For years, schools have had strict dress codes. These dress codes mainly affected girls. Girls were not allowed to express themselves the way they wanted to and were forced to cover up.
These dress codes were often set so girls wouldn’t “distract” boys or male teachers. I would like to know how girls showing a little skin can affect a boy so much. Saying girls showing skin would distract boys makes no sense. If boys are getting distracted over girls showing skin, then that’s their problem, not the girls. Someone else’s body should not be a distraction. Showing skin, either it’s a lot or a little, shouldn’t be sexualized.
Before, we were not able to wear spaghetti straps and had to have our shorts and skirts a certain length. For boys, there weren’t many rules. There are the obvious rules of not wearing shirts with profanity, but there shouldn’t be many rules on what to wear regardless of your gender. When someone would get dress coded, most of the time it would be girls.
There have been many protests regarding this issue in the past few years. I’ve heard of students, one male and one female, who wear the same exact thing, but the female is the only one that gets dress coded. This shows me that schools don’t care about what male students wear and are sexist. Dress codes are harmful.
Recently, the rules have changed. We are now allowed to wear shirts that cover you from one armpit to the other armpit, even if it’s a spaghetti strap shirt. Shorts and skirts still have to be a certain length, but the rules aren’t as strict as before. Girls are able to express themselves more and show off outfits they really like without being forced to cover up.
Though these strict rules shouldn’t have been placed or should have been changed earlier, it’s great to see society is finally moving forward. Women can finally speak up for themselves more regarding this issue. They should be able to wear whatever they want whenever they want.
There are going to be people that don’t agree with this rule change, believing girls should have to cover up. If you think this way, then it’s your problem. We should be teaching students to focus on what their teacher is teaching and not asking girls to cover up.
Dress codes were apparently made to keep learning environments “positive”, but in reality, they were doing the complete opposite. The only way to have a “positive” learning environment is to allow girls to wear what they want and feel comfortable attending school.
