Female Disempowerment Disguised as a Halloween Costume

Jacqueline Sullivan, Erin Hipple () and Lauri Hyers
Additional contact information
Jacqueline Sullivan: Child Guidance Resource Centers, Coatesville, PA, United States
Erin Hipple: West Chester University of Pennsylvania, West Chester, PA, United States
Lauri Hyers: West Chester University of Pennsylvania, West Chester, PA, United States

The Open Family Studies Journal, 2017, vol. 9, issue 1, 60-75

Abstract: Objective :We explore the relationship between gender stereotypes and North American Halloween costumes. Method (Study 1): Extending Nelson's analysis of gender-markers in mass-produced children’s Halloween costumes, Study 1 explored gender-typing in children’s costumes (n = 428), also adding a sample of adult’s costumes (n = 428) from major retailers, coding for character archetypes (heroes, villains, and fools), active-masculinity/passive-femininity, and for degree of disguise. Results (Study 1): Compared to boys’/men’s costumes, girls’/women’s costumes represented more ornamental feminine-passivity. Method (Study 2): Ornamental feminine-passivity was explored in an additional sample of baby girls’ (n = 161), child girls’ (n = 189), teen girls’ (n = 167), and women’s (n = 301) costumes, coded for character archetypes and markers of infantilization and sexualization. Results (Study 2): In addition to age differences in character archetypes, women’s costumes were most likely to be sexualized (especially heroes), girls’ and teenage young women’s costumes were most likely to combine both infantilization and sexualization, and baby girls’ costumes were least likely to incorporate either gender-markers. Conclusion : Costumes reinforce gender stereotypes differentiating boys/men and girls/women and the ways in which girls/women are stereotyped varies across the lifespan. Patterns are discussed with regard to how gender stereotypes embedded in holiday traditions reinforce messages of disempowerment for women and girls.

Keywords: Halloween costumes; Gender roles; Infantilization; Objectification; Costume archetypes; Feminist psychology. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://benthamopen.com/DOWNLOAD-PDF/TOFAMSJ-9-60/ (application/pdf)
https://benthamopen.com/ABSTRACT/TOFAMSJ-9-60/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ben:tofams:v:9:y:2017:i:1:p:60-75

DOI: 10.2174/1874922401709010060

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The Open Family Studies Journal from Bentham Open
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Rehana Raza ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).