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10 Degrees Of Discomfort With Sexualizing Teen Girl Halloween Costumes

By Koa Beck | October 4, 2013

If you’re Halloween costume shopping with a 12-year-old girl this year, God’s speed my friend. Provided that your daughter/niece/cousin/family friend has a penchant for run of the mill costumes (i.e. the ones in the $19.99 bag), you will be confronted with some truly horrifying and sexualizing options. Because when you’re 13 (and sometimes even younger), even opting for a simple crayon costume somehow gets morphed into SEXY crayon. The same formula goes for all woodland creatures, fairytale heroines, and insects.

But despite my own discomfort with what is offered to teens and tweens, the truth is “sexualizing” can remain pretty subjective. I don’t think covering girls up necessarily translates to “unsexy,” nor do I think showing skin alone makes a costume problematic. To properly illustrate this point, let’s explore the degrees at which we begin to diverge. I’ve compiled a list of 10 costumes, all marketed to teens. From one to 10, I’ve ranked the costumes according to the sexualizing factor. One being you need to be pedophile to find this sexy and 10 being maximum WTF.

I begin to start clutching my pearls at degree six. But what about you?

Degree 1. Simple Witch