Thursday, September 27, 2007

Is the last week of September too early to start hating the costume industry?

Look where my supposedly relaxing internet wanderings found me (hat-tip).

Thing is, its not the existence of the Sexy Ghostbuster Costume that gets me. That in itself is kind of kinky and fun and weird and harmless.

What kills me is what's in the top corner:



Yeah, that's right. Men's, Plus-Sized, Sexy, and Children's. No category marked Women's (and just one female model). The only female Ghostbuster is a SEXY Ghostbuster!

(And don't give me "that's what's in the movies" dammit, there was no sexy Ghostbuster in the movies, even among the male actors. There also weren't any damned kids. The conforming to the source ship has sailed. The least they could've done is marked the costume "Traditional" or "Unisex.")

It seems that whenever I let my guard down and get happy about something the internet seems to go out of its way to remind me that I really do hate everyone no matter what time of year it is.

23 comments:

  1. Oh dear, that's really rather poor.

    In defence of sexy Ghostbusters though, I had a crush on Janine Melnitz by the time of the second film.

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  2. I think you're looking for sexism where there is none. They're just trying to make money, not make a political statement. If there is a "Sexy" category there can't be a "Women's" Category because it's basically the same as saying 'If you buy from this section, you're ugly.' Imagine if the site carried a 'Handsome' and 'Ugly' section for men. Would it sell? Course not.

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  3. So every section except "Sexy" is for men. I thought the absense of women in the franchise itself was bad (remember, as cool as she was, Janine was just their secretary), but having costumes that now reveal that women can be part of the fun if they have cleavage down to their navels is even worse.

    If there is a "Sexy" category there can't be a "Women's" Category because it's basically the same as saying 'If you buy from this section, you're ugly.'

    How about this - no "Sexy" section whatsoever? It's very presense in lieu of a standard Women's section is the problem. "Woman" shouldn't automatically equal "Sexy", and if you can't see the problem with that, there's no hope.

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  4. I really hope that Anonymous is either trolling, joking, or 12. Because, wow, you kinda point out the obvious sexism right in your paragraph when you say:

    Imagine if the site carried a 'Handsome' and 'Ugly' section for men.

    You're right that this never happens - and would never happen. Yet it happens in women's Halloween costumes all the fricking time. You can get "witch" or "sexy witch". "Nurse" or "sexy nurse". "Cowgirl" or "sexy cowgirl". "Striper" or "sexy stripper". If you're in a midwestern city, check out the costumes at one of those "Halloween Stores" that pop up in the malls around this time - you'll see it. And no one bats an eye.

    However - check out that little bug at the bottom of the page. The one that says "Secret Wishes". If you look that up on the Google you can see some other examples of costumes that the company puts out. I don't think these guys are in the "Halloween costume" business except for the few weeks right around Halloween - I think they're into a more lucrative "year round" costume trade...

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  5. "Imagine if the site carried a 'Handsome' and 'Ugly' section for men."

    Uh, that's what the "Mens Ghostbusters" and "Plus Sized Ghostbusters" sections are hinting at.

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  6. What I love (and I mean love in the most sarcastic fashion possible here) is that looking at the sizes, you can't be a "sexy" Ghostbuster if you have a bust-size larger than 36"-38".

    Because apparently girls with large chests can't be sexy.

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  7. Ragnell said:

    "there was no sexy Ghostbuster in the movies, even among the male actors."

    Somewhere, you have just made a websurfing Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson cry. I hope you're satisfied.

    (Not Rick Moranis, though. He's more realistic about his physical appearance.)

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  8. I'd argue that normal/sexy and male/female are independent variables. A "nurse" costume, for example, should look like something a nurse would wear, whereas a "sexy nurse" costume will usually look like something a stripper would wear.

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  9. To clarify my last post: the difference between a "Ghostbuster" costume and a "Sexy Ghostbuster" costume has to do with intent, not the sexiness of the person wearing the costume.

    Also, I feel like I should be less surprised than I am to learn that "Sexy Ghostbuster" costumes exist.

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  10. Somewhere, you have just made a websurfing Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson cry. I hope you're satisfied.

    You're not kidding. Harold Ramis was clearly intended to be the "ghostbuster who did think he was sexy, but was wrong." Bill Murray was intended to be "the ghostbuster who thought he was sexy, but was wrong." Dan Ackroyd was supposed to be "the ghostbuster who thought he was not sexy, and was right," and Ernie Hudson was supposed to be, "the ghostbuster who thought he was sex, and was right."

    Thus was the 2 X 2 grid completed.

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  11. You didn't think Winston was sexy?

    I find these costumes to be completely annoying. It gets worse every year. But I will say this- a lot of girls really do love to dress up as the "sexy" version of something for Halloween. I'm not saying that these are girls that I want to hang out with, but this is an established trend. Many girls wear ridiculous sexy versions of costumes. What's stranger is that the original costumes usually have no inherent sexiness to them.

    I've seen hundreds of examples, such as:
    Sexy firefighter
    Sexy construction worker
    Sexy Winnie the Pooh
    Sexy fry cook
    Sexy FBI agent
    Sexy sewer worker
    Sexy bus driver
    Sexy traffic cop
    And the list goes on and on (and on and on).

    Now, most of these costumes appear to be home made. They basically consist of some small element of the original idea, plus bikini briefs and Ugg boots. So there is clearly a demand for these costumes. I don't understand it, but there it is. I'm sure the girls who are making their own costumes aren't being sexist against themselves, right?

    Ehh, the whole thing is laughable. So laughable, in fact, that I made two examples of my own.

    http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b153/sadaharuo/costumes/optimus_costume.jpg?t=1190922571
    http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b153/sadaharuo/v_bikini.jpg

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  12. Rats. Lemme try that again.

    http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b153/sadaharuo/
    costumes/optimus_costume.jpg?t=1190922571

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  13. John, your defense of the existence of sexy costumes is unnecessary if directed at me. In the original post specifically said "Thing is, its not the existence of the Sexy Ghostbuster Costume that gets me. That in itself is kind of kinky and fun and weird and harmless." and then went on to explain my problem was that the only option for a female costume was a "Sexy" costume.

    The absence of non-sexy female costume is the issue at hand, not merely the existence of sexy costumes.

    And no, I didn't find Winston sexy.

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  14. ragnell-
    Sorry I didn't mean to make it sound like I was directing anything towards you. (Except for the part about Winston Zedmore)
    I was only speculating that in this particular instance there's not any real sexism at play, since the "sexy" version of a costume is something that most woman choose for themselves.
    Why do they choose it? Beats the heck out of me. Showing off, maybe? I always thought that the better-looking you are, the further in the other direction you should go when picking out a costume. Like dress up as Gene Hackman's character from The Conversation or something. Just for kicks.

    Oh yeah. As for why there are no sexy men costumes... I think that's mostly because the kind of guy who's going to dress up as a Ghostbuster or a Star Wars character is probably not a very sexy guy to begin with. Men are just not very sexy, in general. I guess they do sell Chippendale costumes and stuff like that. But you gotta be in really good shape to wear those!

    I second the opinion that Annie Potts was sexy.

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  15. @John
    why is there no sexy male costume for me to wear? I want to be a sexy ghostbuster, where's my sexy costume?

    Similarly, my female partner wishes to be a non sexy female ghostbuster. Where's her costume?

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  16. John, I hope you're happy that I now have to try to get the image of women dressing up as Popeye Doyle from The French Connection out of my head.

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  17. John said:
    I was only speculating that in this particular instance there's not any real sexism at play

    Except for the part that Ragnell pointed out, twice, where there is no non-sexy costume. That's, you know, a pretty classic example of sexism.

    And, John, unless you personally are attracted to men, don't you think that you might not be qualified to decide whether or not men are sexy? And, even then, don't you think it's a wee bit silly for you to presume that your preference is some objective fact?

    Frankly, myself and hordes of other people out there who are attracted to men are looking at your assertion that "Men are just not very sexy, in general." and laughing. And then we're googling pictures of hot guys (like Johnny Depp and Christopher Judge) and marveling at just how hot men really are.

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  18. I think it's important to add this visual aid to the conversation at hand - http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1715915/

    I mean, seriously, it's just this ridiculous at costume stores everywhere.

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  19. And just to clarify, when I say it's that ridiculous everywhere, I'm in no way condoning it. As the video makes clear, the emphasis on "sexy costumes" for girls is just fucking nuts.

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  20. Hmmm. I feel like I must still be misrepresenting myself, so I'll give it one more shot. This is, after all, just an argument about Halloween costumes. If I don't represent myself properly, that's no one's fault but my own. I'll try to be better about that. Please bear with me.

    tekanji said...
    Except for the part that Ragnell pointed out, twice, where there is no non-sexy costume. That's, you know, a pretty classic example of sexism.


    I do have to take issue with this. The place that sells these Ghostbusters costumes is called FancyDressShops.com. Their mission is to sell Halloween costumes. They sell them according to an established demand. If there were a demand for the kind of costumes that you've described, I think they would sell them. They're just a place that makes costumes. That's all they want to do. Make and sell costumes. Unless you can establish that they actually have some kind of agenda for selling what they sell, using the term "sexist" seems to be exceedingly hyperbolic.

    For reasons that none of us can explain, the majority of women's Halloween costumes are some variation of "sexy". I honestly think that this is the only criteria that they are using when deciding what to sell. These "sexy" costumes, as silly as they may be, are obviously speaking to a need in the marketplace. I don't pretend to understand why. I am quite sure that if FDS.com thought there were a demand for more "generic" female versions of costumes, they would sell them.

    Now, if you could prove to me that the people who own FancyDressShops.com were a vicious gang of mysogynistic Christian reactionaries, then I would concede that this is, indeed, a "pretty classic example of sexism." Until then, all we can do is speculate.

    I don't think there is any overarching social agenda at play here. They sell the costumes that people want to buy. Many women choose to dress as sexed-up versions of characters for Halloween, so that's what they sell. I don't believe that this
    decision is informed by sexism, just supply and demand. Just because these costumes are tasteless and dumb doesn't mean there is sexism present. Are the makers selling these as some massive experiment in social engineering? As a subtle indicator of their own personal beliefs? I doubt it. That would be bad business. There has to be a sexist intention behind this, and that's what I don't see. In order for sexism to be present, there has to be not just the inference of sexism, but also the implication. Personally, I think these costumes are dopey, pointless, and painfully trite. But clearly, they are in demand by somebody.

    tekanji said...
    And, John, unless you personally are attracted to men, don't you think that you might not be qualified to decide whether or not men are sexy?


    As for whether or not men are sexy, you must know that I wasn't being completely literal. I was generalizing. I thought we were speaking in generalities here. In a lighthearted way. The original post said "I really do hate everyone no matter what time of year it is," and so I figured we were being at least semi-playful.

    And hey, no fair talking about Johnny Depp to prove that men are sexy. He's kind of an exception, right? That's my point. If every man were as sexy as Johnny Depp, well... then no one would notice Johnny Depp.

    It's true, I am not attracted to other men, but I am also not one of those guys who can't admit when another man is attractive or sexy. Of course I know that there are sexy men in the world. What I meant, what I should have been clearer about, was that men *in general* are less invested in being sexy. Particularly when it comes to Halloween costumes. When we go out to play dress-up, it's usually a more accurate version of whatever the character is. Maybe we feel silly if we go too far. But there it is. Men are much more likely to wear costumes that cover the face and body. Maybe we're afraid that if we sex it up too much we'll look like we're in drag. I can't speak for each individual. I just know that when I go to comic book conventions and see people in costume, the men all seem to dress like Clone Troopers or Jango Fett, while the women usually dress like Slave Leia or Aayla Secura.

    I'll put it another way- if I were to dress up as Capt. Jack Sparrow, there's no way I'd be as sexy as Johnny Depp.

    That's it for now.
    Take care

    John

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  21. Nooooo, I just had this long comment typed out and I closed the window before I posted.

    John: Since I don't have the time to spend recreating the lost comment, I will do the readers digest version of it:

    1) You're working from a fundamental misunderstanding of the word sexism. Sexism isn't about intent or malice, it's about result. No one is ascribing ill intent to the company selling the products, but we are pointing out that their market strategy is sexist, as it uses the sexist dichotomy of "men = normal"/"women = sexy".

    2) We can explain what you said none of us can explain. It's called the male gaze and actually is a well-studied phenomenon. Ariel Levy has also written a book on the modern incarnation of the phenomenon called Female Chauvinist Pigs, which is worth a read, although afterward it's best to look up the criticism of the book as well.

    3) To help prevent future misunderstandings, it would help if you had a solid foundation on the terms and theories that feminists use in discussions. To this end, I recommend that you read through the FAQ on Finally, A Feminism 101 Blog. I would also recommend reading Feminist Allies, a blog geared specifically towards talking about men and feminism, and in terms of getting a broader idea of feminist critique in popular culture, I would recommend that you check out The Hathor Legacy.

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  22. Hey, where's my Sexy Slimer costume? Buggers.

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  23. Men don't wear sexy costumes because when they do, they more often than not end up looking like drag queens. What would a sexy firefighter look like, other than a reject from the Village People?

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