Like a lot of moms this time of year, I’ve started looking around for potential Halloween costumes for my little girl. I like to start on the web because it’s easy to see who carries what. My daughter has a keen interest in sheep and tigers right now, so I was looking for something along that line. I was pretty excited when I saw that Old navy carries Halloween costumes, and they even have a tiger no less! My excitement turned to dismay when I saw this:

Um yeah…because basic animal costumes are for boys. Here is a snapshot of the girls’ collection:

Guess girls have to be *ballerina* monkeys, if they are to be monkeys at all. Gah!
Just to be clear, I’ve got nothing against girls dressing up as cupcakes or Snow White or even ballerina monkeys. But I don’t see why girls can’t also dress up as tigers, sharks, or regular monkeys. Way to keep promoting the stereotypes, Old Navy. I expected a lot better from you.
I was annoyed enough to actually email their customer service about this.
Me: I was looking at your Halloween costumes for girls and boys, and I have a real problem with the way they’re segregated. All of the “boys” costumes are simple animals like a tiger, monkey, etc. Why can these not also be “girls” costumes? Why does the “girls” monkey have to be a ballerina version? And why would you assume that girls want to be cupcakes but not tigers?
I got a reply which was as follows: Please know it is never our intention to upset or frustrate our customers in anyway. We do our best to offer our customers top quality, fashionable merchandise at a fair price, and we regret disappointing you. Blah blah blah…
I didn’t think it was their intention. I’m sure this was purely unintentional, but what I’m asking them to do here is think a little bit. Maybe there could just be a generic “Halloween costume” section for kids?
When I was a kid, I think there was one year when I dressed as a princess for Halloween. But in other years I went as a tiger, a witch, a gift box (yeah that looked as funny as it sounds), etc. I don’t know if I’m just old and times have changed or what. All I know is that my daughter loves tigers and leopards and sheep, so that’s what she’s going to be for Halloween. Even if that means she gets a costume from the boys’ section.