Haven’t decided what you’re wearing for Halloween yet? Have no fear! If you’re a woman, you’re in luck: the female species has the benefit of an eclectic mix of costume choices for Halloween, from ‘Sexy Skeleton’ to ‘Cute Cat’ to ‘Seductive Sorceress’... not to mention my own personal favourite this year: ‘Donna T. Rumpshaker’ (because dressing up as a man who has belittled and groped women is so much fun!). Forget maintaining your dignity; why wear a frightening costume when you can disturb people just as much when your tit falls out of your bralette?

If you Google ‘women’s halloween costumes’, the first hundred-or-so search results show daring attire exactly like this. The overt and overwhelming sexualisation of such outfits raises the question as to whether racy Halloween outfits should be considered normal for young women.

Compare this to the childhood Halloween experience when, in keeping with tradition, it was a chance for children to dress up as something frightening. At this time, there were eight main costume ideas: skeleton, pumpkin, witch, vampire, ghost, mummy, bat and zombie. Outfits rarely deviated from such themes and hours were spent meticulously plastering your face in white face-paint to imitate a ghost or whacking fake vampire fangs into your mouth. The objective was to look scary, and this objective was always achieved. But once you hit puberty, things change. The aim of Halloween costumes transforms from looking frightening to looking hot. Hours are not spent applying face-paint or fake teeth anymore; but rather adjusting your titty tape.

Of course, I am not claiming such lascivious costumes are always wrong; far from it. If you personally feel empowered wearing low-cut tops and short skirts, then that's fantastic. We need to celebrate the times when a woman feels content and confident, whatever she may be wearing. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look sexy. However, the normality of such garments during Halloween, and the barrage of encouragement to dress in such a risqué way, is, quite frankly, disturbing. As the oft-used Mean Girls quotation goes: “Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.”

Perhaps we should say something about how standardised such wear is becoming. Maybe, as 21st-century human beings, it is our duty to try to change the common idea of a woman’s Halloween costume being worn solely to accentuate her appearance. After all, that’s not what Halloween is about, is it?

This argument goes deeper. In 2014, Subway ran an advertisement claiming women had to eat well and “stay in shape” to ensure they look attractive in Halloween costumes. A comparison is evident between this and Protein World’s ‘Are you Beach Body Ready?’ billboards of 2015. These are explicit examples of how women are encouraged to inspect their bodies and – after inevitably finding themselves wanting – alter their appearance to please societal norms. If you happen to have the audacity to feel comfortable in your body without conforming to what society deems a perfect figure, then you face ostracization. Only sexy is permissible. Therefore, only sexy Halloween costumes can be sold.

In her book Expectations for Women: Confronting Stereotypes, J. Elizabeth Mills claims the “gender division” evident in Halloween costumes is even more troubling when we consider the nature of these outfits, particularly in the States. She claims that “while boys can be all kinds of professions, including a doctor […] and a superhero, girls must often make do with several variations of cheerleader and entertainer. [T]he message behind such fashion is clearly understood – to call attention to a girl’s appearance and sexiness.” In other words, so long as females look good, nothing else matters.

The sexualisation of Halloween costumes in today’s world only serves to prove that women continue to be valued solely on their appearance. The level of this objectification, which is particularly obvious at this time of year, fuels the widespread acceptance of such values in society. What is truly scary is the fact that this degrading behaviour is still acceptable in the 21st-century