Dress Codes Are Dangerous, Powerful, And Sexualized

When it is 90 degrees outside a female student does not want to be in pants or a quarter length t-shirt, they want to be in shorts and tank top, just like boys, but this is a violation of dress code in many schools. Many schools have this as a rule because they do not want females provoking males to sexually harass them, but it is not the females fault. In an article about dress codes in public schools the author states, “proponents of these restrictions contend that such clothing leads to distractions in the classroom and encourages bullying, sexual harassment, and even sexual assault. Critics of these restrictions argue that they encourage the objectification of women and deny students the right to be comfortable” (Gale 2). A student should not feel uncomfortable or targeted in their learning environment. School is somewhere a student is supposed to feel safe and at home but this is not the case. Sexual harassment is also a concept that is mentioned when discussing school dress codes. Many people say that when breaking dress code females are provoking sexual harassment including this author who states in his article, “They contend that female students should not be held responsible for whether their classmates can pay attention, claiming that the uneven punishment perpetuates the idea that a woman harbors responsibility for any sexual harassment she experiences because of her fashion

Dress codes in middle and high schools are a form of discrimination against teenage girls in today’s society. Parents and students all over the country argue that dress codes are directed mainly at girls and are a blatant example of gender inequality. The idea behind the strict enforcement of a dress code is that it will teach self-respect and raise moral standards for the students. However, when the reason for many dress code violations is questioned the rationale is often to prevent distracting the male students. Young women across the country are being shamed and punished for wearing what schools consider immodest and being a distraction to their male peers. This discrimination against female students results in their clothes being strictly regulated and dress coded more often than male students’ clothes are. The enforcement of these discriminatory dress codes has become a form of public humiliation for female students. Theoretically, a dress code makes sense and should be effective. In reality, it does not affect how students dress but causes a distraction and interruption of a girl’s education.

As the temperature rises, so do hemlines and the suspension rate. Students get suspended for violating school dress codes by wearing outfits that ‘show too much skin.’ One can argue that revealing clothing is distracting, but some families and students agree that school dress code implementations end up just shaming girls. Dress codes, the epitome of high school, teach girls to act ashamed, not modest. According to most school boards that come up with the dress code, the outfits young women wear come across as too distracting for their peers, especially men, and make it unable for women to be viewed by the public with dignity and respect. Everyday, school dress codes target females—especially females that are more developed.

In the article, “The Battle Over Dress Codes” written by Peggy Orenstein, explains the dress code of Berkley Middle School from a mother’s point of view. This mother of argues that young girls who are reaching puberty and whose bodies are growing, are being told to cover up once they start to develope. She says, “In May, students in Utah high school opened their yearbooks to discover digitally raised necklines and sleeve added to female classmates’ shirts.” I find this act highly deceitful and unnecessary. If i was that student or that student’s parent, I’d be very upset. Orenstein also states that “seductiveness” has been an issue for girls, which has become politicized. Although, no matter how we’re dressed, there is no excuse for catcalls from older men. Orenstein says, “I don’t want her to feel shame in her soon-to-be-emerging

America, the “land of the free, and home of the brave.” Unfortunately, this doesn 't mean “land of the free to wear whatever one desires.” In fact, school dress codes are taking away American students’ self expression, infringing on their freedom of speech, and enforcing sexist discrimination all over the country. A recent case, that occurred at Tottenville High School in Staten Island, New York, blatantly displays the negative effects dress codes are having on students, especially females. In the first couple of days of the semester, this high school managed to give 200 detentions to students for violating the dress code. Ironically enough, 90 percent of these students were girls (Swafford). The discouraging part is that schools are easily able to get away with this kind of discrimination. This is made possible by state laws that give school boards the power to enforce whatever dress codes they think are necessary to promote a distraction free learning environment, maintain discipline, and to push students to dress similarly in order to create a uniformity in the schools (“School Dress Codes”). The purpose of dress codes may be to create a distraction free learning environment; in reality, however, they produce an environment where students feel discriminated against and aren 't free to express themselves.

It is of no possible argument that some of the most valuable and lasting ideas of life and the world around us are taught and learned at school. Hard work does you well. Cheaters never prosper. Education is the key to success. Girls bodies are a distraction and objects to be inevitably sexualized and harassed. This may sound over exaggerated, but this is the message beings sent to millions of students near and far by the sexist, self-esteem demolishing, unfocused dress codes in schools today. This said, dress codes in schools create a negative environment, putting the focus on the wrong things and ideas, both promoting rape culture and a strong sense of sexism.

Schmitt explains that “The self-confidence of a young girl is already so fragile without having someone she looks up to shaming her to hide herself”. Girls begin to feel as though they are treated as objects and not human beings because dress code rules see them as an object that needs to be hidden. School officials do not see the impact that dress code has on young girls who are just beginning to grow into themselves.

The students ignored the rule for dress code, because they thought they were being sexist. “ High school boys wearing dresses strike a pose with big smiles on their faces. They know they’re breaking school rules, but they hope their gender-defying outfits will spark change”. A high school boy on a cheerleading team in Ohio was denied lunch in early February for wearing a bow in his hair. Boys at West High School in Columbus, Ohio, then wore bows in their hair to show their solidarity for him”. The students think that the school is telling the students what to wear even though they probably represent as a different gender. The world is changing so the students think that the school policies should too. “ With changing times, students are fighting to express their identity freely. Nineteen percent of the 7,800 students surveyed in middle and high school across the country said they were prevented from wearing clothing deemed, “inappropriate” based on their gender, according to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s 2013 National School Climate Survey, Teens are asking their schools to update policies to reflect the changing norms in society”. With the changing world the policies and dress code rules need to be updated to this world society. Girls ignored the rules for the dress code, because it was focusing more on girls and not teaching the boys

According to educators and some parents, the outfits young women wear is too distracting for men to be able to view women with dignity and respect. Teachers think male students are overly sexualize a normal body part to the point where they apparently can’t function in daily life. Young ladies are not in charge of concealing their bodies for different understudies. Children don't get the opportunity to express their style because boys can get too ‘distracted’. The best way to ensure a policy is applied fairly is diversity and bias prevention training for teachers and administrators. A positive goal is to create a system where teachers can’t dress code students for offenses which aren’t in the school code of conduct. Many anti-dress codes point out that it sends a message to the male student body that they are not solely responsible for their actions. These rules are focused on considerably more at young

Some of our most powerful and lasting ideas about the world around us are learned at school. Hard work pays off, success comes from working together, and girls’ bodies are dangerous and harassment is inevitable. April of 2013, a six year old girl who attended Tussahaw Elementary School in McDonough, Georgia where administrators told her mother that her outfit "was inappropriate and a distraction to other students." Who exactly would be distracted by a kindergarteners’ skirt? According to hundreds of schools in the United States, it’s boys and male faculty. While being stopped by a teacher because my sleeveless shirt was only three fingers in width instead of four, I saw a boy walking towards us in a tank top and didn’t even gain a second glance from the same teacher. That was one of the many examples that support the fact that how dress code is sexist, shames and humiliates young girls, and promotes rape culture.

To understand why dress codes are harmful to young girls it is first important to understand the epidemic of slut-shaming. In Kaitlin Menza’s article “Teen Girls Take A Stand Against Slut Shaming,” she explains clearly that slut-shaming

When I was in public school as a child, I was a bit of an early bloomer; I was quick to mature into my body. Sometimes this brought me unsolicited attention, even by adults at school. As a result, my school taught me which parts of my body were the most shameful. My school taught me to hide my growing body away to escape the male gaze. Implementing these dress code policies can in some ways result in institutionalized “slut-shaming” that girls in all grades may experience. Moreover, the attitude that “boys will be boys” takes the responsibility off of the boys and puts it on the girls, who are told to be modest. As Wendy Yeung (yung) wrote in Berkeley Political Review, “from a

Dress code is ineffective and does not help prevent distraction in an academic setting, the court has decided that one’s choice of dress can be identified as “disrespect, sexuality related, rebellion, or disruption”, however, this assumption can be defended by the 1st amendment. The first amendment protects individual rights and freedom of speech, everything the court does not condone in schools. Students are taught these days that girls are an object and expressing oneself is wrong, conformity is enforced at a young age. Rape culture is an ominous outocome to dress code

By examining some of my personal stories about being reproved for dress code violations from elementary to high school, the purpose of this autoethnography is to examine how various commonplace public school dress code policies affect young women and their relationships with their bodies. Public dress code policies are often gender-normative and discriminatory to girls because their bodies are being sexualized and critically assessed. While it is often a challenge to evoke certain memories faultlessly, the stories that I did remember helped to better apprehend my experience while I was researching the gender politics of institutional dress codes.

If you become a parent, what would you do if your daughter came home in a “shame suit” because her outfit at school was not acceptable? High school and middle school girls are often the target when it comes to public high school dress codes. People often hear the principal of schools put in the handbook that girls clothing can be distracting for the learning environment for boys. People never hear boys being a distraction to girls. Why? Dress codes are a sexist layout of rules that most often only apply to the females in the school. Dress codes in public schools must be more lenient under certain circumstances and need to stop their sexist implementations.