judged for it.
Anyway, the thing is - these particular young women were dressing up as Captain Underpants. I've read those books with kids I sit for. The character is not about sex appeal, and there's no indication in the article that the women who dressed up tried to "sex up" the costume at all. As one of them says, "[the costumes are] not see-through or anything". But because the character from the books doesn't wear a shirt, and the women simulated that by wearing skin-colored leotards, their costumes were deemed inappropriate by the principal of their school.
Now, maybe the costumes were very disruptive. Maybe other kids dressed up, but none of them wore anything that was skin-tight, or had the appearance of underwear on the outside of the costume (no Superman or Batman costumes, I guess?). I don't know about any of that. All I've got to go on from the article about why these costumes were objectionable is the following:( Read more... )
