A More Rational Place

Well it’s the time of the year for absurd gender roles in Halloween costumes! I so look forward to this every year. Today we have a kids “Spider-Girl” costume. Spider-Girl is a fairly obscure character that exists in an alternate universe that may no longer exist in continuity. Barring that she’s a fine character (aside from the usual trope with female superheroes just being girl versions of established male ones).

Onto the costume itself! The most obvious objection is that it is, of course, pink. This is despite the fact that Spider-Girl wears red like her father. Even the picture of her on the packaging has been shaded pink.

The other problem is the skirt. Spider-Girl is one of the few female characters that actually manages to wear pants. However, making sure 8 year old girls wear a skirt out in October apparently takes president over realism, practicality, or sanity. And of course we have the mask that’s essentially non-existant because it’s more important to see a little girl’s pretty face I guess.

So what have we learned? Female superhero costumes must be pink, no exceptions. If the hero in question is not pink, they will be made pink so help me! Because no girl will want to look like the actual character.

Secondly masks and pants are out and skirts and that… thing are in. Once again we must remember that no girl wants to look like the character or not freeze their ass off trick-or-treating, at least not if it gets in the way of being pretty.

You’d think I’d be used it by now, but I continue to be more and more disgusted by the sheer disdain costume companies show for girls by their inability to even conceive that girls might want more from their costumes than being pretty little decorations for other people to look at it. They deserve better.