In my Government class, we were on the topic of civil rights; my teacher asked us, "In what ways have you felt your civil rights or liberties have been taken from you within your school or community?"
Almost immediately, my female classmate responded with, "Dress coding!"
Those two words sparked an animated conversation between the rest of the class, recalling middle school memories of constantly worrying if our shorts were too short, our tops too cropped, our skirts too provocative. Heaven forbid anyone sees a bra strap! As a current senior in high school, these flashbacks made me realize that the brutality of middle school dress codes seemed to fade away over the past couple of years. In fact, I walked onto campus today wearing a shirt that showed a sliver of my stomach (how scandalous!) and did not feel the knot in my stomach that my sixth grade self would have felt when walking past campus supervisors. This posed the question: is dress code a thing of the past? Not only that, but, is dress code a violation of our civil liberties?
The debate around dress coding has been around for decades. While my school might have eased up on punishing girls for showing their body parts, it certainly is still affecting girls all over the country. Just this past week, Pitman high school senior Olivia Millentree lost her right to walk across the graduation stage due to her peaceful protest of the school's dress code (via modbee.com). Olivia called out the apparent sexism in our society, yet she was punished.
The pressure to unravel the dress code in schools is growing; the topic was even embedded into a recently-released Netflix show Grand Army. Protagonist highschooler "Joey" (played by Odessa A'zion) went braless with a white, see-through shirt with "Free the Nipple" Sharpied across her chest. In many ways, this character highlights the brave voices of Generation-Z's females, demanding for change.
It's no secret that dress codes are targeted towards girls. Our society sexualizes minors, teaching young girls to cover up instead of teaching young boys how to not become "distracted." Girls with larger breasts get dress coded for the same shirts that small-chested girls get away with. Showing shoulders, stomachs, and legs should not result in punishment. After all, everyone has them! While some schools are slowly starting to reform their dress codes, the societal standard of victim-blaming women, unfortunately, is far from gone.
We need to teach our young girls to love their bodies, to feel confident in their own skin. We need to teach men to be respectful and see women beyond their figure. We need to stop penalizing girls for their classmates' wandering eyes.
So, how do we move forward? We hold the system accountable. To any young readers: the next time you get dress coded, ask why. Create petitions to reform your school's dress code. If your bra straps are showing or your skirt is too "skimpy," tell the person criticizing you to look the other way. The Constitution, written by men, grants us the unalienable rights of freedom of speech, religion, and the press. What about freedom of dress? As Americans, we should feel allowed to wear what we want, to celebrate our bodies.
Olivia should get to walk across that stage. It's time to make dress codes a thing of the past.
May 21, 2021
Written by Katelyn Kolberg
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