Dress code is a controversial subject in a lot of schools. Dress code is a set of rules put into place to promote school safety and encourage a positive learning atmosphere where students are not distracted by their peers’ outfit choices (Daniels). This set of rules allegedly is put into place to stop the sexualizing of women by keeping them from wearing “suggestive clothing,” but what is suggestive clothing? Who defines what clothes are seen as “suggestive?” Dress code does more harm than good for students, therefore it should not be present in public schools.
Dress code is considered constitutional because it promotes school safety. Although it may help censor what students wear, it also teaches them to conform rather than be unique.
…show more content…
She said, “I’ve never seen a boy called out for his attire even though they also break the rules (Zhou).” I will admit that I’ve seen boys get called out for their pants sagging or wearing hats, but I’ve never seen a male get called out for wearing shorts that are shorter than fingertip length or having to go to ISS because of their sagging pants. Why should females have to worry about their clothes being a distraction? Why should females have to cover up? Because if not, a male will sexualize them?
Not only is dress code sexist, but it’s degrading. Dress code makes girls cover up and not wear what they feel confident in. It is restricting and is telling girls that they should be ashamed of their bodies because they cause a distraction and disrupt the class. Dress code teaches women that they cannot wear what they want because a man will sexualize them (Zhou). Once a person starts hearing how they can’t wear things because it is too suggestive, then that person starts losing confidence. If what a person wants to wear and feels confident in is too suggestive and inappropriate, then what can that person wear? “If schools want to teach respect, they need to give the message that it is unacceptable to blame a girl for being more developed and thus too distracting for her male classmates,” a grandmother, and retired preschool director, said after her elementary school granddaughter was sent to the principal’s
First of all, the thought that dress codes are supposed to be created equally and fairly is absolutely mind blowing. Author, Ellen Friedrichs, provides many facts and myths about dress code that makes you think differently about the whole situation. Friedrichs points out, "So, far from putting all students on equal footing, dress codes disproportionately affect certain students more than others and the idea that a dress code will prevent students from noticing difference is laughable"(Friedrichs). Going along with her statement, instead of boys feeling attacked; it is more girls that feel that way. The dress code policy is more directed towards girls and how they dress rather than the boys. If anything, the administration should feel guilty for body shaming girls and making them feel insecure and ashamed of their bodies. All girls come in all different shapes and sizes. A shirt that looks modest on one girl may look completely different on another due to her body shape. Boys and girls should be free to dress however they want and what makes them feel confident. Dress code destroys all individuality and creativity. The claim the administration made about dress code towards girls is that, some clothes that girls wear distract boys from their work. Girls should not be blamed for the immaturity of boys.
School dress codes send a loud and clear message, “Your individuality is inconvenient.” (Rowland 22). The constitution guarantees the right to free speech,which can be interpreted as the right to freedom of self expression, and students use clothing to express themselves. Another message that dress codes send is that “the self identity that you want to express does not belong here.” Self expression is not an inconvenience or a distraction, it is the lifeblood of our nation. (Rowland 22). Schools tell students that they should be confident in themselves, but how can they if they cannot express themselves? School dress codes now are more about shielding the boys then protecting the girls which implies that boys are immature. Calling a girl’s clothes distracting is implying that she is at fault for any disruptions. “That 's like saying that because a store has a cash register, it 's the store 's fault if it gets robbed!” (Menza 1). Students are going to be distracted anyways. Sexist dress codes are like saying that an article of clothing, or a body part showing on a female will distract male students from learning. Dress codes should be simple for both genders, everyone should wear clothing that covers up the same area. With dress codes, students are forced to dress the same as other students, taking the individuality out of school, but schools try to send the message, you are individual. Figure 1 shows a strict dress codes for both students and
Since the beginning of our existence, there has always been a gender separation. The stronger sex: hunting for food and defending their families, while the weaker sex gathered plants and learned how to weave. As in the above situation, I believe this is why girls are more protected by the dress codes that many schools put into play. For hundreds of years we’ve lived with these separations: and they haven’t caused us much damage. It’s only been in (somewhat) recent times that women have felt the need to destroy this barrier.
The author penned, “there’s also the disruption and humiliation that enforcing the attire rules can pose during school. Frequently, students are openly called out in the middle of class, told to leave and change, and sometimes, to go home and find a more appropriate outfit. In some instances, girls must wear brightly colored shirts that can exacerbate the embarrassment, emblazoned with words like, ‘Dress Code Violator’,”(Zhou).
This causes females to grow up feeling a sense of shame towards their bodies and also a sense of responsibility to keep the male libido under control. Rather than enforcing a sexist dress code, teaching respect and equality should be priority in order to prevent a subconscious development of victim blaming and slut shaming. Dress code is sexist and outdated. There has always
In today's society students are continually bombarded with rules and regulations that they must follow, one of them is an ongoing controversy which is dress codes which schools enforce. Many ask themselves is school dress codes are a good idea, but this has become a complicated matter, especially for females since the rules apply more to them, many asserting it is sexist. Some people would claim that dress codes improve learning on school campuses and help promote a “distraction free” learning environment, but in reality dress codes are not only ineffective but hinders creative thought, demonstrates mistrust against students, and perpetrates sexism.
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.
Everyone knows what getting dress-coded is but why does it happen? Enforcing dress codes is a way to maintain a professional learning environment, however, dress codes desperately need to be updated constantly in order to work. Current dress codes are improperly enforced, as well as improperly targeted toward women. The issue should not be that a woman's shoulder is distracting, the issue is that a boy “cannot learn” because he cannot keep himself under control when presented with the sight of skin. In addition, dress codes teach women that it is their fault when men sexualize them, therefore increasing the idea in rape culture that it is the victim's fault and that "Boys will be boys." The way that dress codes are currently enforced is unfair, sexist, and unjust.
At school guys can get away with wearing too short shorts for guy, yet girls must deal with being dress coded every day. Dress code forbids us from showing are shoulders, bra straps, stomachs, etc. It isn't a girl's fault that we must wear bras, because of this there shouldn't be dress codes against bra straps. I don't believe that there should be anything against girls and how they dress, how we dress. Every single girl knows the struggle of dress code and must try and be in dress code even though it limits how they express themselves in their clothes and sometimes limits comfortability. Dress code is obviously made for girls, you can tell because "Boys shorts are made longer, their tank tops have thicker straps, and they have no bra straps or cleavage to hide." according to https://www.hercampus.com/school/akron/dress-code-sexism, they also state "No one is monitoring the length of any guy’s cargo shorts, but someone is always watching for a dress that comes up a little too short." Which shows favoritism is boys or
How many times have you heard of a child being sent home due to their outfit? In so many towns and cities there is ridiculous dress codes. Most of the dress codes are directed towards females. These rules somewhat make them feel as if they have to hid their bodies so they won’t distract men. High school dress codes are detrimental to all student’s confidence outside and inside the classroom.
Have you ever been excluded from learning because of what you wore to school? In most schools, dress codes are set in place to provide a better learning space for all students. Having a dress code can oppress students because students are given the impression that they should not express themselves. Not all families can afford the clothes that abide by the rules. For example, some students don 't have the means to pay for new clothes, so they have to use hand-me-down clothing. Enforcing a dress code can lead to more problems in the long run because of the exceptions made for students who are athletes and cheerleaders. Many school faculty members including teachers and administrators think that keeping a dress code will keep students looking appropriate while learning, but this idea is wrong because it keeps students from expressing themselves and, the dress code singles out women.
“At my school our dress code dictates everything about a girl's outfit: knee length shorts or skirts only, no cleavage, no bra straps, no tank tops. We can’t even wear flip flops, and girls will be given detentions and sent home for breaking any one of these rules. There’s no dress code for men, and the reasoning? Girls can’t dress “provocatively” [sic] because it could distract and excite the boys.” (Bates)
The anonymous author of Rules of Fashion says that the dress code is one thing that has served to lower crime, violence, and increase attendance and increase learning at a lot of schools. And a dress code itself and important statement because we want our young children, whether rich, poor, or middle class, when they're in school to define themselves primarily in terms of what's going on inside, not what they're wearing not he outside (Anonymous 2).
They have less things they can wear, when men can wear almost anything they want. When people state that women’s attire is distracting and men can’t concentrate; it supports that women are seen as objects and not humans. “Dress codes—given the power they entrust school authorities to regulate student identity—can, according to students, ultimately establish discriminatory standards as the norm. The prevalence and convergence of today’s protests suggest that schools not only need to update their policies—they also have to recognize and address the latent biases that go into creating them.” As Charles Haynes says in the article T-Shirt Rebellion in the Land of the Free, women being criticized by their clothing, being stated as distracting, or even being taken out of school or work because of their clothing is saying that men’s education/work is more superior than women’s. This is because they make it seem as if women’s clothing are distracting men from work, but women are being taken from work because of their clothes which is making women get less hours of work which means less money. Just like it right here in the article called “Do school dress codes perpetuate sexism, rape culture?” by Rowena Lindsay, “Girls are not supposed to wear anything that seems vulgar or inappropriate because it will distract boys from their education, but in reality, you are making it harder for
The dress code limits the freedom of expression for some students, but the dress code establishes an appropriate learning environment for everyone by reducing distractions, to begin with. All schools require at least some sort of control over what students should wear within the bounds of a dress code to promote a learning environment.