It’s My Body, Not Yours: Dress Code Issues
The school’s sexist dress code has an impact on young women today, it sets a burden at such a young age in which affects the way they think and how they feel about their body. Men, however, are not disciplined at all and they do not have to stress about this issue. Dress code is used to instill discipline and prevent any disruption in the classroom but it's mostly directed towards women today. The dress code that school officials have set are enforced too strictly on women only, rather than enforcing it equally to both men and women. Due to this sexist rule, women feel insecure and self-conscious about their bodies and that their expression of style is a form of distraction towards men. The message that dress code implies is that the problem is the women's body and women have to hold the responsibility for the uncontrolled behavior of a man. Women should have the right to express themselves freely without having to worry about a man's sexual tendencies.
The Board of Education believes that it is important that they establish a student dress code to help students focus on their work and resist peer pressure. However, this policy is sexist because men aren’t as disciplined as women are, even if he is out of dress code. Men’s dress code is not restricted as the women’s dress code, they are not allowed to wear muscle shirts, inappropriate shirts, and must have a neatly trimmed beard. Yet, I have seen my male classmates wear vulgar shirts and not get punished in any form. They are constantly overlooked on the way they dress, yet I see woman getting pulled out of class for showing “too much skin” and are seen as a distraction. In other words, the rules don’t apply to young men instead women are sexualized and are seen as a sex object rather than a human. Rather than objectifying a woman, they should teach boys how to respect women and teach them what appropriate behavior is. I believe that school officials worry more about what the girl is wearing and how it affects the young men when instead we should focus on their education. Unfortunately, as a society we have normalized and prioritized the behavior of a boy over the women’s education.
Dress code can affect a woman in many ways that others might not even think about, we constantly have to cover our body in order to ‘protect ourselves. ’ "We need to be teaching the boys what appropriate behavior is instead of teaching the girls that they have to cover up to protect themselves from the boys. " In today’s society, women are not respected by men whether or not they’re fully clothed which makes them feel ashamed of their body and feel self-conscious. Others might not believe this statement, yet these people are the ones who ask women who were raped, “What were you wearing?” The way a women dresses should not determine if she was at fault when she was sexually harassed because they have the right to dress how they want to. However, people do not have this type of mindset, I have had female friends who experienced harassment and choose not to speak up because they are afraid, insecure and feel as if the issue isn’t going to be resolved. Sadly, it’s true. In this case, my friend who has a natural big bust was walking down the school hallway in dress code and a group of guys yelled her name and said “Tits!” After that moment, she felt so uncomfortable and felt ashamed of her body and told me, “I wish I didn’t have big breast. ” It is heartbreaking to hear that a young lady like herself does not like her body and feels insecure within herself. This proves that dress code isn’t going to change the way men view women whether they are fully clothed or not and the only use for dress code is to tell a woman that her body is not good enough and it should be covered. "Teaching our children that girls' bodies are dangerous, powerful and sexualized, and that boys are biologically programmed to objectify and harass them. "
Dress codes body shame women because they feel like our clothes are too revealing and feel as that’s threatening the education of a man. On September 9, 2018 @nnatuhlee conducted a poll on Twitter to prove that dress code is heavy applied on women and how much it distracts others. My question being, “Should women’s dress code be enforced as strictly as it is?” On Twitter, my poll had two choices, “Yes, it distract others” and “No, no one cares. ” 97% of the votes chose “No, no one cares” and 3% chose “Yes, it distracts others”. Another poll was conducted through Instagram, @nnatuhlee used the same question she used on Twitter. 264 people saw my post but only 68 voted in total, 62 people voted that “No one cares” and 6 people voted “Yes. It distracts me. ” Both polls had majority vote of “No one cares” which proves that dress code isn’t necessary and it’s just another struggle added on the daily life of a women. In addition to this research, I asked a couple of my peers on what they believe in women’s dress code. A female student stated, “It’s not easy finding clothes that follow dress code which makes it difficult to wear half of the clothes I own but this shouldn’t be a problem because I should have the right to express myself through fashion. ” A male student expressed how he felt about dress code and stated, “If guys are distracted then that’s their problem and a problem with themselves, they shouldn’t change society because of their issues. Women should have confidence with what they are wearing. ”
I believe that there should be a limit because I understand that women can act inappropriate as well but women should not hold the full responsibility and viewed as a sex object. Dress code in enforced too strictly on women and make them hold the full responsibility instead of equally enforcing it on both men and women. Women should have the ability to dress how they want without being monitored and seen as a distraction because the way a woman dresses does not define the kind of individual they are. As a society, we have lowered the standards of men and have little faith in them in controlling their sexual impulses and women suffer from this issue the most.
