CINDY, INCIDENTALLY:

For years I fought against the Halloween ritual of women of taking a costume idea and turning it sexy.

There’s sexy nurse, sexy cop, sexy librarian, sexy French maid, sexy Strawberry Shortcake, sexy prisoner — you know what I am talking about.

I fought hard and tried to keep costumes from becoming a battleground between women out-sexing one another and instead tried to find meaning and principal in my costume creations.

One year I was Eleanor Roosevelt; another year I was a 1960s beatnik; and then there was my Frida Kahlo ensemble. One humiliating year I let a boyfriend pick out our costumes, and I ended up being a full-size foam playing card. Sigh. Shortly after the 2001 “playing card” costume debacle, I went a few years wearing regular street clothes to parties and became known as the Halloween Grinch.

But after some time of implementing the costume moratorium, I surprised everyone by showing up at a friend’s party as a sexy school girl with books, high heels and glasses. Guess what? I loved every minute of it.

For once, no one looked confused by my costume or bored and not one person rolled their eyes by my underlying political message of my costume. Nope, everyone knew exactly what I was, and there was something devilishly fun about that. After that heady rush, I spent a few years as a sexy cop, cheerleader and a farm girl. Curious about the popularity of the sexy costumes and their mass appeal, I spent an afternoon at The Electric Chair on Main Street, which is a bit like Sexy-Costumes-R-US right now. They have everything you can think of this year, especially if your goal is to look skimpy and provocative.

For the guys, they also have traditional scary costumes and plenty of cool get-ups including mobsters, cops and yes, you can even find something if you want to be Joe the Plumber this year.

For ladies, there is still non-sexy princess costumes, fairies and there’s a great white patent leather punk rock wedding dress that could be really fun.

But if you’re looking to be an agent provocateur, rest assure, there’s an entire back room of costumes to peruse.

Amanda Lewis, 18, who was with her two girlfriends at The Electric Chair, admits that unlike Thanksgiving or Christmas, this is one holiday where looking hot part of the fun.

“Everyone wants to dress up like this because it’s fun, and it gives you an extra excuse to look super cute,” Lewis said as she and her friends debate on a vixen sailor costume for this year and whether it’s cute enough to make the cut.

As for me, I think I’m going back to my simpler ways of wearing a costume with commentary. But don’t hold me to it — I just saw a darling sexy lady bug costume with a pair of black patent leather wings that just may be too cute to pass up.

CINDY ARORA is a freelance writer. She may be reached at paprgrrl@gmail.com.