At first glance, school dress codes may not seem very sexist. But when you look closer at many dress codes you start to realize that they are not just there to promote a "positive learning experience for kids" like many schools say. Many dress codes, including Milton High's state that they are there to "prevent distractions to the educational process and establish a positive and respectful learning environment" (Milton High Handbook) This statement troubles me because it leaves me thinking, who exactly is being distracted by other people's clothing? As Soraya Chemaly says in her article "Dress Codes or How Schools Skirt Around Sexism and Homophobia", "while everyone is in theory affected by dress codes, girls and LGTBQ youth are disproportionately affected by them."
Many times girls are the targets of school dress codes and are the ones most affected by them. Schools indirectly tell girl students that they need to pick clothing not for themselves, but for the boys in school. In her article Chemaly discusses this in detail. Chemaly says, "Who gets to be distracted? And, whose distraction is central? What is a girl supposed to think in the morning when she wakes up and tries to decide what to wear to school? They aren't idiots. The logical conclusion of the "distracting" issue is, 'Will I turn someone on if I wear this?'" School dress codes are unfair because they tell girls that they need to dress a certain way for someone else. When a school tells girls to wear and not wear certain things to not "distract" boys they are indirectly saying that if they wear short shorts or show a little midriff then boys will get turned on and not be able to control themselves. Why are we not teaching our boys how to not be distracted and be civil human beings around girl's bodies? Instead schools teach girls that they are responsible for the actions of boys and that it is their responsibility to dress so that the boys do not get distracted. Instead of schools making dress codes that punish girls for wearing what they think are "too short shorts", schools should be teaching boys to stop overly sexualizing female body parts.
When girls are constantly bombarded with the message from school officials that they must dress a certain way so they do not distract boys it sticks with them. In her article Chemaly found that "28% of girls in college are sexually assaulted (and 3% of boys), only 5% report these crimes". Because girls are told by dress codes that their clothes distract boys and make them do irrational things they think that sexual assault is their fault. This is clearly seen by the number of girls sexually assaulted in college and how many of those girls actually reported the incident. School dress codes need to change. We need to stop telling girls that they need to dress for boys and start teaching boys how to behave properly around girls so that girls can learn that sexual harassment is never ok and most certainly is not justifiable by the clothes that you are wearing.
Sources :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/school-dress-code_b_2711533.html
Chrissy,
ReplyDeleteLet me first say that you are very brave for tackling, what seems to me, such an awkward, difficult topic. I applaud you as the majority of students lack the confidence to discuss uncomfortable truths. Overall, this is a well-written, well-developed post. There are just a few things I want to point out. I understand and respect your argument, however, I wonder how plausible it would be to actually "teach our boys how to not to be distracted and be civil human beings around girls bodies." It seems like such a difficult task as their distraction is driven by impulse and hormones. However, I understand what you are saying and I do wish there was a way to teach guys how to be respectful of girls bodies. I will say only two more things. First, you may consider making your opening sentences slightly stronger and more captivating. They were good, don't get me wrong!! There is just room for improvement. The second thing I noticed were a few grammatical and punctuation errors. The second sentence sounds a little awkward starting with "But...". I would just suggest re-reading your post and possibly putting in some necessary commas. For example, "In her article (insert comma) Chemaly discusses...".
I really hope I don't sound mean!! Your post was very good and I could tell you put a significant amount of thought into developing this post.
Caitlin, you don't sound mean. In fact, I think your classmates should be lining up to ask you to proof read their junior research papers. Your feedback is great.
ReplyDeleteChrissy, I totally agree with Caitlin. You deserve a lot of credit for addressing this issue. In fact, I will confess, I had never really considered the sexist implications of a dress code before. For the most part, what you write makes good sense. Did you read about the Massachusetts high school that tried to ban yoga pants? It was in the Globe last week. I think it was Rockport High School. Maybe? Anyway, the ban lasted one day before the principal realized that he was fighting a losing battle.
You have the courage to write about provocative issues, which is great. I think Caitlin is right; you should experiment with a more captivating introduction. Look at Eric's post. When addressing provocative issues like this, I think it is also especially appropriate to address "complexity." While you make several interesting points, I do think there is more to this issue than you acknowledge. Banning yoga pants sounds ridiculous, and I agree that boys need to learn how to control their "impulse and hormones." That said, I have seen female students wearing some really inappropriate stuff, and I do think, on some occasions that they do it because they know it generates "interest." This is a tough issues for the principals to negotiate.