Anna Rexia Halloween costume

Bucky says: "Check out this actual Halloween costume inspired by Anorexia. Although we first saw it on HalloweenStreet.com, they've taken it down. But we did find it on this other Halloween costume selling site."

This year 3Wishes.com adds to the old standards of slutty nurse, slutty catwoman, and slutty police officer with slutty eating disorder by introducing the "Anna Rexia" costume. We doubt they grasp the irony of stuffing a busty model into a costume that invokes anorexia nervosa much less the idea that this costume whips up more female body issues than every season of Baywatch combined. But they are an equal opportunity offender. The get up is available in a plus size just in case big-boned chicks want to get in on the screw-with-the-mentally-afflicted Halloween action.

Link

• [Dewi Morgan]

  So what’s special here? Don’t they have Halloween skeleton costumes in under-a-rock world? Nice to see a sexy dress version, though.

  Inspired by anorexia, my ass. That’s like saying Sprite is “inspired by tiny angel-like creatures”. Bollocks. Sprite is fizzy water, this is a skeleton dress. Product names do not reflect their inspiration, they reflect the lack of inspiration of marketoids.

• [andrewTee]

  The only thing that twigs this as an eating-disorder victim costume is the “Anna Rexia” heart-shaped nametag (and if they have to spell it out, it’s not working). The tape measure belt & choker are ambiguous at best.

  As Miss Cellania indicated, remove those cues, and what’s left is a pretty darn hip costume for ladies imho.

  The real question is: is it tasteless to wear a nametag that makes light of a serious illness? Probably, but it’s a fairly tasteless time of year, if you hadn’t noticed. I’ve seen worse.

• [Anonymous]

  don’t forget the plus size option:
  http://www.3wishes.com/images/annarexiaplus-d.jpg

• [Anonymous]

  I’ve seen straightjacket costumes before and I once went around with a giant fake goiter on my neck on Halloween.

  To me, it looks like it is making fun of absurd attempts at thinness rather than idealizing anorexia.

  This reminds me of the pamphlets saying Harry Potter teaches children to idealize witchcraft and devil worship.

• [HalloweenStreet.com]

  We seriously apologize if this costume has offended anyone. The costume has been taken down from our store due to the complaints and we didn’t realize the kind of harm this would cause. We are very responsive to our customers and believe that is important for our products and services for Halloween. If there are any other Halloween Costumes you might need, please come check us out at http://www.halloweenstreet.com .

• [Squashy]

  I agree with all those people who point out that this quite obviously isn’t an anorexic costume; it’s a sexy skeleton costume that someone has given a joke name. That’s all.

  And is “handi-capable” really a word people use these days? Does that even make sense? I always thought a handicap was something that makes it quite literally harder for you to do certain things, no matter how politically correct it might be to deny this.

• [Kirsten]

  Any costume where you have to wear a tag saying what you are is, as the kids say, full of fail.
  Dumb costume, cute punk rock dress.

• [mattymatt]

  Never before have I heard of Halloween imagery that is intentionally vulgar, provocative, or disturbing.

• [LeAnne]

  this is disgusting on every level. i have battled anorexia for years and there is nothing funny about putting that measuring tape around your waist day in and day out hoping to lose an inch. while were being offensive, lets just have a black person walk around naked with fake whip marks down their back like a slave. i mean, their naked, so thats sexy, right? or lets have someone shave their head and paint dark circle under their eyes and be chemo patients. that open back to the hospital gown is SO sexy.

  seriously. DISGUSTING.

• [Bobby Galaxy]

  > There’s no way this is as tasteless as mocking someone born with a developmental condition. Not even the same ballpark.

  I’m sorry. There is a huge difference. Developmental conditions are the result of nature, while anorexia is mostly society’s fault. As in *our* fault. Clearly, eating disorders are fair game and the handi-capable aren’t.

  I’m not skittish about off-color jokes, but freedom of speech demands some self-censorship and a sense of appropriate context. If you don’t want to look like a racist, you don’t run around spewing out racial slurs into a megaphone. Boingboing usually puts on like they’re sensitive to gender issues and other social issues, but something like this easily squelches out a webcomic defending women on IRC.

  Boingboing: You are most certainly aware that you have political influence. You handle issues like intellectual property and privacy with such care and precision. I wish you would accept more responsibility for issues like this.

• [HKYNUT]

  Costume, schmostume. Who’s the model – and what’s she doing Halloween night?

• [Anonymous]

  It’s more like, this screws with their own perceptions of the mentally-afflicted …
  the real psychology behind anorexia nervosa is much different.

  This is ‘on the outside looking in’, not ‘from the inside as it sees itself’.

  I doubt you’re screwing with anorexics …

  Strange perceptions of the afflicted …

• [Bobby Galaxy]

  Umm… this is about as tasteful as a Down Syndrome costume.

  And as far as “female body issues” go, let’s note that men can have anorexia as well.

• [Tits McGee]

  ::utterly speechless::

• [Anonymous]

  I’ll admit it’s probably not the best name for a costume, and not to make light of eating disorders, but coming from a site with other costume names like “Dr. Anita Lay” (Sexy Nurse) “Dr. Amanda Sedate” (Sexy Psychiatrist) and “Ann B. Lance” (Sexy Paramedic) – I think I’m more likely to roll my eyes at the whole thing than turn to indignation.

• [Prairie Dog]

  Yeah, I’ve never seen anyone dress in anything designed to disturb or offend anyone on Halloween.

  In any case, an oldy, but I think an appropriate link.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AtCmpSW7TY

• [Anonymous]

  I think you’re all missing her belt — Its a measuring tape. Theres where it gets a little unclassy.

  Otherwise, this is a cute dress that I think I made a few Halloweens back, as inspired by the Horrorpop’s go-go dancers. Except my costume had opera-gloves with anatomically correct bones painted on!

• [Ceronomus]

  Ugh. Between this and “Pro-Anna” sites, I weep for the downward spiral of our national level of mental health.

• [outlanderssc]

  People with anorexia nervosa are skinny, but they’re not transparent. You can’t actually see their skeletons.

  This is just a lame costume with a provocative name to get them some undeserved free press

• [Miss Cellania]

  Is it the name you object to? If this were titled “skeleton costume”, it would be pretty standard Halloween fare. Lots of folks dress as skeletons.

• [geekpdx]

  Oh my! A Halloween costume!

  There’s no way this is as tasteless as mocking someone born with a developmental condition. Not even the same ballpark.

  Besides, if this costume was seen outside the context of having a provocative title next to it; one could assume all sorts of different intentions and juxtapositions of such – intended or unintended by the wearer.

  If I sold Halloween costumes, I’d probably offer a discount on the “panties-in-a-bunch” smock to the previous commenters.

• [Anonymous]

  I don’t know, I think the costume is kind of cool. I saw the image before reading the title/caption and thought it was some kind of “sexy skeleton” costume; I would never have linked it to anorexia. Of course I won’t be buying it now because of that fact, but I own a few other bone and organ-themed pieces of clothing and don’t see that as “pro-ana.” I just like skeletons and anatomy.

  –an average-sized woman

• [MomentEye]

  I have bad skin and problematic hair.
  Zombie costumes offend me.

• [V]

  Or you can just claim that you are Famine, and you are looking for other three horsemen of the Apocalypse…