Tuesday, October 07, 2008

She Sends Me Email

One of the joys of parenting a teenager involves keeping up with their activities. It was easy when I was a child. All my mom had to do was peer into my room. Now, I have to monitor my child's myspace page, text messages, iPod, music downloads and emails. Not to mention all the other profile sites for which she has accounts.

The up side to this is that I often get text messages in the wee hours. Sometimes, I get them when she is spending the night at a friend's house. The messages are often heartfelt, and deal with subjects she might be mortified to mention face to face. I won't go into sordid details here, but suffice it to say at least she is discussing things we might never talk about if not for the power of technology. Things that are downright uncomfortable to discuss between a teenager and her mother, even with my reputation for being frank, open and providing T.M.I.

All this leads to an email I received from her. Halloween is her FAVORITE holiday, because she has the opportunity to dress in shocking attire. Here are some previous outfits: Halloween, 2005 - and yes, she totally had shorts on under that skirt.
Halloween, 2006Halloween, 2007

So I get this email entitled "just some suggestions as to wat i want for halloween", that states, in typical teenager fashion, "i kinda want to get that seductive victorian maiden sorta look...or a victorian doll thing...idk yet but i wanna wear a dress thats frillyish and dark =D." Followed by a photo of a $54 Tripp brand dress from Hot Topic. SEDUCTIVE VICTORIAN MAIDEN???? NOT. And to go with it? These: Adding insult to injury, the message continues: "also if u have read twilight....which is a no....well there are victorian vampiresses....and well that would be hot." And another photo to solidify the intent: HOT? The goal for Halloween is HOT? Sigh. I may not have read "Twilight," totally ruining my credibility as a worthwhile parent, but I DO watch "True Blood" on HBO.

I'm thinking...how is this Halloween different than any others? And exactly when did Halloween become an excuse to dress as a sexy vampire? In looking at costumes online, I became acutely aware of the options NOT available for purchase. Everything was a "Sexy Vixen" or a "Sexy Maid" and even a "Star Wars Sexy Adult Leia" costume (NOT the gold bikini, mind you). Even the "classic" women's costumes had titles like "Medusa the Mythical Siren." Since when did Halloween get so sexy? Let me hear from you.

27 comments:

M@ said...

Has it been a year since her last costume ALREADY!?

bichonpawz said...

Holy Crap! I am SO out of touch!! I haven't exactly kept up with what is IN for Halloween...since my daughter moved out!! Now we both dress up our DOGS! Maybe some of the others with younger kids can help. It must be even more difficult today...

Anonymous said...

Amazingly enough, I have decided to go hot and sexy with my Halloween costume this year. I'll be purchasing a white satin sheet rather than plain white cotton for my ghost attire. Underneath...and this is really risque....I'll be wearing a knee-length white T-shirt and white support hose. And I've purchased a pair of bright white orthopedic shoes to round out the ensemble. I know. I know. It will be very difficult to compete with the blistering hot sexiness of my Halloween costume, but Tigger, I'm confident you'll give it a good try.

Anonymous said...

Several years ago I had the opportunity to attend the world's largest gothic fest - Gotik Treffen - in Germany.

She may find some inspirational costume ideas at their gallery page - http://www.wave-gotik-treffen.de/english/photogallery.php

And since one can't imagine what it would be like to be in a town with THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of vampirish ghouls just by looking at these pics, you can do a YouTube search and find tons of videos.

:-)

Robert O.

Anonymous said...

I forgot to mention... the pics are taken by fans who attended the last several years of Gotik Treffen and so there is a mix of pics of people and of performers. So you happen to hit one with performers, just go on to another gallery.

I suspect she is looking for this kind of look:

[img]http://www.wave-gotik-treffen.de/Bilder/wgt1352.jpg[/img]

Robert O.

Memphis said...

Halloween got so sexy when adults started dressing up for Halloween as much as the kids do. Your little girl is apparently quite aware of the power she has attained courtesy of your DNA, you hottie.

Rayne said...

I know it!! What is up with being a literal 'vamp' on halloween? My older daughter (18) went as a pirate last year. Thought that would be safe right? I am fairly certain that no pirate ever went to sea in six inch heeled boots, fishnet stockings and a short skirt. To be fair, she was wearing an eye patch.

Tiggerlane said...

m@ - unless you count her daily costumes, I mean - WHO wears black/red zebra striped tight pants?

bermudabluez - I dressed my dog up. Once. My husband said it made him look gay, and I didn't want him to have issues.

arkansas songbird - LOL! But wait, who is going to be the Mammy to my Scarlett now that you're going all sexy?

robert o - you DO know what you've done, don't you? OMG...the kid is going to go apeshit over this site! She will love it! Can't wait to show her - thanks so much!

memphis steve - thank you, I think...and now I'm even more worried. And have no idea what I should be for Halloween.

rayne - LOL!! OMG...that was SO FUNNY! Yeah - Halloween is all about the sex, anymore...I just don't get it. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

Hey, no prob :-)

She'll also probably learn about some great bands if she investigates the site, like Pink Turns Blue - http://www.pinkturnsblue.com - or Joachim Witt - http://www.joachimwitt.de ... etc.

Robert O.

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

Thank goodness I had a BOY!

LOL

I LOVES me Halloween...

LOVES to scare neighborhood kids..

yupppers I do

Anonymous said...

That first pic is totally awesome! She should just go as a gorgeous girl !

What happened to princesses and angels? As for me, I'll just be myself...a craggly 'ole witch.

Did you get the car?

Occidental Girl said...

I hadn't thought of it like this before, that technology would make it easier to talk about embarrassing stuff, but it makes tons of sense! Good, at least there is a bright spot in the future of teenage scariness.

It's a hard time of life, I know, but not just for the kid!

Anonymous said...

LOL. My sister and my mother used to exchange letters. My mom will never be hip enough, even now that we are in our 30s, to receive a text (not that I can send one). haha. So kudos to you for being so "now".

I guess once you are too old for candy, it then becomes all about the costume. Too bad HOT comes so young these days.

Real Live Lesbian said...

LOL..you poor thing! I'm so glad it's you and not me!

I'm going to be a princess or a witch for halloween. I'm clueless!

Tiggerlane said...

robert o - she has a LOVE of bands...so, thanks again...I won't tell her about those links until auditions are over Saturday, or she won't practice!

bond - you are LUCKY to have had a boy...I have to shoo them away. How are you gonna scare the kiddos?

swampwitch - she actually took that photo of herself, with a timer. And the car has NOT BEEN RELEASED yet...late 2009...but I WILL GET IT!

occidental girl - it doesn't help that I'm a control freak of a parent. And you are SO RIGHT...but 3AM texting? SO hard...but necessary.

robinellablog - you MUST learn to text...I'm afraid this new generation will refuse to communicate with us otherwise! And hot does seem to be happening at a younger age...sigh...

real live lesbian - princess/witch - that's quite a difference!! But classic, just the same. I miss those classic costumes!

Sayre said...

I used to absolutely love Halloween until my husband started getting weird about me dressing up as a man. See, I always did that because I HATED the costumes for women - they were all "sexy" this and "sexy" that. My favorite costume of all time? Santa Claus! I wore it to work one day and my husband (who works in the same place) was leaving, so I gave him a quick kiss goodbye - and one of my co-workers started singing, "I saw DADDY kissing Santa Clause...."

I'm just glad my kid is a boy - even if he IS stuck on Star Wars clone troopers.

Desert Songbird said...

My 'tween is still woefully and happily very naive. She's going to be Hermione Granger for the third year in a row, with which I am happy to comply!

Ari_1965 said...

There's a Glinda the Good Witch outfit for small dogs that is kind of sexy.

Unknown said...

What no nun costume? I loved the flying nun, she was sexy, no? ;)

Regarding your comment about swapping, I tried to email you but it bounced back, so "Are you kiddin me? I have a 16 yr old still at home. ;) I bet if we did trade for a week Twister would wear you out! He does me anyway. :) At least with a teen you can say go away for a while and they do. . .usually. But mine loves to pop out and scare me! No wonder I have grey hair!"

Anonymous said...

I've noticed that, too, and it's Oh So Wrong!

Tell her that Hot is Out! ;)

Good Lord, it sounds like I'll need to learn how to text!

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

OH I normally dress up and sit my butt by the front door. Stock still...never moving...they end up thinking I am some scarecrow and then I move just a bit and they run like the wind...heheheheheheh

AND I LOVES ME TRUE BLOOD!

Tiggerlane said...

sayre - that's so funny!! And I totally understand...I went as a garbage bag full of leaves, one time...and my kid wanted to be Princess Amedala (sp?) once...

desert songbird - you are blessed...or I must be doing something horriby wrong...

are_1965 - too bad I have a boy dog. He would just look gay!

lisaschaos - LOL! Mine likes to scare me, too! And I don't know if I want a 16 y/o boy, come to the think of it - he's driving, right? Sigh.

kila - better learn! They will be texting before you know it...I try to stay a step ahead, but I'm barely keeping up! I'm hoping the "hot is out" thing will work...oh, wait, she's a teenager...I'll tell her it is SO IN, and she will automatically want to do the opposite!

bond - OMG...LOL! You seriously made me snort my drink! LOL! You need to set up a video camera - tape that stuff - and post it on your blog. And TRUE BLOOD is SO the shiznit!

Anonymous said...

Kudos to you for monitoring her electronic communications! SOOOO many parents don't do that! As for the hot thing; I can't help you there. Thankfully, mine is still only three going on four (not sixteen like other three-year-olds these days).

Tiggerlane said...

mommywizdom - yeah, I think a lot of her friends' parents would be SHOCKED at what their precious darlings are saying online! And just wait - your turn is coming!

Spellbound said...

My girl is 27 and she bought herself the sexy victorian outfit from Hot Topic complete with fishnet stocking and gloves. I have this pirate costume I plan to wear, short but not showing my ass, flattering to but not exposing my boobs. I was in Hot Topics with her and I tried on some just over the knee boots that I though would look great to complete the outfit. "OMG, Mom," she says, "You're too old to wear those! Beside, why would a pirate wear high heel boots?" Words failed me. See what you have to look forward to?

Tiggerlane said...

spellbound - OMG...NO...too old to wear hot footwear? Say it is NOT so.... My daughter is a Hot Topic fan. Wish I had a great place to wear an outfit - yours sounds ROCKIN'!

Anonymous said...

This post is so touching and it gives me hope. I think my biggest fear is that my daughter will stop talking to me. I know I stopped talking to my mom.