Letter to the Editor: School dress code
February 19, 2020
Dear Editor:
According to the CNN article titled “Do School Dress Codes End Up Body-Shaming Girls?” a 13 year old was told by her teacher that “she couldn’t wear yoga pants because the boys would get turned on and then be embarrassed.”
Not only do school dress codes make girls feel less confident in their already self conscious bodies, but they are thought of as sexualized objects that must be hidden for men’s sake. Very few girls in the 21st century feel confident enough to show more than the skin on their arms because of society’s absurd beauty standards. When they do gain the courage, harassment from administration and the weight of having to change takes a great toll on a girl’s mind. Why? Because women are made to feel like disappointments to a world that claims to support body positivity and rights for women that we have been deprived of for so long.
The self disappointment and disgust felt by girls when told they must change because they have too much midriff or leg exposed will never be understood by boys. When a girl has to change her clothes in the middle of the day, her confidence plummets, and she goes back to feeling ashamed and like her body is nothing more than an object at an auction. She hides but is then reassured by society that no one cares what she wears and she should express herself in whatever way she feels, yet this issue still occurs.
Instead of continuing to shame girls for being confident in their bodies why don’t we tell boys to stop thinking of women as merely just sexual objects? Schools deprecate the act of letting girls wear what they want to feel confident in themselves just so boys do not feel anything less than confident. Society needs to stop making excuses for this behavior because it ultimately lowers self esteem. It inhibits the future ability of women in the workplace to feel safe in their environment. The dress code should be decided upon what a woman feels comfortable in wearing in public not what a man will feel comfortable seeing a woman wearing in public.
Sincerely,
Jaidyn Plunket
morgan l • May 17, 2022 at 8:13 am
I’ve also been experiencing teachers picking and choosing who they want to dress code. Before the dress code changed i was wearing a pair of ripped jeans with holes slightly above the knee. Keep in mine i am a bigger girl. My teacher pulled me after class and told me that my pants were not appropriate and then i was sent to in school for the rest of the day and didn’t even get the option to change. While that was happening i saw a girl wearing almost the exact same jeans and the same teacher who dress coded me just let her go to class. i feel if they want a dress code to follow anyone who breaks it should be dress coded
morgan stellabotte • Oct 30, 2020 at 10:17 am
i totally agree with this, women shouldn’t have to cover up their body because its ‘to distracting’ or because “people can’t control themselves” . If she wants to wear something bold or something not bold let her, it shouldn’t be someone else’s decision what she can and can’t wear, let her have her confidence and let her own it because she deserves it, and this goes for anyone wear what you want and be confident in it <3