Halloween Gender Roles

Halloween costumes are definitely gendered and marketed to a specific gender, and it is rare to come across a gender neutral costume and never is it seen that a boy is wearing a princess dress on the packaging. It is also very common for Halloween costumes to separated into boy and girl sections at stores or on websites. If the costume is sparkly, has a dress or skirt, and described as “cute” or “sexy” it is geared to girls, even if occupations that do not have these gender differences in uniforms in reality, like police officers or firefighters for example. If the costume has weapons, have fake muscles, and has a lot more fabric it is generally aimed toward boys. The titles of the costumes are also remarkably different; male costumes are generally
Females are meant to look pretty and alluring to catch male attention, evident in the majority of adult female costumes being revealing and form-fitting, or the killer clown example. Men are either supposed to be masculine and heroic, which is seen in superhero or astronaut costumes with unnecessary added muscles, or to be aggressive and violent, which is shown in their more frightening selection of Halloween costumes compared to women's’. Boys should not be wearing skirts and dresses, taught through gender socialization, explaining why their is not Disney princess costumes made specifically for them, and if they do, it is common for them to have their sexuality questioned or looked down upon. Male children and older are not supposed to be “cute”, which explains why Halloween costume descriptions do not have the word cute in it. Females on the other hand are not supposed to be “scary”, but if they are, they must be even more cute. Most firefighter costumes for girls have skirts, even though it is unrealistic uniform for actual female firefighters. However, due to gender socialization, firefighters is a male dominated job, and as a result females “should not” want to have it as an occupation, and since girls wear skirts, they should wear skirts in their Halloween costume despite what the costume is based off of. Gender socialization pushes people to conform into feminine and masculine roles based on their biological sex, and Halloween costumes is no