Dress Code Violations

Meet Natalie. Today Natalie woke up a little the other. She woke up and wore the first thing she saw which was a loose workout tank top that had short sleeves and some yoga pants. She just wanted to get to school and get the day over with. The day was going by fast up until a teacher wrote her up for dress code violation. Not only did a teacher write her up, but she had to go the nurse’s office, change clothes, and wear a baggy, bright shirt that said “dress code violator.” Natalie refused to wear the shirt and when she asked why she couldn’t wear what she had on since according to the rules, she wasn’t violating anything, the nurse answered like any other worker in an American school: “the yoga pants are too tight and revealing, and we just don’t want any distractions.” Ever since Natalie’s dress code violation, her school banned yoga pants and leggings. You would think these are made up stories, but these are actual school situations that have made headlines on news articles. Hillary Clinton once said, ‘human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights. Let us forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely – and the right to be heard.” Some people might say

The bible had said to essentially not dress fancy, but that changed. Because of the industrial revolution, there was a “glimpse of social mobility through the development of a middle class. (L., Caitlin)” This resulted in a new beauty standard for women. It became common for women to work on their physical appearance because it meant consumerism. People questioned whether women dress for themselves or for men. This questioning lead to blaming women for “distracting” men when in reality, no one should be blamed. The beauty new standard was to be thin, with a pale skin tone, dressing modestly yet still fancy. This meant wearing dresses. Even though women were beginning to focus on their physical appearance, dressing in a revealing matter was not