With Halloween just a few weeks away, Lin Kramer was doing some online shopping to find a costume for her 3-year-old daughter when she noticed a concerning trend among the toddler girls costumes offered on PartyCity.com.
Kramer crunched the numbers and discovered that a disproportionately larger number of boys costumes included potential careers compared to the girls selection available on the retailer's website. In an open letter to Party City posted to her Facebook page, she also noted the distinct difference in style between the boys and girls police officer costumes.
"Generally speaking, real life uniformed female police officers do not wear short skirts and low cut shirts, but instead wear exactly the same slacks and shirts as their male counterparts," Kramer wrote.
Kramer's chief concern, though, seems to be that the site offers a greater number of real-life costume options such as officers, military and athletes for boys, while its girls costume selection is largely witches, fairies and princesses.
What do you think? Should costumes be separated by gender roles, or should they go the way of toy retailers like Target and Disney and be presented indiscriminately?
What do you think of Party City's girl police officer costume? Is it too racy for a toddler costume, or is it harmless make-believe for Halloween?
Let us know in the comments below!
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