BOO!

Get ready Mr. Potato Head, I packed my angry eyes...

Yesterday we loaded up the fam and took a trip to one of my least favorite places on Earth: a warehouse store. Which, in Costco's defense, is many people's idea of heaven. For me, going into a huge warehouse of crap is mainly just depressing. That can be a ranting post for another day. Alas, the combination of my children's non-potty-trained hineys along with an empty diaper basket meant that a trip to Costco was in order.

As per the usual we quickly succumbed to the strange universe of the discount warehouse. What else do we need? We pondered the seemingly endless possibilities while Carolena yearned for the end of the trip when she could redeem her prize of looking through the toy aisles.

A huge clamshell of grapes, some dish detergent, and wine were all tossed alongside our haul of diapers, and then we were off to see the toys. As Carolena checked out everything, I perused the toys making mental notes of things that might be great for Christmas. It was then that I stumbled upon a display of costumes. Seeing an astronaut costume I dodged some oversized bears and dashed past the gaudy three snowman tower to check out the price.

I clutched the astronaut costume in my hands, happy with it's overall look and quality. I glanced up a the sign, $14.99 - cool. Then, I read the sign. "Toddler BOY costumes." Disgust came over every fiber of my being. The astronaut costume placed firmly back in place, I backed up to read the signage and found this:

Costco has designated all of these as the "boy costumes."

I snapped a picture, wrote up a comment, which in my opinion was ooooozing with sarcasm, and posted it to Facebook.
And to think I almost allowed my three year old daughter who loves space, watches youtube videos from the ISS, and knows Neil Armstrong's name and why he's famous to get an astronaut costume. Silly me. Luckily, Costco had the "Toddler Boy costumes" clearly labeled lest anyone get confused into thinking girls were good enough at math to be astronauts. Hm... perhaps a firefighter costume... oops... nope... those are boy costumes too. Sigh, what oh what is a toddler gal supposed to be for Halloween? Guess she'll have to go as a housewife again this year.

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough? Perhaps too many people merely skimmed my post instead of reading it? Perhaps the people who were confused are the reason bigwigs at Costco think women are too dumb to be astronauts? How could anyone have thought this was a post about Halloween costumes?!?!

Who the hell even cares about Halloween costumes? I care about the fact that it is 2015 and people are still telling one another that things for boys require brains and brawn while things for girls require tulle. I find it disturbing that this kind of sexism is still being engrained into this new generation.

Dear Costco, it is in fact possible for women to be astronauts. We should encourage little girls to dress up as astronauts and dream of going to space. Astronauts' suits are gender neutral. The dress up version does not need to be labeled as specific for boys.

Then, after my fb post, I found something even more disturbing - normal everyday (supposedly) intelligent people who thought my post implied that I didn't buy the costume because it was "for a boy." What? People actually do that?! People were under the impression that I had put the costume back because the sign said it was for a boy and I have a girl. They thought that my anger was at the fact that this suit was labeled for a boy and that they didn't offer astronaut costumes for girls. I've even gotten suggestions on how to make an astronaut costume for her. What the hell would that even look like? Pink? Bedazzled?

Let me be very clear: if Carolena wants to be a BOY for Halloween, she can. If she wants to wear camo shorts to school, she can. If she wants to dress like a boy every single damn day, I will let her. She can be who she wants to be. The problem isn't Halloween. The problem isn't what C will wear for Halloween. The problem has nothing to do with Halloween.

My children are being raised to be who they are. I want them to like what they want to like. Carolena loves snakes and alligators. She happily plays with trucks and trains. She plays dress up in tulle. She turns everything into her baby. She loves princesses, and dinosaurs, and (gasp) astronauts. She is who she is. I don't need Costco or anyone else telling her that some things in life are designated for boys.  As far as I'm concerned the only thing boys can do that girls can't is pee standing up. Men limit their gender in so many ways by designating things as "girly." Remember the age of sail when brave strong men had to be able to sew? Fine, limit your own lives, don't limit mine or my family's. That is what this is all about. Halloween is inconsequential.

This is more of a problem for girls than it is for boys. In the future, if Nils wants to dress up as Snow White then by all means throw on that costume. We've already got it. He can be whoever he wants to be. What bothers me is that society tells boys that they can be astronauts and firefighters and policemen while girls have to pluck those costumes from the boy department.

If you can't figure that out I can't help you. You are not smart enough for imaginary space walks. Please return your pretend astronaut space helmet and pick up a tulle skirt and fairy wings on your way out.