I don't consider myself a gender-stereotype warrior. My wife and I did try to fight the good fight with the pink for girls/blue for boys battle when we found out the sex of our little girl. We're not registering for a bunch of pink clothes, bottles, blocks! The room that was to be her room was already blue, so we said dammit- we're keeping it blue! Well the walls are still blue, but the rest of the room looks like Hello Kitty ate some glitter glue threw up all over the room. That said- she still makes plenty of choices that don't always go down the sugar and spice and everything nice trail.
So when Halloween rolls around- we encourage her to do whatever she wants, now that she's making the decision: she was a genderless Minion a couple years ago- cool. She was Rapunzel last year (the whole princessy dress thing)- adorable. This year, very undecided- so we took to the interwebs to show her some options. So my biggest question is: Why do "girl" costumes come with skirts? Sure there are plenty of costumes where skirts are appropriate. But Police officer (girl)? Construction worker (girl)? A friggin Stormtrooper??? (And I'm not even going to into the whole sexualization of little girls argument here, I'm going to keep it practical) There are even costumes of characters from TV shows and movie that she watches- female characters, whose costumes on the screen don't contain a skirt -- but when it's time to dress your daughter like them for Halloween- skirts!! Why??
Sure, we could buy the "boy" version of the costumes, but that's not the point. I'm happy and lucky that my daughter is just as comfortable in glittery gear as she is in a plain old Yankees t-shirt, but I have to feel for the kids out there struggling with gender identity or just being comfortable with who they are, as they are. Telling a girl who might not like wearing a skirt or dress, that they have to purchase the costume modeled by a boy in order for them to meet their needs? That's the answer? I'd like to think we're further along than that in the world, but I guess not. I get that there will always be girl and boy specific costumes- but the way we market them could use an update.
Now, I don't want to spoil the surprise of what my little lady will be wearing this Halloween... but suffice to say it involves a tutu. And that's what she wanted. And that's all I want for her.