Dress Codes Don't Cover Up Sexism

High school dress codes teach young women that their bodies are distracting and should be hidden. High schools with these kind of dress codes are promoting a society where women are sexualized from a young age and where men are encouraged to look at women and classify them as objects instead of humans. Dress codes should be changed to accommodate modern society.

This high school’s dress code is very similar to policies across the nation. It states, “A student’s conduct is related to his/her clothing.  Therefore, the school is directly concerned with the student’s clothing.  The appropriateness of a student’s clothing for the school environment should dictate the choice of clothing and grooming practices on each given day.” It outlines punishments for disobeying the dress code and gives specific no-no’s, such as the inappropriateness of crop tops, form fitting clothing, cleavage, transparent clothing, and even certain facial hair. 

Obviously some very trendy and popular clothing are soon to be or already are not allowed in public schools, which angers and confuses a lot of teenagers. If a teen celebrity can wear it and be considered cute, then why should a student be punished for wearing the same thing?

Articles are popping up all over the Internet about dress codes and the negative outcomes of enforcing rules that body shame girls of particularly junior high and high school ages. Girls are being told that their bodies are distractions to male students and staff, which at such an impressionable age can give confusing feelings of shame and guilt. 

Marion’s story is outlined in an online article in response to her viral photo, which is visual protest of her high school principal’s retort against her behavior. She accused her principal of using phrases such as “Modest is hottest” and “Boys will be boys”. Claims like these are being made all over the country, especially by older people. The fact is, using the excuse  “Boys will be boys” is giving rhyme and reason to more serious crimes than a dress code violation. These same excuses are used to defend high school age rapists. If we aren’t teaching young men to not look and stare at women’s bodies, how can we expect them to respect women and their bodies?

Frankie’s story is similar to Marion’s. Frankie states that, “This school’s policy is one of the reasons why the US has the 6th highest rate of rape in the world.” Isn’t she right? Boys and young men should be taught at a very young age to respect women, but they aren’t being taught that at all. Social media, television, and magazines are all teaching men that it’s okay to stare and even touch women as they please. In that context, women are sexual objects to men, and nothing more. Frankie and her friends created the #IamMoreThanADistraction hashtag on Twitter, creating a national phenomenon and movement towards recognizing student’s rights in the classroom. She along with hundreds of girls are wanting a voice about the way they are being portrayed in the school setting. 

Protests all over the country are making headlines. The article about Frankie highlights other work to evolve the social order in high school dress policies. Girls and boys are protesting with witty signs and sayings in an attempt to drive home their ideas:

“Are my pants lowering your test scores?” 

“Under no circumstances should girls be told that their clothing is responsible for boys’ bad behaviors. This kind of message lands itself squarely on a continuum that blames girls and women for assault by men… If the sight of a girl’s leg is too much for boys at Haven to handle, then your school has a much bigger problem to deal with.” 

These kinds of statements make people, and hopefully school administrations, think twice before taking girls out of their learning environment, embarrassing them for their bodies, and sending them home to change. 

Several court cases have been released offering different opinions on school dress codes. Some students and parents claim that clothing is a form of freedom of speech, and choice of clothing should be protected by the US Constitution. Usually the courts throw back the court cases to the schools and parents, giving them the opportunity to come up with a solution themselves. 

There is an argument that dress codes are necessary, which is obvious. If there were no rules, girls and boys might show up to school wearing outrageously inappropriate attire. Are the strict dress codes in place necessary or feasible in today’s world? 

Adapting dress codes where all students must where the same things are becoming popular, even in public schools. There isn’t so much a need for abolishing dress code policies altogether as there is to amend them to keep up with modern ideas. This viewpoint highlights that most schools that do adopt school uniforms are very positive. It eliminates social class barriers, gang violence, distractions in the classroom, and peer pressure. Some schools have adapted shaming techniques, which are meant to encourage students to follow the strict rules. Instead of asking the students to change into a different set of clothes, they are being forced to wear brightly colored shirts and sweatpants with “dress code violation” embarrassingly written for all to see. Why go to this extreme to embarrass students in an already intimidating and stressful environment? Schools should instead adapt new dress code policies that are not gender bias. This middle school is adapted new policies, such as adding lessons about sexualization and changing the dress code from distracting others to distracting themselves, which lets parents and students make the call instead of the administration. High schools and middle schools should teach boys and girls about rape culture and sexism as soon as possibly, in order to clearly and definitely inform them of the adverse affects of body shaming and objectifying women. 

Dress code policies were created for a good reason. Students should be dressed appropriately for school, and they should be getting dressed in the morning for the right reasons. I haven’t encountered anyone who has purposely decided to wear inappropriate clothing knowing that she would get in trouble. If a girl is wearing something to school, she, and likely her parents, consider it appropriate, and probably didn’t give it much thought as being a distraction to other students. Of course there are cases of the rather, and now hundreds of students purposely protesting the dress codes by wearing what is considered a dress code violation. Should we be paying more attention to the punishment of girls who have unwillingly worn something that probably isn’t actually distracting or the fact that girls are being sexualized by their own teachers and administrators, who should be role models and counselors more than prosecutors of dress? Dress code policy reform is well overdue. If anything, the subject and controversy over rape culture and the sexualization of children should be brought to administrator’s attention and consideration.