Usually, I agree with the idea of a school dress code for both girls and guys. Even if the school does not have a uniform, students shouldn’t dress as if they are going to the beach or the club when they’re just going to Algebra class. It is perfectly reasonable to want students to dress professionally. That being said, although my school had rules for both guys and girls, I only ever saw guys get sent to the principal’s office for wearing shirts with obscene language. Not for sleeveless shirts, which weren’t allowed (and a lot of high school freshmen boys just didn’t understand the concept of deodorant) or for baggy pants that showed their AE boxers. Just for shirts that had f*** or the weed symbol on them. Once in high school a senior in one of my classes was wearing a shirt that had a drawing of a half naked woman on a motorcycle on the back of it and nothing happened.
However, girls got sent to the office for short skirts, tank tops that broke the three finger rule, crop tops, and see through leggings. While I think none of these things are really school appropriate, how come the guys weren’t subjected to the same humiliation of trudging to the principal’s office for wearing something that made people uncomfortable? How come that guy in my class wasn’t told that what he was wearing was a sexual distraction for everyone? Because I spent all of class being distracted. Mostly because I was wondering why the hell someone would actually PAY for a shirt like that, but if I was distracted by that, I’m sure many others were too.
The main problem with school dress codes is that while the concept makes total sense, the execution by school administration basically makes no sense. A lot of people say that young students feel entitled and that girls push the boundaries of the dress code all of the time, but I think that female students are mostly just angry that a) punishment is not equally given to both girls and guys and b) they are accused of being a distraction to men. If dress code is broken by either gender for any reason, administration should simply say: “You aren’t dressed properly for a school setting. Please change.” There’s no reason to infer that a girl’s body was infringing on other students’ educational experience. That’s a pretty awful message to send to a preteen or teenage girl.
Also, sometimes the way dress code violations are addressed are borderline sexual harassment. For instance, as Her Campus recently published, a high school girl in Kentucky was forced to get on her knees so they could measure if the hem of her dress was shorter than school policy. The process of testing the code by asking a student to get on their knees was in the handbook. Someone was actually dumb enough to suggest that for deciding if a minor’s outfit is too inappropriate. And then a WHOLE board of people was dumb enough to approve it. Did they really not foresee that whole idea being taken the wrong way? I mean, really. After all that, the hemline abided by the policy, so the principal asked her to raise her hands above her head, and then it was too short. She got sent home. I don’t ever remember walking around school with my hands stretched above me in an effort to offend the student body with a few extra inches of my legs. Leave the girl and her freaking sweater dress alone and let her get back to Calc class. Don’t leave her with an experience that will likely make her sick to her stomach for the rest of her life.
However, the absolute craziest thing to me is that while school administrators are chastising girls for their one-inch-too-short hemlines and skinny strap tank tops in one breath, in the other they are giving out sports teams uniforms that COMPLETELY break the dress code. I mean volleyball shorts are basically Spandex booty shorts. Cheerleader’s skirts look like they are produced by Legs Avenue. And girls do flips in those. And it’s 100% not the girls’ fault. These are talented, athletic girls who are given Barbie Doll outfits to wear at sports games to represent the schools that don’t let them wear denim shorts that are longer than the school provided sports uniforms. How the hell does that make any sense? Why is it okay to sexualize girls at school sporting events where they are amongst their peers as well as town citizens and still expect them to dress conservatively in the classroom? You can’t tell a girl that her outfit is too revealing when you are providing her with a uniform that basically shows her whole butt off on the field. That is such a contradiction. Some schools even ban girls from wearing their sports uniforms in school because they are inappropriate. Like, hello?! You are the ones who pick the uniform.
My point is, if schools want to implement dress codes to keep the professional atmosphere of school alive, that is perfectly fine. Just be consistent about it and less people will complain.