College life is made more entertaining by the outfits students wear around campus. Dorms representing their mascots, whether it’s Lewis advertising LHOP in a chicken suit or Breen-Phillips attracting donations for their Meal Auction in a pig costume, is always a fun sight to see. Students will wear pajamas to lectures, regardless of the start time. I’ve even worn a “Comfy” to class, a garment I’ve described as a “blanket with sleeves”, to my ten person seminar. However, this week brought to light that not everyone shares the same dress style.
The Observer, Notre Dame’s student magazine, published a letter to the editor on Monday in which a mother shared her opinions about “a problem that only girls can solve”: leggings.
Despite the fact that men can also wear leggings, Maryann White’s letter is a reminder that women will be shamed for whatever they choose to wear. While middle and high school aged girls are not strangers to the concepts of dress codes, the call-out of college aged girls has been a hot topic around campus.
The letter has prompted responses from students and mothers alike, who refute the points White makes in her argument. Some students have gone a step further, criticizing the letter on social media. Others have stuck with sharing their opinions in the comments section of the original letter.
(Source: @blacksheep_nd on Instagram)
Coming from a private Catholic high school, student were required to wear uniforms. We had the occasional “dress down” day, where students could pay to wear regular clothes, but we were never allowed to wear leggings. The regulations of a “dress down” day demanded “modesty from neck to knees”, a rule that mainly affected female students. Public schools also have regulations for their dress codes, with punishments that cause students to miss out on class time because they are “distracting” to other students, usually of the male variety.
The strict restrictions on what women can and cannot wear only further contributes to the view that women are objects for the viewing pleasure of others, and not that women are human beings. White’s letter reminds us that parenting is the first step to changing this mindset. Teaching children that individuals are worth how they look is a dangerous road to be led down. Instead, the “Catholic mothers” who share this view could teach their children about the dignity of the human being. Schools who are strict with dress code violations for female students but are lenient with male students also reinforce sexist ideals.
(Source: Ambar Simpang)
Besides the shame that White wanted women who wear leggings to feel, her mindset contributes to rape culture. A quote that stands out discusses the dilemma White feels: “I’m fretting both because of unsavory guys who are looking at you creepily and nice guys who are doing everything to avoid looking at you.” The view of leggings as distracting articles of clothing shifts blame onto women for the things that happen to them. A popular aspect of rape culture, and a frequent way to shame victims of sexual assault, is asking what were they wearing? The idea that someone is to blame for an action taken against them by an aggressor is unreasonable but is used as a common defense for perpetrators of assault.
White got one thing right in her letter – women have every right to wear leggings. But overall, women have every right to wear what they want without being degraded.
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