I do love the heroic proclamations of anti-feminists and others boldly stating there is no need for feminism, or that we’re now in a post-feminists society, or worse they are an “egalitarian” *eye roll*. Yeah… soo… anyhow lets look at the evolution of costumes for women. See if you can spot the any troublesome trend as women graduate from “child” to “object I want to put my dick into.”
Woo. Can’t you just feel the equality oozing from the above selections. I know I can if I squint a little and get a partial lobotomy…
Extra bonus Sexy Halloween Costumes over at Your Social Constructs Are Showing.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
20 comments
October 20, 2014 at 6:12 am
john zande
You guys have Halloween in Canadaland?
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October 20, 2014 at 6:55 am
Brachina
Your point would have been better made comparing male and female costumes then children to adults, which does nothing to advance your arguement at all.
All the above costumes deminstrate is the society procieves sexually and sexual expression as the domain of adults with a slight sliding scale as one grows older.
While your worrying about Halloween costumes and celebrating your mysoygnistic hatred of female sexuality and personally expression, perhaps you might take a moment to concider the erosion of abortion rights in America, the inability of girls in many countries to gain an education for no other reason then they are girls, growing income inequality which disportionitily affects woman, or why people should be throwing they’re support behind the NDPs childcare plan.
I’m tired of seeing certain “feminists” mascarading thier prudishness as feminism, when it is not, to the point where many liberated woman and progressive men associote feminism with repression, bullying, and manipulation, instead of liberation, humanitarianism, support for woman and men, equality, and opportunity for all that are the pillars of true feminism.
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October 20, 2014 at 8:55 am
The Intransigent One
@Brachina
lol your in-depth reading before delivering thoughtful and constructive criticism
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October 20, 2014 at 9:02 am
The Arbourist
@Brachina
To imagine the male versions of these costumes – just add a costume that emphasizes utility, comfort, and not making the person into an object that is desirable for penis insertion.
See that cloud of tags on the left column of the blog? Click the one called “feminism” or “abortion”, then you can tell me more about my apparent frivolity. Also, was it your intent to deploy the Dawkin’s “Dear Muslima” argument as to why we should over look problems here when the REAL problems are happening over there?
Well I’m tired of liberal feminists confusing actual liberation and emancipation from patriarchy with faux-empowerful acts that are more concerned with dude pleasing. So where can we go from there?
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October 20, 2014 at 9:08 am
The Arbourist
@JZ
Of a sort. The lawn decorations are coming out in full force, inflatable pumpkins, cats, and witches. Plastic tombstones, spiderwebs,etc.
Capitalism is certainly doing it’s best to cheezily commodify yet another holiday.
How about down there, are you gearing up for a spooktacular Halloween?
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October 20, 2014 at 9:14 am
john zande
Arb
Heavens no! That said, it has creeped in here in a small way. The kids in our street troll, asking for lollies.
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October 20, 2014 at 9:18 am
The Arbourist
@JZ
Nice. I’ll take some pictures of yards that have decorated up for the Halloween ‘Holiday” – there are quite a few on my dog-walking route. :)
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October 20, 2014 at 9:22 am
Brutal Honesty
We’re all born naked.
It’s the clothes that are the social construct.
If you’re unhappy about your appearance, you should work to change it instead of demanding other people cover themselves.
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October 20, 2014 at 9:37 am
The Arbourist
@Brutal Honesty
Really? And in what way does this fact justify anything?
Whaa? :> Sorry, not following the leap from Halloween costumes to my appearance.
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October 20, 2014 at 9:50 am
The Intransigent One
Maybe zie thinks you’re fat like I am? And that you live in constant projected self-hatred about it?
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October 20, 2014 at 10:00 am
The Arbourist
@intransigentia
Undoubtedly, as expressing an opinion/observation on patriarchal society must mean that you’re fat.
Obviously.
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October 20, 2014 at 10:31 am
The Intransigent One
Sour grapes right? Can’t get own patriarchy-compliance-cookies, wants to make sure nobody gets patriarchy-compliance-cookies.
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October 20, 2014 at 2:23 pm
awkwardsoul
Honestly, they are now jumping the sexy costumes to 4 to 6 year old anyways. No progression now. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/sexy-halloween-kids-costumes-at-value-village-anger-mom-1.2805428?cmp=fbtl&utm_content=buffer95bb7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
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October 20, 2014 at 6:53 pm
Brachina
http://www.bustle.com/articles/44185-12-sexy-halloween-costumes-for-men-that-are-completely-ridiculous
You comfortable like these :p
Look if want less sexually charged customes for woman thier out there.
As for the capitalism comment, your right, but here is a piece of advice, get over it and pick your battles more intelligently, all complaining about it does is make you the killjoy, and teaches people that the left means no fun. Its a holiday lighten up and have some fun.
As for the cheap shot at Liberal Feminists (which is not the type I concider myself to be, I’m working on a term), over there sexuality proves my point about your mygsygony, your loathing for Liberal Feminists. Who are you to say what is empowering or not, empowerment is a personal experience, a personal journey.
Me, I find having an ephiny empowering, maybe someone else doesn’t.
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October 21, 2014 at 10:10 am
The Arbourist
@Brachina
Woo sexy-man flesh. Of course it is normative for men to go shirtless, Halloween or not. Also, being that they are in the dominant class in society they can transgress boundaries much more easily than women and often receive must less backlash.
Most certainly, but I would argue the vast majority of costumes geared toward females are of the “sexy” variety thus reinforcing patriarchal expectations.
Shall I take your input with regards to spelling, syntax and grammar as well?
You misunderstand, being the humourless feminist killjoy is what I do; what much of this blog is about. Shitting on some of the horrible things people arbitrarily call “fun” or “acceptable” is what I do.
Respecting women as people = biggest boner-killer evar! Guilty I am.
I hadn’t noticed… You do a remarkable job at transmitting much of Libfem creed. To your credit.
Criticizing a liberal feminism is now misogyny? I did not realize that liberal feminism was such a fragile creation.
Important choosy-choices that just happen to replicate and reinforce patriarchal norms are not empowerment.
What does this even mean? Does this personal journey happen within the context of society? If it does then it abides by the normative values of said society and thus, if not actively challenging the norms, you’re firmly in the empowerful rather than the empowered category.
Good? I’m not quite understanding how this is relevant to the discussion. :)
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October 21, 2014 at 10:12 am
The Intransigent One
@Brachina
I’ve been where you appear to be. I thought I was doing it for myself. Wearing makeup and heels and push-up bras and removing all the hair below my eyebrows and generally marketing myself as a hot commodity. I took real pride in my looks, and it made me feel powerful and special, getting male attention and approval. I was a big champion of the “right” to be sexy – in the sense of “you can have my stilettos when you pry them from my cold dead feet”; in the sense of, wanting to broaden society’s definition of sexiness, to make “sexy” an attainable, inclusive thing for any woman, not just the “standard” young thin able-bodied white or at least light-skinned chick with big boobs; in the sense of wanting women to be allowed to express our sexuality – including via sex work – without shame or limitation.
Well. Here’s the thing about “sexy”: sure, the attention and approval feels great. Good dogs are happy when their masters are pleased with them, too. Try stepping outside the boundaries of sexy though, and you’ll discover patriarchy thinks you should be its bitch. Not only will you lose the rewards you got for compliance, you’ll be actively punished for your non-compliance, from minor things like stares and snide comments, to social ostracism, to job/professional consequences, to violence. Your feminine sexy behaviour, that you think you’ve chosen freely, has been shaped since infancy to conform to the norms of the female gender, to be pleasing to men, just as a good dog is shaped from puppyhood to be pleasing to humans.
Sure, women have the right to be “sexy”. For many women, being femininely sexy is literally a matter of survival, and far be it from me to tell a woman she has to put herself in danger. It *is* the job of the radical feminist, and the Marxist feminist, and every kind of feminist that counts, however, to be buzzkills and bonerkillers, and point out that the “fun” of sexiness is not a free choice, but one made under the most severe of constraints, and to call out to our sisters over and over, to see those constraints and join us in pushing back against them.
The fact that the overwhelming majority of Hallowe’en costumes available on the market for women, are sexy-somethingorother, is just one example of these constraints. The choice is between sexy-this or sexy-that, or spending way more money, plus time, equipment, and skill, to design and make or kludge your own. Further, the fact that sexy-whatever costumes are designed in ways that only certain kinds of bodies can wear them in public without ridicule, expresses another constraint: don’t you dare be fat. So yes, Hallowe’en itself is a fun occasion and worth enjoying, but it’s not an island where structural oppression of women magically disappears; in fact it rears its ugly head in particular ways that warrant examination. I’d apologise for ruining your fun, but I’m not actually sorry.
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October 23, 2014 at 10:40 pm
dracicrystale
I apologize in advance for the ignorance, but I just want to clarify so as to better understand the liberal feminist/ rad fem delineation as it relates to the idea of Halloween costumes (particularly pertaining to the comments from Branchina).
Am I misunderstanding by believing that the issue isn’t about the fact that the outfits are revealing -necessarily- but rather the issue is that they’re revealing because that plays into the patriarchy? Given your comment about “true liberation”, I’m reminded of something I read–and I’m somewhat certain it was yours– that mentioned how girls who like to dress a certain way (the way liberal feminists deem “empowering”) aren’t actually being empowering by bashing the patriarchy because, regardless of intentions, that style of dress just feeds into the norms dictated by men’s preferences? For example, there -is- a selection of costumes that (as far as I can tell) isn’t designed to be sexy, but they’re few and far between, and everyone knows that, while someone could choose to wear one, it doesn’t play into the scheme perpetuated by men’s desire for the sexy costumes that subconsciously drives women to wear the sexed-up costumes instead because it’s comparatively much more socially acceptable (despite the superficial sanctions that occur when women wear revealing clothing)? Therefore, the issue isn’t that the costumes are revealing, but that they’re inherently objectifying because the culture is one of “women’s skin= sign of sexual availability for men”, essentially? And there’s no real empowerment to it because there’s not a -real- choice of not wearing those sorts of clothes because of how women are expected to express themselves (ie, as sexual creatures), and while the power imbalance exists between men and women, there’s no extricating what women wear from it being a vehicle of men’s sexuality as opposed to their (the women’s) own?
Was that coherent, and am I on the right track? I’m just clarifying for curiosity.
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October 24, 2014 at 9:13 am
The Intransigent One
@dracicrystale – I’m not sure I totally followed you, but I think you’re on the right track ish? Basically you can’t analyze individual choices without also examining the social power-matrix in which those choices occur. And there’s a difference between receiving social rewards for compliance, and actually having social power.
From my radical/Marxist viewpoint, I would argue that there’s a relaxation of rules around slut-shaming at Hallowe’en, which is obviously a good thing, because let’s face it, being unabashedly sexual and getting appreciative attention from your desired gender(s) feels great, but (a) to replace the slut-shaming, there’s near-compulsory sexualisation; and (b) that sexualisation is limited to a particular stereotype of what the dominant class finds appealing in the subordinate class. This display of sexualised femininity is, in essence, a performance of subservience to male desire.
A liberal/fun-feminist analysis would probably stop at, yay, less slut-shaming is great.
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October 24, 2014 at 11:29 am
dracicrystale
Okay! Thanks for explaining that to me, and I can see where you’re coming from. I’ve always considered myself a feminist, but I’ve never been sure where exactly I fall. I think I have been too superficial in a lot of gender analyses and because of that, most of my views seem to fall in line with liberal feminism, but as I familiarize myself with radical feminism and the ideas presented, it makes a lot of sense to me. Because I think it’s a completely fair point that it’s still not really empowering if it’s playing into what the men want anyway (and, as long as men have more power, it would be impossible to escape their influence on social norms, correct? Thereby eliminating a lot of agency for women). But I appreciate you taking the time to clarify for me so I can better understand :)
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October 24, 2014 at 1:25 pm
The Intransigent One
@dracicyrstale – I think the question of agency is kindof a red herring, much like the nature vs nurture debate.
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