March 23, 2018[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n a Huffington Post article titled “Honor Roll Student Banned From Graduation Because Of This Shirt” explains that an honor roll student from Hickory Ridge High School was picking an outfit when she decided to wear a shirt that showed her shoulders. The school administration did not think this was appropriate for school, so she was asked to change.
image from pixabay
She did not have any clothes to change into, but she borrowed her friend’s jacket. The school’s principal did not believe that this was good enough. They told the girl she would not be able to graduate if she did not go change again.
This is just one of many examples of schools sexualizing girls for doing something such as showing their shoulders. Schools with dress codes put pressure on female students. When they are picking an outfit for school they do not want to offend anyone with the way they are dressing, however they want to wear the outfits that they choose to wear that show their own style.
Dress Codes From a Young Age
Girls are told from a young age that they cannot wear anything that shows too much skin. One kindergartener from texas got dresscoded because her long dress was not appropriate enough. The website for the magazine People explains, “A 5-year-old Houston girl was reprimanded for wearing a spaghetti-strap sundress to public school because it was deemed too revealing.” The young girl was taught that it was naughty to wear a dress that shows her shoulders and arms.[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Girls are told from a young age that they cannot wear anything that shows too much skin.[/perfectpullquote]
This is an example of the dress code being enforced at a young age. Dress coding a young girl makes the outfit more distracting than if they were to just leave it alone. Instead of focusing on learning the schools choose to focus on young girls outfits. This teaches female students that they should care more about their outfits than they should about their academics. Since the students are young and impressionable they believe this myth that they are taught from a young age. They grow into young adults, many still having pressure put on them to pick clothes that their school wants them to wear. They end up paying more attention to their outfits than their school work.
Dress Codes Being Directed Towards Girls
Dress codes are very well known to be sexist. Many people think that dress codes are mostly directed towards girls, and not boys. It is true that dress codes apply to both male and females, however the restrictions in the dress code are mostly only things that girls wear. Stores usually do not sell male clothing items that are restricted by the dress code. The Elk River High School Student Handbook states, “Students may not wear strapless or open backed tops or tops where the midriff is exposed or articles of clothing that may expose undergarments.” All of these dress code restrictions are clearly directed towards female students. Generally the clothing items that are referred to on this list does not matter to male students because most stores do not sell boys clothes in these styles.
https://twitter.com/elfitzwilliams/status/912732320658001920
This tweet by @elifitzwilliams shows a perfect example of the discrimination between boys and girls when it comes to schools being strict about dress codes. Her school would not let her have this picture as her senior picture because her bralette was showing, but the school is allowing the boys swim team to have a picture of them with just swim suits on.
Dress Codes Teach Girls That Their “Inappropriate” Outfits are a Distraction
Many schools have a dress code in place because they believe the boys are distracted and cannot focus on their school work because they are too busy looking at the girls “inappropriate outfits.” However many boys do not find it distracting when girls break the dress code, many do not even notice.
Even if it was distracting a male student’s day it is not the female students job to conform to what works better for the males. Many students and non-students think that interrupting a girls day so that she does not distract boys is sexist. The reason for this is schools are making girls feel like their education does not matter as much as any of the boys education. Anyones education should matter no matter what gender they are.
Why Some Dress Codes are Stressful
Male and Female students come to school to learn. They do not come to school so that they can be told what, and what not to wear. Students come to school to learn new material. Many students, including myself have been told while picking their outfits by their parents, “it is school, it is not a fashion show.” This statement applies greatly to this topic.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]If school is a place that you go to learn then why do schools care what their students choose to wear? [/perfectpullquote]
If school is a place that you go to learn then why do schools care what their students choose to wear? Having a dress code causes stress while picking out outfits. There would be less stress on students when they pick clothes for school if the clothes did not have to be narrowed down to the specific clothing items that fit into the dress code.
CC0 Creative Commons image by: Wokandapix
Students could be using the time that they waste stressing out over the dress code to finish their homework or study for a test. If the dress code was made more flexible there may be a good chance of grades of the students going up and not down.
The Other Side
Some people think dress codes are good. For example Koshercasual.com in the article “5 Benefits of a School Dress code” says, “A dress code promotes a more serious school atmosphere which emphasizes academics and promotes good behavior.” This statement is telling us that the clothes you wear determines if you have good behavior. However if you are wearing something “scandalous” it does not make you good or bad, that is just what you want to wear.
The Conclusion for Dress Codes
Dress codes can be good in a few situations but for the most part are not necessary. In www.theguardian.com’s post “School Uniforms Do Not Improve Results” Dress coding girls reminds them that a lot of schools care more about their male students than they do about their female students learning. It is taught from a young age that girls can become a distraction to boys if they do not dress appropriately. Many believe school dress codes are sexist because they do not have as many rules for males as they do for girls. Many rules that schools have in place for dress codes are not distracting for boys because they do not even notice. This means that the reason for most dress codes are irrelevant to most people because the way people dress is usually not distracting and the way someone dresses has no correlation with how they learn.
Featured image: CC0 Creative Commons image by: nastya_gepp
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seth
I’m gay and i don’t get why boys get to ware shot shots and tank tops but its a problem for girls it pisses me off
and its sexist
Violet
I 100% agree with us article. The school I attend has a very strict dress code that is mainly directed at the girls rather than boys. I can not wear leggings without my shirt covering my bottom, I can only wear long sleeved or shorts that cover my shoulders, if I was going to wear a skirt it would have been o go past my knees, and there is no headwear, no ripped or cropped clothing, no unnatural hair colors, and no more than one ear piercing on each ear. It is so hard to find clothes where I won’t get sent home or to the office to change. Most of the time in the summer girls have to wear super long shorts that go to our knees or pants. It is absolutely ridiculous and I really wish it will change soon because it is sexist and wrong. Girls should be allowed to wear what they are comfortable in and not have to worry about being called out by the teacher.
Jorryn
i too am a queer female…if i can refrain from being “distracted” by a girl wearing a tube top, boys can too. i got into trouble because my tank top had to be three fingers wide for the straps. my fingers are very small and skinny so what three fingers means to me versus my principles are different. i got in school suspension because their fingers were bigger than mine….who was i distracting? no one notices me at all. i get called out even more because i am a black girl but i am not built like most. i am very skinny and 5’4 about 119 lbs. while i can get away with some short skirts and dresses i can not get away with biker shorts. i got into trouble for wearing biker shorts and a normal slightly oversized shirt because “i was a distraction to boys” and the person who told me this was a male dean! who legally cant dress code me..yet he let this white boy come past me who was wearing shorts that seemed like underwear and a supper loose muscle shirt..he was never dress coded. i do not understand why it matters what we wear. we get talked about for wearing baggy clothes because “we have to represent ourselves along with the school and parent and or guardian” yet, “school is not a fashion show. it is sickening.
Bruce
I find it really creepy that teachers are the only ones thinking shoulders and “too much” skin is “distracting.” I’m pretty sure that’s their problem, not yours.
Alicia Aultman
I know all y’all typed like a lot but I go to school and a boy can show up in her like tank top or something and then we have like three jackets and wearing a long sleeve shirt and long sleeve shirt is accidentally too big I don’t pull in this and it fell off my shoulder I got dress coated immediately as the boys just walked around in a tank top
Cameron
I agree 100% with this post and the comments. Schools state that a female student has to follow these specific rules of how to dress so us women/girls don’t keep the guys from their well deserved education. In my opinion, stop worrying so much about how us girls represent ourselves and who we are, and teach these boys to keep them selves on task. It should not be our job to keep them focused and on task. And like the post stated, what about our education?
As Marie said in the comments, “The school has sexualized the girl (rather than the girl sexualizing herself or society sexualizing all girls).”
The schools should not be the one correcting us unfairly for the way we dress compared to the boys. It clearly seems as though the schools are over sexualizing girls for expressing ourselves. Its one problem if a girl over sexualizes themselves but its a completely different thing when the schools do it.
How can you expect a girl to earn her (also) well deserved education if you make her tape up her “finally a pair that fits” pair of jeans that happen to be ripped, and make her put a sweatshirt over her shirt in 95 degree heat because the neck or back hung lower than you like? You talk about girls distracting boys because of their body and clothing choices? Well Sitting in a building ,with hundreds of people , and having to be dressed like that is distracting and unhealthy (physically and mentally).
We need to change these rule because these dress codes are not just over sexualizing women, they are also degrading them. No girl deserves having to deal with that for years on end everyday. Its not fair and absolutely not acceptable.
“No matter our social status or how powerful you feel you are, we are all equal.” -unknown
~~~ Then treat us this way!!!
Student from Gwinn High School, Gwinn, Michigan
I agree with your article 100%. It is very true how school officials are much more sexist towards female students. In my school, boys are allowed to wear joggers, short and tight shorts, as well as ripped jeans, ripped shirts, cut sleeve shirts, and shoulder revealing shirts. However, if a girl were to wear joggers near the height of the knee, they would be ridiculed for it. We cannot wear leggings without a shirt to cover our bottoms, let alone allowed to wear a shirt with sleeves shorter than 3-4 inches, depending on teacher preference. Our teachers complain that us female students wear too much unfathomable and sexual clothing, yet if you are to run into your teacher outside of school, they wear the same items. I.e. ripped jeans, string strap tank tops, even strapless tops. I prefer to wear camouflage bandanna’s as headbands and have been ridiculed repeatedly for it. Yet male students wear them all of the time, including colored bandanna’s; i.e. red, blue, black, orange, green, etc. Female students are continuously ridiculed for being too quote on quote “slutty.” All we want to do is feel accepted and wear what makes us comfortable. Less girls and even women would have less self esteem issues were they to be able to wear what they want to wear. The fact that our teachers, and even our principal states that us girls wearing inappropriate clothing; i.e. capris or ripped jeans, and/or shoulder revealing shirts; we “are being far too distracting for the male students to focus on their own work.” Do they not realize that perhaps the male student population may be distracting to the female students too? Our school had a situation where us female students went around and asked male students, “Do shoulders turn you on?” We never once received a yes as an answer. Girls are beautiful, and we had to fight for our rights one too many times. It’s scary, yes, but it is time for female students to start standing up for their own rights in schools too. The schools cannot suspend and/or put the entire female student population into In School Suspension. The school would not only lose money from students not being at school, but they themselves would be ridiculed as well and the sexism would most likely get worse. Our dress code even states that “Students may not have distracting or crazily colored hair due to it being irrelevant to schooling and learning opportunities.” What happens when a student dyes their hair pink for breast cancer awareness month? Will they become ridiculed for their public health concerns? What happens when all you do is dye your hair with highlights? Will they even bother you about it? How can they possibly believe that they can set regulations on a students personal, out of school, life? It’s not right! This needs to be handled the right way. Give us back our rights!
urmanski
i think this an amazing point thats very interesting and i think true
thesmart tailors
Thanks for Sharing.
14 year old girl
Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. The dress codes in my school are not only ridiculous, but inconsistent. I live in New England, where it can either be freezing cold or a million degrees. I usually wear long shorts, which are very hard to find. It seems the only thing acceptable is a sweater and plain jeans, even in sweltering temperatures. A few examples:
My friend got spoken to on a trip because her glasses (which were completely normal by the way) were “too dark”. Apparently they were a darker shade than normal glasses, and she was forced to take them off. So she couldn’t see for the rest of the day.
On said trip, it was near 90 degrees one day, so I wore a shirt with mesh in the back, which may have exposed my bra strap, and my history teacher told me, “I would recommend you do not wear that again.”
And I totally agree with what you said about the facts that girls are taught that it’s not okay to distract boys, their educations are more valuable, and it should be taught that boys shouldn’t be looking at girls shoulders to begin with.
In conclusion, I think that I shouldn’t have to wear a sweater and jeans in intense heat just because some creepy 6th grader keeps staring at my chest and shoulders.
Grey
I’ve only been dress coded once. It was near the beginning of the school year, in sweltering August. You could see the heat radiating off of cars and the sidewalk. If you were outside for more than 5 minutes, you were drenched with sweat. So, as any normal human being would do, I wore shorts to school as to not have a heat stroke.
Now, these were the longest shorts my mom and I could find. We searched stores all over town for shorts that met the “middle finger length” rule. The closest we could find came up to my pinky finger because, being a dancer, I have very long legs. But they were all I had, so I wore them.
I made it three periods without anyone commenting on their length. I was so worried someone would call me out on them that I had trouble focusing. I developed a migraine before the third period.
All I was doing was walking down the hall when a teacher called my name. It was my choir teacher. She pointed down at my shorts, and with a stern tone of voice said: “Don’t wear those to school ever again.” Then she sent me on my way.
I was embarrassed and shocked. I was beginning to think they were fine. But, I could have been forced to change, or I could have been sent to the office. Thankfully I wasn’t, but I almost wished I was because all day I kept tugging at them, fretting about how long they were, and hoping that no one would see.
It was one of the most stressful and horrid days I’ve ever had at school.
So, the dress code has become ridiculous and useless. How much good is it to tell girls to get longer shorts when there are none available? Especially when temperatures are around the 100s. They would rather have kids faint from heat strokes than be able to see their legs.
Marie
Ridiculous article. The author is probably not older than 16. The author provides an example of a school sending a girl home for wearing too revealing clothes. And the author concludes that by doing that, the school has sexualized the girl (rather than the girl sexualizing herself or society sexualizing all girls). The author wants students to not stress too much about the clothing they wear at school. And as a solution, the author recommends to abolish any dress code and let students wear whatever they want – because with total freedom of dress nobody would stress about what to wear, right, student could concentrate 100 percent of their studies, right!
a feminist
Actually, yes Marie. I would be able to focus on my studies. Simply because in that case, rather than trying to figure out if the shirt I’m wearing will land me in In School Suspension for the day or not, I can focus on figuring out how to multiply matrices or write a thesis for an essay I have to write today or study verb conjugations for my French quiz next hour. With the freedom of dress, I would be more comfortable with my body because nobody would be telling me I need to cover it. With the freedom of dress, I wouldn’t have to sit in a classroom with sweat running down my forehead because I was told to put my sweatshirt back on because the shirt underneath it would distract the boy sitting behind me.
fellow student under 16 years of age
Why does it matter if the writer of the post is 16 or older? Malala Yousafzai started speaking for girls educational rights when she was 11! now she has a Nobel peace prize! first off the author of the post says “Dress codes can be good in a few situations but for the most part are not necessary. ” never in this post did the author say, as you stated in your ‘ridiculous’ comment, that they wanted/recommended that all dress codes ‘abolished’. Maybe the problem is that you aren’t in high school. We are the ones living through the dress code policies so if we feel there is a problem with the dress codes we are given we are surely going to speak up about it.
Struggling with stupid school
YEAH!! “Student under 16 years of age” is right! Malala DID start speaking for girls rights when SHE WAS 11!! Did you go to history class, or did they put you in the “how to be annoying with dress code rules”?! Especially us LGBTQ+ people (like me) have to deal with not being able to express ourselves!! One time, my friend had a bisexual flag shirt on, and a teacher pulled them aside and said “That is violating the straight people in this building.” Like, WHAT THE HECK?! Sorry that someone’s “Bi-Pride” is disturbing you, but that event really effected my friend, and they almost COMETED SUICIDE! YOU CALL THAT NORMAL?!
Tete
That’s stupid
Rose Jones
A couple of weeks ago I was looking for some pants I could wear that didn’t have holes in them. All of my pants have holes in them because stores don’t sale pants without holes in them anymore so I looked almost all night looking for a pair. It was almost time to go to bed and I still didn’t find a pair. Then I realized I had a test the next day and I needed to study. I stayed up till 3:45 o’clock in the morning. The next day I was so sleepy and could barely stay awake and since I never found a pair of pants that meet the dress code I got iss for a day. The pants I wore only had three rips one on-the thigh second on the knee and tried on my calf.
kenzie
I like this blog post a lot. You do a very good job at showing how a lot of schools seem to only care about the male education, rather than the female education. I have experienced a lot of teachers trying to tell me how to dress in middle school more so than high school. In 8th grade I was wearing normal ripped genes as many other girls do. A teacher ended up stopping me in the hallway, pulled me into the office and told me to ¨tape the holes shut or put tissue paper in them¨, this seemed ridiculous to me so I walked out and did not do what they said. Later on in another class, I got into even more trouble because one of my other teachers reported me. They ended up calling my parents about it and as you may guess my parents had nothing to say because they also thought it was ridiculous. This is only one out of many incidents that has happened to me and i am sure many other girls too. These things need to stop, as a young middle schooler I should not have to be scared to wear casual ripped jeans and/or other articles of clothing to school.
enby_grey
The “ripped jeans” part of the dress code is one of the more ridiculous parts. As clothing companies have evolved, they put out more and more “revealing jeans”. There are not as many nice, hole-less jeans on the market! And sometimes, if you find a pair that isn’t torn up, they look absolutely hideous.
Girls don’t want to put so much stress into finding good pants, especially since it’s so hard to find jeans that fit, and especially that some schools ONLY allow jeans. The options are very limited, and it takes away from a good female education.
Grace
I totally agree with your opinion on dress codes. I really liked how you pointed out that dress coding girls makes them feel that boy’s education is more important!
Amber
At times, your argument became quite repetitive and it wasn’t necessary. You kind of had the same stance throughout and I think you could have more arguments for why dress codes are good so that you could have a stronger argument to come back from the positives as to why dress codes are a negative thing. Also, you did talk a little bit about male students but I think you could include more examples of dress codes targetting not only female students but male students as well. That kind of made me confused as if your stance on your topic was more on boys sexualizing girls or if it was meant to be targeted towards those enforcing the dress codes. I do agree with you that this dress code issue is still very prevalent in today’s society. Good blog!
A female student
I do agree with this topic. Female students should not have to change their outfit so a male can concentrate. I do think that your blog would be better if there weren’t so many grammar mistakes. There are a lot of sentences where you mention, “Instead of focusing on learning the schools choose to focus on young girls outfits.” Where the sentence would be more grammatically correct if it was written like this, “Instead of focusing on learning, the school’s choose to focus on young girl’s outfits.” The added comma and apostrophes make it sound more professional. There are a few more sentences like this throughout your blog, which makes it sound a bit unprofessional.
At Least You Tried
In response to “A female student,” I feel like I should point out your grammar “correction” was not very helpful. The comma would have been helpful, but where you add an apostrophe on “the school’s choose,” the apostrophe indicates ownership, or a contraction. The author was referring to schools, plural, a misspelling like that could make them look unprofessional, exactly what you wanted to avoid. If the author wanted to add an apostrophe for professionalism, they could say “it was the schools’ choices to focus on young girls’ outfits.” Both “schools'” and “girls'” are plural nouns with ownership, so the apostrophe follows the s.
Kira
I agree with your post, dress codes are really old fashioned and can even be seen as sexist. However, the thing I find most frustrating is how inconsistent the dress codes are at schools. Not to hate on our own school, but I find that a lot of ERHS teachers have a wide variety of beliefs on how students should dress. I have been in situations where one teacher will deem something as inappropriate to one student and make them change. However, I have also seen more risque outfits being worn without consequence. I know it would be difficult, but if the schools could just decide on what’s appropriate and what isn’t (despite the first option being sexist) it would be way less stressful on a teen.
Hayley
Yeah I’ve seen girls wear see-through shirts and that’s ok but I wore a strapless romper once and got in trouble because it didn’t have a strap. Some things are obviously inappropriate for school but I don’t understand how shoulders are a problem.
Mahalia
I agree with your statement. This post does a very good job of elaborating on a topic that just gets set aside.