High School Dress Codes

            Over break I had to go on my high school’s website to get some information about an exam I took years ago. While on the website I decided for some reason to look at the dress code to see what changes they made. My school was kind of known for making really extreme rules about what clothes we could wear. The three finger strap rule was greatly enforced and flip flops were outlawed early into my high school career because of a student falling while wearing a pair. While looking at the new dress code I noticed that a lot hadn’t changed but something sure caught my eye. There were a few pictures showing what was acceptable to wear to school and what wasn’t and in every photo only girls were pictured. There were no pictures of what guys weren’t allowed to wear. There was an X through a picture of a girl wearing yoga pants and a shirt that didn’t quite cover her butt. Everything else about the picture was perfectly “acceptable” she was wearing a loose t-shirt and shoes that I guess were appropriate for school. There were also pictures of girls wearing shorts that weren’t alright and tank tops that were showing just a bit too much shoulder.

            I’ve had conversations with many people about dress codes in high school especially in the beginning of the school year when it’s still warm and kids are wearing shorts so they are more comfortable in school. I think it’s completely unfair that young girls can’t wear a simple tank top in school because somehow showing shoulders and arms is sexualized in a high school setting. I think that if young boys can’t control themselves around a tank top that’s another problem. I remember being on the bus in ninth grade wearing a tank top and an older boy thought it would be funny to grab my bra strap and snap it against my skin. When I confronted him about it he said that if I didn’t want him to snap it my bra shouldn’t have been showing. Even at fourteen I knew that something was wrong in that logic. There was no reason for him to grab my bra at seven in the morning other than the fact that he thought it would be funny. I think it was more distracting in school being shooed down to the office to change call parents for a change of clothes or go to your gym locker to put on sweaty clothes just so you could return to English class.

            I think in high school making girls change just because their shorts are half an inch above their fingertips or because their (gasp) bra straps are showing is ridiculous. I think it makes girls feels ashamed of their bodies because they are constantly being told to cover up because they are making it so that their male peers can’t concentrate on Algebra. I think the excuse, which I have heard from males I have talked about this with, that young boys are raging with hormones and can’t control themselves is complete crap. The only experience that I’ve had with a guy being distracted with what I was wearing in high school was that one moment on the bus and he could have completely controlled himself but chose not to and instead made me feel uncomfortable just because I was wearing a bra. In college we can wear pretty much whatever we want to class and I have never once seen a guy get so distracted by a shoulder or some exposed toe in a sandal that he can no longer pay attention.