I was obsessed with Halloween when I was a little girl. I mean, who wasn’t? I loved going to find the perfect pumpkin to carve however I pleased and stuffing my pillowcase to the brim with candy. But the best part about Halloween was the arrival of the endless costume magazines which poured out of my mailbox, and then circling just about every princess costume I could find.

The thing is, once I turned 12, I needed to start looking at the teen section for Halloween costumes, and the results were horrifying. As a preteen girl, I was already pretty uncomfortable with my body, so once I discovered the teen section of my favorite Halloween catalog, the image of myself in any of the extremely revealing costumes mortified me.

Frankly, it’s kind of sexist. Costume websites/stores should take into consideration that not all women want to dress that way for Halloween. This is especially disgusting considering that the same “slutty nurse” costume can be found in the teen section as well as in the adult section, signifying how early the influence of sexualized costumes is pushed onto females. Since the majority of girls’ costumes are at least slightly inappropriate, this makes it seem as if it’s a norm for women to dress this way, which is offensive and just not accurate.

The influence of inappropriate costumes at such a young age seriously affects a girl’s self esteem. With the expectation to dress like this, girls grow up feeling self-conscious about their bodies, being encouraged to expose themselves in an uncomfortable way. Why do I feel like I’ll be criticized by my fellow peers if I don’t dress like a “slutty mouse” for Halloween? I mean, it’s the 21st century, women deserve a little more respect than Halloween costumes give them.

“I think it’s kind of disgusting that the only option women and girls have is to be overly sexualized, even if that isn’t the way they want to look,” Nicole Kiker ’17 said.

If the point of Halloween is to be scary, I guess that’s what costume stores have accomplished with women’s costumes.