The Gorilla hates to do it, but he absolutely MUST write something Halloween-ish, being that it’s a mere one day away. While out shopping the other day, the Gorilla had the rare opportunity to check out one of those temporary strip mall Halloween stores. It was mostly the scary sound effects and creepy fake fog that actually brought him in to take a peek. What he saw was an interesting scene.
There were plenty of “scary” costumes in the store- you know- traditional vampires, your well-known hockey mask character, witches and…more witches. There appeared to be rows and rows of costumes for women, much more so than for men, and although that, in and of itself, may not be unusual, the nature of the costumes themselves certainly was. The Gorilla didn’t notice it at first, as he scanned the store for a “scary” Ben Bernanke mask for his Halloween party. (Yes, even the Gorilla gets into the spirit of things!) He didn’t pay much attention to the little girl, who appeared to be about 8 years old or so, who went skipping happily into the dressing room carrying a costume. The mother paced about, telling the little girl to “hurry up.”
As the Gorilla continued searching amidst the hustle and bustle of people (mostly teenagers), he glanced over to see the little girl emerge from the dressing room. At the same time another girl, around 16 or 17 also emerged. Now the Gorilla tends to mind his own business and certainly would never stare, but to his surprise, both had on the very same costume. It was a policewoman sort of thing, but half the clothes to be sure. Both girls bared their midriffs and wore black boots up to their knees and had a form fitting low cut tops. The Gorilla was disturbed to say the least. As inappropriate as this costume was for a 16 year old to wear, to see the 7 or 8 year girl with it on was shocking, and frankly, embarrassing.
Meanwhile, as the Gorilla made his way toward the checkout with his own scary Ben mask, he overheard the little girl’s mother excitedly tell her daughter that “YES! Of course she could get “that one,” and continued to rave to the little girl about how “adorable she looks in it.” After checking out and leaving the store, the Gorilla remembered watching a show in which several female teenage trick-or- treaters came to a woman’s home and when she answered the door she stared in amazement at the clan of young girls. ”Okay, she said, trying to identify each girl’s outfit, “sexy witch, sexy bunny, sexy uh what? Prostitute?” Okay, so go ahead and call the Gorilla “old fashioned,” but what if your 8 year old, 12 year old, or 16 year old went out trick-or-treating dressed in such a suggestive way? Would you be okay with it if you knew the next doorbell they were ringing was a sexual predator’s, or pedophile’s? The Gorilla wanted to go back into the store and shake the woman, so obviously caught up in being her daughter’s friend that she forgot to be her advocate and protector! Are the days of telling kids NO simply gone?
October 30th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Hail Gorilla for speaking the truth! I have so often wanted to speak out about this new “look” for young girls for Halloween, and never could. I am so glad YOU did! My daughter’s friends all dress this way for Halloween. I, to her dismay, am one of those father’s-like you- that draws the line in the sand and must “approve” what she is wearing. Her mother is luckily on the same page with me on this. I too, am embarrassed when these young girls arrive at the door on Halloween wearing the skimpiest of clothes. I wonder what kind of parents advocate this kind of behavior and the answer is simple; lazy, irresponsible parents who yes, want to be their kid’s friends instead of a parent. It is time for these mother’s and father’s to “step up” to the plate and guide their kids down the right path! Your kids have plenty of “friends” already! Thanks for the great story Gorilla. It’s good to know you have very “human” experiences like the rest of us chimps!
October 31st, 2007 at 2:59 am
Thanks you guys for speaking out on this issue! If a few parents would wake up and realize the kinds of behavior we promote in our kids when we erase sensibility, maybe we wouldn’t be dealing with the 9 year olds/ birth control issue? Fortunately, for us here in Washington State, Halloween temperatures are usually near freezing after dark. Seeing the monster-sized goose bumps on those scantily clad trick-or-treaters really can give you a scare! Boy do they get cold! Because of this, we tend to see warmer choices like polar bear and yes, gorilla costumes. Some kids even dress as skiers! (I will be going as an electric blanket :o)
I’ll close with a question for the Gorilla to ponder: Do you suppose that some of the kids we see dressed in white sheets aren’t really going as ghosts? Maybe they’re going as.. Mattresses!…..