Halloween is for showing off your ingenuity and creating interesting costumes. It is not for wearing as little as possible and looking like a specialized prostitute.

There’s no problem with wearing a red thong and yellow tube top for Halloween; just don’t say you’re dressing up as a firefighter.

Honestly, if you don’t dress as provocatively on the other 364 days of the year, then you only make yourself seem like an unoriginal, attention-seeking bore.

Couldn’t you come up with something better than a black miniskirt, a broom and pointy hat?

When someone puts a lot of time and effort into their zombie costume, making the gory flesh and tattered rags believable, it shows true imagination and personality.

Whom would you rather take with you on a cross-country road trip, the 17th ‘princess fairy angel’ you’ve seen in Toys”R”Us wings or the awesome person in the homemade Optimus Prime robot suit?

There are a vast number of theories to why it is dressing as skimpy as one can for Halloween has become the norm.

Some say it’s the only time one can dress like a harlot without being called out on it. Others attribute it to a ‘busting out’ of societal or cultural norms, much like the Amish’s rumspringa.

There’s also the “it’s-my-body-I’ll-do-what-I-want” argument.

It’s fine to dress however you’d like. This is a free country. However, one should always practice discretion.

Just because I can put on a bonnet and walk around naked on Oct. 31 doesn’t mean I can say, “I’m a newborn baby for Halloween.”

The real reason for all the scantily clad Halloweenies has nothing to do with cultural pressures or social norms.

It’s because no one can bother to come up with a good idea anymore.

Showing off a lot of skin has become a viable substitute for showing off a little creativity.

You don’t know what to be for Halloween? That’s okay, just strip to your underwear, slap on a pair of cat ears and now you’re a “Sexy Kitty.”

The really sad part is you know someone that’s done just that. It’s a goddamn shame how no one cares either.

College kids are fine with any excuse to see borderline obscenity in their daily lives. People over 34 years old generally don’t care.

The only group left with the brunt of this depressing situation is the children between ages 10 and 15 and their parents.

What happens when 13 year-olds feel the best choice for a costume depends on how little they put on? There’s already a demand for ‘sexy’ teen costumes in department stores.

This is not a moral dilemma in the sense that we’re contributing to sexual dishonesty.

The issue at hand is this encouragement of hackneyed, unimaginative behavior that is spreading among the young people.

It has been a problem for some time and Halloween is just the great gathering of boring people with boring ideas, much like an annual “ClichédCon.”

As stated above, there’s no problem with wearing a risqué costume for Halloween; just make it an interesting one.

How about dressing up as all the trite ‘sexy’ costumes you’ve seen over the years? Wear a short pink tutu, fishnet stockings, black and white wings, green face-paint, a halo and devil horns and carry a wand.

Now you’re a “Sexy Demon Angel Witch Princess.”