Walking into Spirit Halloween this fall, the division between male and female costumes is apparent. 

Instead of dressing up like soldiers or ninjas, women are left to choose between overly sexualized costumes of schoolgirls and nuns. 

The limited options for female Halloween costumes have contributed to the sexualization of women and increased sexual harassment during Halloween.

No woman should feel limited to dress in an uncomfortable way that jeopardizes her and other women’s safety. By providing more options for female costumes, women could gain control over their clothing and how the public perceives them. 

According to Forbes, 93% of women’s costumes were considered tight, and 88% showed more skin than males. These costumes force women to have to dress sexually. 

The conductor of the study, Lauri Hyers, said, “The issue isn’t really that women are wearing sexy costumes. Women should be allowed to choose what they wear. The issue is that there are limited choices.” 

Unfortunately, women cannot simply wear whatever they want without consequence. Women often face harassment and even assault due to something as simple as clothing. Because of these safety concerns, companies should at least give women a better variety of costumes so they may easily choose non-sexual costumes.

In 2014, the “My Costume is not Consent” movement brought attention to the increasing number of sexual assaults on Halloween. Sharing their stories, survivors hoped to encourage colleges to protect their female students. Instead of fading into the background, these women have helped to implement policies like Title IX that prevent sex-based discrimination. 

If women are constantly displayed to the world as sexy objects, then that is what the world will start viewing them as. It is our job as women to stand up for ourselves and how we want to be portrayed. 

I want to say women should be able to wear whatever they want on Halloween, but because of the world we live in today, that is just not the case. To help decrease the sexualization of women, we need to make a stand like the admirable women of the “My Costume is not Consent” movement did. Instead of supporting the sexualization of women by purchasing sexy nurse, maid and teacher costumes, fight against it by making homemade costumes with friends or opting for a comfy onesie.