When I was a junior in high school, my friend was sent home from school before a huge chemistry test we had studied days and days for, all because she was wearing shorts that were “too short." I remember how enraged she was that they would send her home before one of the most important tests of the year because her outfit choice might be “too distracting."
This is an unfortunate circumstance that a lot of girls have to deal with throughout their public schooling because of strict and sexist dress codes.
From the bright and early age of 11, my teachers have decided for me and every other girl what was and was not appropriate for school. Our shorts need to be as long as our fingertips, our tank top straps need to be at least two inches wide, our bra straps aren’t allowed to show, etc., etc.
The reason girls are told these ridiculous rules is because they’re exposed skin and tight clothes could be found “distracting” to boys and “inappropriate” for a school environment.
If dress codes are enforced in middle school and even before, that means that while learning about long division and the three states of matter, girls are also learning the false importance put on their appearance.
Girl, just like boys, are in school to learn. Yet, when a girl is disciplined for wearing shorts on a hot day, it gives the impression that their education is not as important as whether or not they are dressed appropriately. If these rules are only being enforced on one gender rather than all genders, how does that make it fair for all the students?
It makes us seen as less than every male student. By sending a girl home for her clothing, it is telling that girl that her education is not as important as a boy’s and that the most important thing in school is making sure that boys get their proper education.
Why are females' shoulders, midriffs, legs and arms seen as being distracting when males’ are not? When girls are told that they are being too sexual by showing certain parts of their bodies, it makes people view women as sexual objects rather than human beings.
Lucky enough, college is the first place most girls will go to school where they are finally allowed to dress however they please without worrying about a professor or faculty member deciding to send them home for their choice in attire. However, after years and years of being seen as objects, has too much damage been done to reverse what was forced onto us?
Girls have every right to dress themselves the way they please, just like boys. Women cannot be expected to dress a certain way to accommodate for the small attention span of the male species. If boys get too distracted by a girl’s bra strap when they’re supposed to be studying, then maybe we should start teaching boys how to think less like sexual predators.
School systems with these strict, sexist and outdated policies making it harder and harder for young girls to succeed in the world. They are instead being taught that their education is nowhere near as important as a boy’s, and certainly not as important as their appearance.
These strict dress codes pushed and forced onto young girls from such an early age is only sexualizing them further and promotes sexism toward women.
Girls deserve so much better.
