For many college students, Halloween is one of the most anticipated times of year. The holiday has always been about creativity and dressing as something fun, spooky or clever, yet somehow everything from princesses to nurses now has a “sexy” version.
Now, I’m not saying women — or anyone for that matter — shouldn’t be able to wear what they want, but why are we sexualizing this holiday? When companies keep selling things like “Dirty Cop” or “Lieutenant Misbehave,” it says a lot about how we view women’s bodies.
An iconic scene from the movie “Mean Girls” shows a character being mocked for showing up in a scary costume instead of a sexy one. The unwritten rule of how women are “supposed” to look on Halloween is made clear, and anyone who doesn’t dress this way risks feeling out of place. What’s framed as empowerment often ends up being pressure to conform, revealing how normalized this expectation has become.
It’s unsurprising that Halloween has become yet another stage of performance, given the rise in social media and how these platforms prioritize sexualized images with likes, comments and attention. Halloween, just like social media, teaches young women that their value is tied to how attractive they look.
The sexualization of girls and women in popular media can lead to lower self-esteem and mental health disorders, including eating disorders and depression. When that message trickles its way into something as seemingly harmless as Halloween, it normalizes the idea that a woman’s worth is tied to how revealing their costume is.
Owning your sexuality and being sexualized are very different things. Dressing “sexy” can feel empowering for some, but for others, it becomes an obligation, especially for young girls who feel pressured to fit a certain mold. Do you want to be the one dressed in a zebra onesie in a crowd of girls wearing fishnets and corsets? Probably not.
The problem is that this version of Halloween has become the norm. Costume companies have figured out that “sexy” sells, and every year they church out more and more of the same type of costume: sexy nurse, sexy pirate, sexy cowgirl. What should be a holiday about imagination has turned into a marketing machine that profits off the same narrow idea of attractiveness.
The shift hasn’t just made costumes more sexualized; it’s also led to choices that are outright offensive. Take the “Sexy Nun” costume at Spirit Halloween as one example. Turning a symbol of faith and devotion into a provocative outfit is not only hypersexualizing, but mocking and dismissive of its symbolism to millions of people. It’s one thing to be playful with costume ideas, but Halloween is about creativity, not disrespect disguised as humor.
Why can’t Halloween costumes just be fun and silly? What happened to dressing as a witch, cartoon character or literal piece of fruit? There was a time when the goal was to make people laugh, not stare, but at some point, the focus shifted from expressing yourself to impressing others.
Maybe the most frightening thing about Halloween isn’t the costumes at all, but how easily we accept the pressure to look a certain way.
This Halloween, wear what you want, not what you think you’re supposed to. If anything needs a makeover, it’s the way we think about Halloween.
