What's the problem? Once again the feminists and their capon counterparts decry anything that even smacks of fun heterosexuality.

I know - why not have all women's costumes consist of mullet wigs, body padding, flannel shirts and ill-fitting shoes. Then they can go trick-or-treating as the scariest, most terrifying creature of all.

A grim feminist.

Pretty scary for the children, though.

don't some people have all the luck, I try to simulate the experience by hanging out with fags but unfortunatly being straight it just doesn't seem to work.

Halloween IS an equal opportunity holiday. You are allowed to dress up as whatever you want. Nobody's forcing anyone to dress up slutty, or otherwise. The women who dress up slutty on Halloween are doing it because they want to. Isn't that a good enough reason?

I too am irritated by Slutoween. What bothers me about it (beyond the obviously offensive sex object thing) is the complete lack of creativity. Sure, not everyone has time or inclination to come up with costume-contest winners, but doing something a little more original isn't hard. What about all those other, non-slutty fictional characters? Or how about just dressing in a way that's unexpected and funny? Why must it always be the painfully uninspired "Look at me! I'm a sexy (cat/bunny/clown/witch/maid/etc)!"? Ho'-hum, I say. My way of countering the female sluttitude this year will be by dressing in drag as an 80s hair-metal guy...indeed, a bona fide male slut!

Oh, and by the way, I'm not some shapeless, bitter feminist...I love dressing in skirts, heels, and pretty underwear, but I can do that any time. Halloween is fun because it allows us the opportunity to do something creative. What ever happened to using your imagination?

Dear Ms. Ant Rope,

Your deviant desire for creativity threatens to undermine the ongoing reorganization of society for maximum profit. Kindly report immediately to the nearest reeducation center.

Warmest Regards,

Your Corporate Masters

Once again the feminists and their capon counterparts decry anything that even smacks of fun heterosexuality.

Oh, Parson Jim, you're at it again, aren't you...

Now, I'm not heterosexual so I can't claim first-hand experience, but I would think that "fun heterosexuality" might include sexy eye candy for both men and women. And while most men might think that, "Hey, it's all good. Women think other women are hot, like on GGW," I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that since this is fun heterosexuality the women would rather see well-toned manflesh. So how about it, straight guys? Why not cater to your ladies' preferences and get your sexy back for once. If you did, your XX companions might not complain at all.

Oh,sorry I didn't measure to make sure there were equivalently sexy costumes for both men and women.

My apologies, Officer miriald - I am only a man, after all.

Looking forward to your lobbying for women signing up for the Selective Service and equal sentencing for female child molesters while you're at it. What's that? No go?

Oh wait - equality only applies when it benefits women.

anytime men try that half or more of the female population complains that it's not toned enough, stylish enough, etc. Sure gay men do it about men and straight men do it about women too, but what they DON'T do is say that if it's not up to standards they'd rather everyone stay covered up, which women and only women DO say.

I took my 7 year old daughter to a costume store with the expectation that she could check out some cool, crazy costumes and masks. Instead, most of the racks were filled with this sexy stuff. In fact, much of the stock on display seemed to be for sexing up adult women.

In the kids section, the designated costumes for girls were all princesses. There were something like 9 different princess outfits.

At first my daughter was disappointed because she didn't want to be a princess (she didn't know what she wanted to be). She wandered over to the adult costume section where many of the women's costumes involved short short skirts and leather. She wanted to pick out a few of these, which I of course refused. After milling around looking for material to make our own costume, she revisited the princess costumes and decided she wanted to be one after all.

For future halloweens, we won't be going to anymore costume stores. I hadn't realized how sexuality specific the Halloween business has become.

We usually have a "trick or treat" week at our speech pathology office so that all the kids have a chance to get involved on their therapy day. My preferred costume is the "Cheeseburger in Paradise." I wear a cheeseburger hat with a Hawaiian shirt, a lei and jeans. Sometimes, I have early morning or late night kids, and our office is rather empty. In order to give them a true "trick or treat" experience, I hide behind different doors with different hats on and hand them candy from each door. In one day I might be a Lion, an Elephant, a Giraffe, or a Fish.

If we called up our inner child at Halloween instead of our inner slut, then the possibilites are endless.

Thanks for excerpting quotes from the article. The actual article wasn't as bad I had originally thought--I realized that my rage was really directed at the larger New York Times for negating any thoughtful nature of the article with their stupid accompanying photos that perpetuated the whole "sex sells" trend.

I do think it's hard to poke fun at any cultural trend that you buy off the rack. If I wore the "sexy umpire" costume, the only laughable thing would be that I would look ridiculous.

To avoid the vixen overload, I suggest we don't buy what they are selling. Raid your own closet, or go to Goodwill instead and come up with your own costume. Wigs are always fun without necessarily being slutty. Put on a wig and you will really feel like someone else. When you pull together you own costume, you have a chance of actually "riffing on society's implied lessons about femininity."

My best Halloween story is the year that we went to the Castro district in San Francisco, which was a hugely crowded street fair and great people-watching event. I was dressed up in my vintage, Salvation-Army-salvaged disco pantsuit and a shoulder-length blonde wig. I was having a great time, but I started noticing irked looks from some of the men around me. It dawned on me that they thought I was a guy in drag and were annoyed to look closer and see I was an actual woman.