The Issues of Dress Codes in Public Schools and Rape Culture

Public schools impose dress codes specific to females that are not only restrictive but also promote rape culture and punish girls for boys’ reactions to their choices. Rape culture is the idea that women face the constant threat of rape, molestation, and attack every day, and are then blamed for their attacker’s actions. This last part is known as victim-blaming, which is demeaning, shaming, and cruelr Victim-blaming is the reason why dress codes are more than just an inconvenience and are detrimental to girls. Rape culture can also be found outside of schools. Jokes about rape, claiming a woman is lying about being raped, and even the silence victims keep for fear ofjudgement and disbelief are just a few examples of everyday rape culture that few people recognize School dress codes only enforce this silent subculture that exists within ours like an invisible parasite.

From the first moment a girl is put in school, a strict dress code is enforced upon her and she is exposed to this rape culturer School officials claim the dress code is in place to create a learning environment, While it is important to keep schools in a semi-professional setting, the dress code is not what creates that feeling, Girls as young as ten are being sent home because their shorts are too short or their shoulders are showing. As they grow up, they learn not to wear clothes that are too ‘revealing‘, or they will be sent home or forced to change. On particularly hot days, this dress change can cause discomfort that takes away from learning and may even go so far as to result in dizziness, fainting, or heat sickness, By the time a girl has grown to be a woman, she believes that a man’s reaction to whatever she chooses to do with her own body is her fault.

It starts innocently enough with clothing restrictions, and then escalates to sexual harassment such as cat-calling or inappropriate touching, and escalating to rape. For twelve or more years, girls are forced into a school system that shames them for their choices, preparing them to be ashamed of inappropriate behavior towards them, Every time a girl is pulled out of class to change or be sent home, the school is saying that boys are more entitled to distraction-free education than girls are to education at all. Imagine a 4th grade girl, She’s nine years old and enjoying her time playing during recess with her friends. It‘s almost summer, and the day is warm. She happened to put on long pants that morning, and she’s beginning to get uncomfortably hot under the blaze of the sun.

Trying to keep cool, she rolls up her pants, not caring if it makes her look goofy. She’s young and unconcerned about anything other than being comfortable and having fun, While she continues to play, a teacher comes by and tells her to put her pants back down, Immediately, the little girl is confused and ashamed, though she doesn’t know why She‘s lived with these rules for years and she still doesn’t understand why she can‘t wear the summer clothes her mom bought for her while at schoolt Looking around, she sees boys wearing shorts, feeling even more confused Why can they wear shorts and she can’t? This was a real occurrence. It happened to me, seven years ago. It made a big impact on my life, and it’s affecting me even still. I‘m still being told to put on a jacket, still afraid to wear the clothes my parents spent money on because I might get detention.

I’ve never gotten into trouble for anything, never had detention, and I worry constantly about a blemish on my record, Hot days at school when I’m trying to not be too hot are days where I am constantly worrying, distracted from my school-work and my natural anxiety disorder worsens. Why do shorts require the same disciplinary action as cheating or missing too many classes? Both affect learning and knowledge, while shorts are pieces of clothing that a girl may choose to wear on hot days, If a girl can be trained to constantly worry about being sent to detention for clothes, isn’t it reasonable to assume that boys can be trained to respect a girl’s body? Everyone wears clothes, and everyone chooses to wear the clothes that make them comfortable, Not allowing certain clothes is restrictive, and when those clothes are ‘revealing’ and specific to women, it even promotes rape-culture and the idea that rape and other attacks on women are the fault of the woman.

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Women’s Organizations Against The Imposed Dress Code

The concept of why and how Muslim women dressed has changed from ancient times to the modern era. Many people believe that the idea of veiling women originated from Islam but this concept predates Islam. In ancient civilizations such as the Greeks, Persians, Indians, and Assyrians, this belief was practiced. The Assyrians were one of the first to practice veiling. It was commonly associated with the elite class while it was forbidden for the lower class worker such as servants and prostitutes to veil. If they were caught in head covering then they were punished for it. Early Muslims accepted the regional tradition of veiling women as Islam began to spread across the Arabian Peninsula but similar to the Assyrians, it was only for the wealthy and elite women.

However, in the second-century veiling became a common practice for urban women in the Islam world. But it was uncommon for rural and nomadic women to be veiled. They would often be unveiled and were permitted to go outside. However, around the tenth century during the Middle Age, it became a common standard for women to be veiled. In countries like Egypt, laws were passed that forced women to veil and restricted women’s actions. In the 1800’s reformers, seeing how women in the west were dressed, began to speak against protective clothing. They felt that veils limited women’s education and kept them away from public events. Like the reformers, many countries believed that unveiling women would allow them to assist national progress.

Women were encouraged to unveil in order to become a symbol of the nation and those who resisted were insulted. Nationalist male leaders began to support and encourage women to appear unveiled in public. Around 1910, educated women in Turkey started to leave their homes with only wearing hijab and leaving back the veils. In the 1930’s Reza Shah Pahlavi, the monarch of Iran banned veiling. Many women did not feel free, instead, they felt scared to go outside veiled. They feared that the police would harass and tear off their veil if they were to step outside. But as time passed, the revival of the veil and other modest clothes took place.

A new form of clothes and dress were not accepted by Muslim women, even in Turkey which was one of the countries that pushed for social reforms. Many Muslim women started to dress more modestly inorder to tell the world what religion they were and what they believed. Other women wore veils to resist western culture. There was a surge of nationalism that rejected western style and values. Another reason to wear hijab was to resist modernization. Many believed that accepting modern ideology meant rejecting Islam and old traditions so they kept wearing hijab and veils. Additionally, the Iran Revolution from 1978 to 1779, increased the number of women in the veil increased because those who were unveiled were insulted and mocked.

They were penalized if there were in public without protective dress. In the 1970’s many countries like Iran, protested against schools and universities’ mandatory dress code of western clothes. In the modern day, women have remained in modest clothes. However many women organizations have tried to fight against imposed dress codes. But there are other groups of women that promote dress codes because of a strict interpretation of the Quran. Today, many Muslim girls and women wear veils and hijabs to protect themselves from sexual assault, but there are also Muslim women that do not wear veils because they want to decide for themselves what to wear.

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Sexualization, Sex Discrimination, and Public School Dress Codes

Every single day a girl, somewhere in the United States, walks into a school and in penalized for what she is wearing. Every day a girl is indirectly told that her education is less important than a boy’s. Every time a girl is forced to leave class to change or call home because she isn’t allowed to stay in school for the rest of the day, her education is put on the back burner. Schools all across America have dress codes in place that indirectly put male education above female, and they do it in just one sentence, “…clothing is a distraction to other students learning.” Schools are clearly sexualizing adolescent and teenage girls, and society has just accepted it as another norm.

The National Education Association released an article where school principals and child development experts analyzed current dress code policies: “Many school dress codes use gendered language, such as “girls must not wear spaghetti straps or show cleavage.” The reasoning? These things are distracting to other students, particularly males” (Barret 1). The use of gender-specified rules not only discriminates based on gender, they also send the message that females can be objectified by males. The article goes on to state, “’It’s saying the male response is your fault. Your body is causing negativity,” explains Pomerantz. Sexist rules also set a precedent for men, she adds. “It is offensive to men. It suggests they don’t have the ability to talk to a female student without going wild’” (Barret 1).

Not only are the rules detrimental to female education they also come with the connotation that males are incapable of restraining themselves, and as result females need to accommodate to them. Many female students and parents have taken to social media to try and address the issue that is being faced in public schools all across America. Hashtags like #imnotadistraction and #slutshaming have become very prominent in the movement. The University of Richmond Law Review published an essay titled Sexualization, Sex Discrimination, and Public School Dress Codes by Meredith Harbach that highlights the negative effects of dress coding girls and the effect on their sexuality later in life. Harbach says.

“Dress plays a complicated role in the sexualization of girls. Identify formation is an important feature of adolescence in Western cultures. And clothing is marketed to girls as a means of expressing identity and individuality. Clothing is thus both an artifact of the sexualization of girls in our culture and also part of the larger process of identity formation over which girls exercise some control”. The concept that girls are told that they cannot wear something in public not only makes them feel subconscious and beginning the body shaming process, it also restricts their ability to self-express.

In Western culture self-expression through clothing is imperative to social development, and if this is stripped from girls at such an important time in their lives, it is bound to have devastating repercussions later in life. Females are taught they have to conform to society’s view of what a female should look like and this affects their entire self-identity in life. This includes styles they may choose to peruse later that go beyond clothing but to haircuts, body piercings and tattoos. All of these are forms of self-expression that girls that have been affected by sexist dress coding rules will have altered subconscious responses too.

Gender should never define an individual’s worth, and absolutely should not affect their education and sexual identity. Girls should be free to dress however they feel comfortable, and should not be penalized accordingly. If dress codes are mandatory they need to be gender neutral, enforcing the same rules for both the male and female population of the school. This prevents the placement of one education over another, and also doesn’t imply that males are incapable of focusing due to a female appearance.

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Uniforms vs No Uniforms

Students at schools with enforced behave better than students at schools without enforced dress codes. They tend to be more educated, have more discipline, and have better manners than those students without enforced dress codes. Students with enforced dress codes tend to be more educated than those students who go to schools without enforced dress codes because they tend to attend school more. According to research, students that have uniforms have better attendance because they don’t have to worry about what they are wearing to school because everyone is wearing the same style of clothing.

No one is there to criticize them about how their shirt is ugly or how their shoes don’t match what they’re wearing. One of the reasons why students don’t go to school is because they don’t have the right clothes to fit in or be cool and they don’t want to get bullied by the “cool” kids. Another reason why students with enforced dress codes are more educated is because since everyone is wearing the same thing, they aren’t worried about who is wearing what. Since they don’t have that on their minds, they have more time to worry about their education and pay more attention in class. Many students like to gossip about what others are wearing.

It may be in a positive way or in a negative way. But either way, the have their minds occupied on something other than their classwork. Students who go to a school with enforced dress code are more likely to focus on their education because they are going to school to learn, not to worry about who is wearing the latest clothes trend. Students tend to be more disciplined if they attend schools that enforce dress codes because they have more order at their school. These students are ordered to follow a certain and it is up to them if they want to respect authority or not.

Those who choose to listen and go to schools with enforced dress codes are obviously more disciplined than those who don’t go to dress code enforced schools. These students don’t really get into fights or talk back to their teachers. These students tend to be more respectful to teachers and students because they are willing to follow all of the school’s rules. They listen to teachers and set good examples. It is said that kids are better behaved when they are dressed neatly and modestly. Students that attend dress code enforced schools have more manners and class than those students that don’t go to dress code enforced schools.

The reason why these students have more class is because they know how to dress respectively. They don’t go around town in shorts or pants that hang below their underpants. They aren’t the type of people that wear chest revealing shirts. These students are very respectful and show a lot of class. Schools that enforce dress codes tend to have fewer fights occur on their campus. Their students are better behaved and have more manners than students that go to a school where they don’t enforce dress codes. According to research, a lot of fights start out because a student made fun of another student’s clothes.

Well, if schools were stricter on what students were allowed to wear and maybe make the students wear uniforms, these fight would never occur. There was a boy named Johnny who was very smart. He never got anything lower than a A in any of his classes. He was also very athletic and enjoyed . You would think that everything was going well for him except for the fact that Johnny had no friends. You see, the kids at school didn’t want to be friends with him because of the way he dressed. His parents couldn’t afford to buy him clothes that were “in” so he didn’t fit in with the “cool” kids.

The kids at school were too embarrassed to be seen talking to Johnny, so they just avoided him. Johnny was always getting picked on. The kids at school would often call him names and drop his books in the hallway to seem cool and fit in with the other kids who were doing it. Even though Johnny was very athletic, he was always the last one to be picked when playing a . Johnny became very lonely and depressed because as a kid, he never had any friends. He started slacking in school, no longer getting “A’s”. He began to get “C’s” and “D’s” with a few occasional “F’s”.

He began to skip classes so that he wouldn’t have to go through the whole bullying situation. He stopped playing sports for they just didn’t bring him much joy anymore. One day when Johnny was at the mall, he saw the pair of Levi’s that everyone was wearing to school on a mannequin in a store window. He went in the store and tried them on. He loved the way that he looked in them and thought that if he wore them to school, some of the kids would think that he was cool and possibly be friends with him. But when he flipped over the price tag and saw that the jeans cost $39. 9, his hopes went down. He could never afford to buy forty dollar jeans. Then an idea came to mind. He thought that if he stole the jeans without anyone noticing, then he could have them without paying for them.

So Johnny walked out of the store with the jeans on hoping that no one would notice. Unfortunately, Johnny got caught. Security called his parents in and Johnny got scolded by security. They told him the and how he could end up in jail. When his parents got there, they asked Johnny why he stole the pants and he told them the truth.

When they realized what was going on, they transferred him to a school where the kids had to wear uniforms. Johnny realized how great his new peers were and loved the fact that no one was making fun of him because of his style of clothing. At , Johnny became his usual self again, getting straight “A’s” and playing sports. The only difference was that he now had a lot of friends. Therefore, students who attend schools that enforce dress codes are better behaved than students who go to schools that don’t enforce dress codes.

These students dress better, have better manners, and they show a lot of discipline. Unlike students who attend schools that don’t enforce dress codes who have no discipline what-so-ever and who dress like they don’t even care that they are going to school. Overall, education is very important and should be taken very seriously. Students should behave and be respectful to all peers and teachers. If students tend to behave better with enforced dress codes, than all schools should enforce dress codes. After all, how we dress does matter and it affects our performance very much.

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Dress Not for Success: Fifty Years of American Dress Codes Burdening Students

Karnik Soghomonian Professor Brauer Writing 39C February 16th, 2012 Dress Not For Success: Fifty Years of American Dress Codes Burdening Students Over the past fifty years, dress code policies have been a major topic, a topic repeatedly protested against by American high school students. However, at the same time, dress codes have gained popularity in […]

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School Dress Code Standards

Most schools impose regulations on how students should dress. The sole intent is to keep students safe and get focused on academics. A well centered dress code couple with other appropriate interventions can have a position impacts on the fraternity of the school’s social environment (Hanks, 2004). School Dress Code Standards The supporters of the dress codes have come up with a list of advantages of standardized . First, a sincere concern about safety is an overriding impetus towards the implementation of dress code policies.

If everyone in school dresses alike there will be less violence in schools. There is a definite connection between clothing style and violence in schools. This is because many students will associate an image or sometimes a stigma to certain styles mostly gang-style clothing (Hanks, 2004) In many cases students have become targets of unintentional violence simply because of wearing a certain color combination which can be afflicted to a certain gang.

An example is a popular style where boys wear baggy pants and oversized shirts. This image is closely associated with inner-city gang members who wear such loose fitting clothes so as to better hide weapons or drugs, which can also be carried to schools (Hanks, 2004). The students hunger to be fashionable is another dimension connecting clothing style and school violence. In this case students may envy other children’s clothes due to the lack of financial resources to purchase similar clothes and get abreast with style.

Subsequently students’ have been injured or even get killed for their designers’ clothes or the professional sport-team paraphernalia. When students feel safe and secure they tend to perform better academically. Hence, enhancing academic performance is another argument that favours dress code policies (Feiler, 2004). Dress code in general helps children to follow on their school work instead of paying attention to what they and others are wearing. Imposing a dress code will prohibit wearing of clothing that can be disruptive.

The other benefits attached t uniforms that can help enhance performance, includes; enhanced displine, respect for teachers, fewer distractions and improved classroom behavior. The other point to make on is the peer pressure. Middle school students’ can sometimes become cruel. In this case, if a child does not wear the right brand or style of clothing other student can make life a difficult for that student (Feiler, 2004). By removing the status depicted by clothing labels uniform becomes a great equalizer.

The income of the child’s family is also concealed by the uniform which can thus eliminate a mark of distinction or shame. If the school uniform is attractive it promotes school spirit and self image the same way an athletic team uniform promotes spirit and unity (Feiler, 2004). If a dress code is instituted, many families will realize the great benefit of not having to buy so many expensive clothes for their children who maybe fashion conscious. With some comparisons the cost of uniform is significantly less compared to the cost of the latest fashions.

Parents will also welcome uniforms because they have an added peace to the home. This means that if the school imposes what to the students should wear to school it will become one less battle to fight in the morning (Feiler, 2004). Dressing seductively poses a great distraction to the opposite sex. This makes sense why it’s important to put restrictions to what can worn in school. Sexual thoughts are frequent in middle school and in high school and hence most students do not need visual aids because their imagination is active enough.

Uniform makes school not to be the appropriate avenue to express oneself especially in terms of clothing. The student should use his mind and voice so as to appropriately express his thoughts opinions and questions. Uniform and dress codes should be used as a part of life. Most of jobs have certain kind of restrictions that pertains to dress. Children and students should be made to adhere to simple roles such as those of dress codes while in school (Craik, 2005). Attendance is improved by imposing school uniform because the student will always have something acceptable to wear.

Sometimes students may miss school just because they do not have something cool to wear or because their shirt that was cool was wet to wear to school. How we dress matters a lot as even for the entrepreneurs that work out of their home tend to feel that their working is more productive if they dress appropriately other than working in pajamas (Craik, 2005) Conclusion Students should dress respectively when in school. They can be allowed to wear what they want but only to a certain extent.

They should not be allowed to wear their pants around their knees or miniskirts. This is sloppy and does not show self respect or self confidence. Also there is no business that wants to hire a man with pants down her knees. If one wants a good job, then one needs too wear properly, as this shows respect. There are many reasons to why schools should impose dress codes its not for the hindrance of individuality but to promote a better life and one’s self-confidence. If you want to have a good education and a well paying job you have to dress for it (Craik, 2005)

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Dress Not for Success: Fifty Years of American Dress Codes Burdening Students

Karnik Soghomonian Professor Brauer Writing 39C February 16th, 2012 Dress Not For Success: Fifty Years of American Dress Codes Burdening Students Over the past fifty years, dress code policies have been a major topic, a topic repeatedly protested against by American high school students. However, at the same time, dress codes have gained popularity in […]

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