So I’m at the Spirit Halloween yesterday (it’s in an old Toys R Us; I know you all were curious). My 12 y/o wants to be Spider-Man for Halloween. The “boy” costumes have a Spider-Man mask, but no gloves. They also have the foam sculpted muscles. My kid hates this. But we happen to notice that they have a “girl” Spider-Man costume. In a win for equality or progress or whatever, it’s labeled as “Spider-Man” and not “Spider-Girl” or whatever. And, like the “boy” costume, it’s an officially licensed product. Now, the “girl” costume is basically what he wants: it has gloves, no stupid sculpted muscles, no sculpted boot things to cover shoes from what we can tell. It’s just a straight up, lean, form-fitting lycra suit with Spidey’s graphics on it. Awesome.

Doesn’t have an actual mask. Only a “domino mask” (think Black Cat or Robin).

Why do we do this? I could probably write an entire thesis on the gender politics of these two costumes.

(We’re probably just going to look for like a “zentai” type suit online; seems to be the best option)