Dress Code Restrictions In Schools

Public school dress code restrictions should be reduced for girls. Girls have very strict dress codes to abide by which makes them feel sexualized. The dress codes that schools put in place make shopping very hard for girls. The idea of boys being distracted needs to be overlooked.

Girls feel sexualized and objectified by the insanely strict dress codes. Girls fear that if they even slightly show a shoulder or bra strap that they will be ridiculed. All girls wear bras. That is a known fact so what is the big deal if a strap of one peeks out? Girls feel as though they are looked at sexually by everyone (students and administrators) when they are called out for their clothing being ¨distracting¨ just because they are wearing clothes that express their personality or are comfortable but have a noodle strap. “Distracting” is a very vague term because one person might think something is completely distracting (even in a good, complementary way) but somebody else might not even think anything of a certain clothing item. Who is to determine whether or not something is distracting. When girls are constantly called out it lowers their self esteem. It also is hard to see a boy with a potentially distracting piece of clothing and not get called out on it as a girl would.

With most of the clothes being catered to us, not typically fitting the school dress code, it makes choosing outfits difficult for girls. Girls either have to do extra work to search for rule abiding clothes or add clothing layers to non school appropriate clothing which can add heat and draw more attention because people are “distracted” by the curiosity of whether or not a dress or top has spaghetti straps. Lots of clothing shops have a minimal selection of what fits the rules of school dress clothes which also might mean that parents have to spend more money on clothes to purchase them from school appropriate