Every year on the last day of this very month, we subject ourselves to a tradition widely known for celebrating pop culture, past history or current trends that have gone viral. We pick out the best that we think will showcase our creativity in being relevant to our peers. It’s no question that there are good and bad costumes every year to weed out, but one main theme will always prevail among us, especially among females: the question of slutting up or slutting down.

Now, I know we all recognize this theme, and it’s no use denying it. We’ve seen all the risqué and provocative costumes over the years that roam the realms from simple house party to loud, banging, music-pumping, drink-gulping clubs. For men, we tend to look at this celebration as a simple gesture that the universe is listening to our prayers at night and allowing these women to express themselves freely. For women, I can only imagine that it’s a sign of release that they’ve been holding in for a very long time, and it’s only on Halloween that their inner sanctity is left behind for a night of fun.

I’m not saying it reflects badly upon them, because it is inevitably their own decision to do so. That would be like blaming double standards for being what they are, which are double standards. Men can’t be blamed for ogling at women who dress themselves that way just like the same way women can’t be blamed for using their freedom of expression.

However, it does make me wonder about the state of mind women are drawn to these days. Pop culture has evolved in so many ways that are troubling the poor souls of parents all over America. People like she-who-shall-not-be-named and the Nicky Minajs of the world are setting trends far greater than they, themselves, recognize. Little girls of tender ages are looking at these “role models” as a sign of expression and a direction to a sense of belonging in today’s society. Yes, of course men are trend-setters, too, but the impact created by women transcends the Generation Z of today’s source of media income.

If we do look at it from afar, we would question the moral line between men and women regarding the sort of actions that society has deemed permissible. The stigma upon women still stands its ground today as being the core of gender issues we talk about on the streets. No matter how much of their salary is bumped up or work positions opened up or even eligibility of participation, they are still looked at with condescending eyes until a change is made.

If anything, Halloween should just be a celebratory costume party where kids are allowed to literally sugarcoat themselves into oblivion and have fun doing what they’re supposed to be doing: just being kids. Everything else is optional unless otherwise said by the bouncer at the club telling you that you’re not old enough to enter no matter how hard you try.