Now that retailers have all-but erased gender distinctions among Halloween costumes for humans, the watchdogs at the Washington Post have set their sights on a new sexist bugaboo: costumes for dogs.
Business writer Abha Bhattarai says that young girls may have been forced out of their princess costumes and into superhero capes thanks to the vigilance of the gender police, but “the glass ceiling appears to be firmly in place at Petsmart, where career costumes labeled ‘male’ include firefighter and police officer, while female dogs can choose between a pink cowgirl costume and pink loofah.”
Over on the site Baxterboo.com, Bhattarai discovered costumes for girl dogs that include the “Sweet Heart Nurse” and “French maid.” Across the aisle in the male dogs section, she found costumes such as a “mob boss” and doctor. A helpful tip from the website was to pair the male doctor costume with the female Sweet Heart Nurse for two-dog, mixed-gender households.
“It seems silly on the surface, but this is part of a larger message we’re sending, that there are certain jobs for men, and certain jobs for women,” Scott Lawrie, a 36-year-old podcast host, told Bhattarai. “The career options for women — and dogs — need to go beyond pink loofahs and pink cowgirls.”
Lawrie says he plans to dress his two dogs as ’80s television cops Cagney and Lacey and has already purchased the necessary wigs. He said he will wait to purchase the rest of the costumes, however, until Petsmart and the other retailers remove the sexist labeling on their dog costumes.
More and more Americans are dressing up their pets for Halloween, according to the Post, with some 16% telling the National Retail Federation that they will do so this year. The most popular costumes for pets are gender-neutral pumpkins, hot dogs and bumblebees.
The Post reports that representatives for Petsmart and Baxterboo.com did not respond to requests for comment.