Tricks or Treats?

Senior Year of College, late October

Michelle: Hey Melody, what do you think I'm dressed up as?
Karen: I wasn't sure what she was supposed to be.
Me: You look like a 1800's prostitute.

Michelle: Um...I'm a pirate wench.
Me: So...an 1800's hundreds prostitute.
Michelle: Yeah.

-

While little kids are out begging for candy, teens and grown-ups are using Halloween as an excuse to dress up - and occasionally just to wear lingerie out in public. But in defense of my friend, she didn't look quite as skanky as this...twelve year old?

Newsweek recently published an article about how risque little girls costumes are getting. They note:

"Halloween costumes that used to say, Isn't she cute? now scream, That's hot! with an increasing array of halter tops, bare midriffs and miniskirts... If you think we're exaggerating, note that they're actually selling something called a "Child's Chamber Maid Costume." And, many of the tween girls in the photographs are wearing more make-up than Christina Aguilera on awards night. More disturbing may be their expressions--they look as if they've been told to give the camera their best "sexy" gaze."

No doubt they have been told the give the camera their best "sexy" gaze. And since Christina Aguilera and comparable artists have music videos that appear on The Disney Channel and other child focused channels, I'm certain that these girls have plenty of practice with their sexy gaze.

Actually, the pictures that Newsweek chooses to show and wonders if they are actually kiddie porn are not the worst of the bunch.

In Mean Girls, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress however she wants and none of the other girls can call her a slut. The hard core girls just wear lingerie and some kind of animal ears.

But don't these girls look a little young for lingerie?

Is Little Bo Peep precious or is there precious little difference between her and the Little Bo Peep Show (yes, the actual name of the outfit)? As far as I can tell the main difference is about an inch of lace and the shoes, which don't come with the outfit. There's even less difference between these two Miss Muffets.

I actually find this "Maid Purfect" costume even more offensive that the Child's Chamber Maid Costume featured in NewsWeek. That little girl might just be a maid. This one really doesn't leave you in doubt of her intentions. And who's that to her left? A bar tender? Actually she's Heidi, but it's kinda hard to tell isn't it?

I'd like to hope that parents wouldn't let their children go out door to door as little hookers, but given the fact that they're letting them play with toys that look like little hookers and they watch shows where people dress like hookers, this hope would be a somewhat extrordinary one.