In response to the article, "Ladies, Nike Shorts And Leggings Are For The Gym, Nowhere Else,"

I will concur with your statement, “If you are becoming a grown woman, you need to dress like one.” However, I cannot and will not sit idly by as you imply that “If you are becoming a grown woman, you need to dress like me.”

To tell other girls to grow up while sitting on a throne of internalized misogyny is not only childish in itself but is harmful to women worldwide who do not have the same privileges as you. The truth is, a woman’s body is hers alone and I cannot believe I still need to stress this. Not every woman is capable of dressing how you wish them to for a plethora of reasons: money, mental illness, physical disability, etc. Actually, none of that even matters because they can dress how they want to dress and deserve the same amount of respect as anyone else. Bottom line.

Feminism means equality, but it also means supporting women however they choose to dress. Whether this means in ratty T-shirts or in barely anything at all. How you choose to dress is up to you, but please keep everyone else out of it. If you wish to be successful in life, you should also respect the success of other women without degrading them.

Plenty of successful women can ‘bum’ it to class every day. In my public high school, by senior year, every girl in the top ten percent of my class was dressed in leggings. In fact, we fought hard for the right to wear leggings to our school because they were initially outlawed on school property.

Our fight to wear leggings was a fight against a small bit of misogyny in our everyday lives, just as this article is a fight against misogyny that most people won’t even bat an eye at. The truth is, this same rhetoric would never be spewed at men. Telling women that they shouldn’t be taken seriously based on the Nike shorts they wear to class would never happen to a guy. In fact, just think about how many men do wear baggy basketball shorts daily. I don’t see anyone ready to criticize them.

Since when did loving fashion make you a real woman? Since when did pressing my hair make me a real woman? Since when did you get to decide what makes me a real woman?

Stopping telling women that they aren’t trying hard enough and start focusing on yourself. That goes for each and every hard working woman out there. Focus on your own success without tearing others down. Love the accomplishments you have made no matter how you looked while you were doing it.

The world tries to undermine women’s achievements by bringing up their dress every single time. We see it time and time again: women on red carpets being asked: “Whoare you wearing”? Successful women plastered on tabloids for a “wardrobe disaster” paired with a picture of them doing some charity work.

Why must the focus be on a woman’s outfit? A class is not a formal event. Women worked hard and long for the right to education. Still, girls are being discouraged from going to college or from entering higher paying fields. What we wear is the least of our concerns. Getting to class and getting an education comes first. End of story.

Feel beautiful every day, no matter what you’re wearing because there is more to you than cloth against skin and makeup against flesh.