Feminist Halloween, Day 13: Is the Disney Store Really Gender-Neutral?

2015/10/13 by LM

[Image: Screenshot of Disney’s children’s costumes page, with the text “I AM AWESOME.” The costumes are not labelled as boys/girls and there are no models.] Source

The Mary Sue and Jezebel report that Disney has removed gender labels from their children’s costumes, labeling the costumes as “Hulk Costume for Kids” or “Fawn Fairy Costume for Kids.”

While the screenshot on The Mary Sue isn’t inaccurate–a lot of costumes don’t feature models–the ones that do feature child models have a lot of racial diversity, but not obvious gender non-conformity, though that could also be because they are character costumes and wigs have been deployed.

[Image: Screenshot of Disney children’s costumes with children of color as Jasmine, Woody, Belle, Hook, Cinderella.

Buuuuut, if you look at the front page, the gender binary is still there in the general store, if not the costumes:

[Image: screenshot of the Disney Store front page, with “boys” and “girls” categories, as well as “babies” and “adults” labelled.]

While “boys” and “girls” have overlap with Star Wars and Marvel goods (albeit different characters chosen for each franchise), Cars goes in the boys’ categories and Frozen in the girls’, and the clothing offered is still gendered. Hopefully this is a “today the costumes, tomorrow the whole store” situation, but I worry that might be giving the company too much credit. I am cynical.

Or, in a conversation between me and a friend on a related topic:

Friend: But, but… [without gender categories] then how will we know how to socialize them into restrictive and problematic societal roles!?

Me: Next thing you know, kids’ Halloween costumes won’t be separated by gender (even though the models probably will be) and neither will toys and then no one will know what to wear or buy!!!!?!

One Response

on 2015/10/13 at 5:06 pm | Reply Alex Hurst

I was talking with my gf yesterday, about how the best princesses (in terms of active and with real speaking parts) are actually the ‘princesses’ put in movies meant for boys. The problem comes down to the fact that the market is for “Princess” which is in and of itself restrictive (unless we go Science Fiction). But Atlantis, Hercules, Treasure Planet, and even Aladdin have good female characters, even though the former three are rarely discussed.

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