No, you're not on the set of a porn shoot. All that leather and lace, breasts and bodice, thongs and thigh wear is just standard fare on the costume rack at your local department store.

When it comes to Halloween, it seems that women have two choices these days–plunge your neckline and hoist your hem, or get a quick laugh and an evening of being ignored when you try to wow them as the "Cereal Killer", plastic knife in hand and Special K box taped to your turtleneck.

It's been years since Carlie Billinger has dressed up for Halloween in a costume that wasn't "naughty". The 22-year-old UBC grad student grinned as she told the Straight about her transition from "scary" to "sleazy".

"I think from Grade Eight on, it was all about the boys," Billinger laughed. "I used to think, 'Cleavage or legs, but not both, 'cause that would be too much.'"

And now? "Now, I do both, for sure! My friends and I choose a theme, like 'Naughty Nursery Rhymes'. I've done Little Bo Peep, with a bustier from Victoria's Secret, a puffy little miniskirt with a sheep sewn on it, a shepherd's crook, and my boots, of course. It was great!"

Billinger's Bo Peep skirt set her back $200. Then there's all that tanning, bronzing, and teeth bleaching. Looking this cheap can be expensive.

Behind the counter at Watts Costume Rental in Vancouver, Raelene Sellers hooks up (sometimes literally) customers with costumes that rent for $35 to $150 a day. She told the Straight that the rush starts at the end of September.

"Naughty nurse, French maid, pirate wench–everybody comes in looking for something sexy, but not everyone ends up renting those," Sellers said. "Some are so tight and so short, you can't really relax. Even the teeny tiny girls who fit those costumes perfectly don't want to come out of the dressing rooms. When they see the Cleopatra, the 17th-century French court, or the Chicago-style flapper dresses, they rent those. But I say, if you've got the body for it and you're comfortable, go for it."

UBC education student Sarah Fedoruk told the Straight that she's not a prude, but she objects to the lack of imagination in some Halloween costumes. "You end up with a room full of identical girls in identical things they took off the rack at a lingerie store, with only different animal headbands to distinguish them," Fedoruk said. "It's boring."

However, she added with a laugh, it's not boring for her boyfriend. "He says that look just never gets tired." Of course, with all the strides women have made, choice is the operative word when getting dolled up for Halloween.

"I'm a bit tamer than her," Billinger's friend Jenn Guss told the Straight . "I'd rather dress up like Marilyn Monroe, for instance."

Strange to think dressing like Marilyn is the conservative girl's choice these days. But Billinger said that showing off her sexy self every Halloween is incredibly empowering.

"We worked hard to get these bodies, and we're celebrating. We're not taking guys home. At the end of the night, we're at home eating cheese crackers and pickles, downloading our [camera] shots, and laughing at all the guys who made fools of themselves all night trying to get us. I love Halloween."