On Halloween, most of us probably like to dress up. Being one of the many traditions associated with Halloween; you can be someone else for a night and let creativity shine through. However, along with this tradition that we all hold so dear comes an unfortunate reality: the sexism in the costume industry. If you haven’t already noticed, many of the costumes geared towards grown women are revealing in nature, no matter the subject (there is a sexy Ronald McDonald costume. I am serious.) Most of these costumes are also advertised as “sexy” versions of the thing they represent (and called “slutty” colloquially), unlike their male costume counterparts.

Why is it necessary for women’s costumes to be sexy? I will not deny the fact that many women do dress up in sexy attire on Halloween and enjoy it, and they certainly have the right. But the women who don’t want to dress in ridiculously revealing costumes are left to either create a costume themselves (which often takes a lot of effort, time, and money), scour the Internet for any non-sexy alternatives, or wear a costume designed for men. This simply isn’t fair when men get their pick of any costume they could think of without being objectified in the process. It also isn’t fair when many people look down on women who wear “slutty” costumes, thus proving more of a dilemma.  I have seen a backlash against this sexist trend in recent years, and yet things have not changed in a significant way. When I walk into Party City, the majority of women’s costumes are still revealing in one way or another .

You may be thinking, “if there is such a demand for non-sexy women’s costumes, why is it still like this?” The women’s Halloween costume situation is a catch-22, if you will: because of the lack of options, so many women are forced to buy the sexy versions of costumes, which leads the companies producing them to see no demand for change. This is an unfortunate truth. If women don’t want a sexy costume, they will often make it themselves, thus avoiding the costume stores and websites altogether and not taking a stand while others continue to buy the sexified corn costumes on yandy.com (again, I am serious).

While I am not advocating for the elimination of sexy costumes altogether, I do think the costume industry has gone too far. The mere fact that there is a sexy pizza costume in the universe clearly illustrates that the need to sexify everything has become an unnecessary fixation when creating women’s costumes. A balance needs to be struck between offering sexy and non-sexy costume options for women, rather than having the balance tipped completely in favor of sexiness. Until that happens, I hope to never see a sexy Ronald McDonald in person. I really, really hope not.