Dress Code Controversy
By: Sophie Li
The current dress code is a topic of controversy among many parents, students, and the social media. It is an ideology that sends out patriarchal-based messages to young girls and boys that contradict the gender-equality based teachings that educators are to provide. The dress code supports rape culture stigma by protecting those who inflict the sexual violence and blaming the victims for tempting them. It teaches the impressionable young minds of girls and boys that their developing body is a sexual object and that they should be ashamed of it.
The general concept of the dress code is stemmed from rape culture stigma; an issue that many rape victims still face as of today. Rape culture is a set of beliefs …show more content…
Rape stigma is rooted from a sense of self-entitlement and privilege, and is the sole reason why 54% of sexual assaults are not reported to police while 97% of rapists will never spend a day in jail. More than half (54%) of all rapes of females happen before age 18, and the perpetrator is twice as likely to be an adult. Some may argue that the dress code lowers the chances of any future rape, but that argument is not far from the arguments made by those who accuse rape victims of asking to be assaulted by dressing a certain way. This is implying that boys can’t control their hormonal impulses around girls’ bodies, and by doing this they are encouraging a culture that transfers the blame from men to their female …show more content…
This is especially problematic in pubescent girls, where their bodies are still growing and developing. Curvier girls are constantly singled out and told that their more developed body is distraction to other students. This teaches them that they should be ashamed of the fact that their body is developing at a different rate than the other girls, and that they are nothing more than a mere sexual object. Many school administrators have expressed some concerns about the pressure put on girls to show their skin in the first place. Although this may be true, the way to combat this pressure isn’t to restate their position as a sexual object. Woman and girls are constantly bombarded by hyper-sexualized images of women on a daily basis, and often feel pressure to sexualize their own bodies. They are lured into the idea that they must be beautiful and sexy to matter. These young woman are told that it is important to look beautiful and sexy, but at school they are told that sexy is disgusting and wrong. This message not only harms young girls, but their male peers as well. It encourages the mindset in which that the viewing of females solely as depersonalized objects of desire instead of as individuals with complex personalities is normalized and
By: Sophie Li
The current dress code is a topic of controversy among many parents, students, and the social media. It is an ideology that sends out patriarchal-based messages to young girls and boys that contradict the gender-equality based teachings that educators are to provide. The dress code supports rape culture stigma by protecting those who inflict the sexual violence and blaming the victims for tempting them. It teaches the impressionable young minds of girls and boys that their developing body is a sexual object and that they should be ashamed of it.
The general concept of the dress code is stemmed from rape culture stigma; an issue that many rape victims still face as of today. Rape culture is a set of beliefs …show more content…
Rape stigma is rooted from a sense of self-entitlement and privilege, and is the sole reason why 54% of sexual assaults are not reported to police while 97% of rapists will never spend a day in jail. More than half (54%) of all rapes of females happen before age 18, and the perpetrator is twice as likely to be an adult. Some may argue that the dress code lowers the chances of any future rape, but that argument is not far from the arguments made by those who accuse rape victims of asking to be assaulted by dressing a certain way. This is implying that boys can’t control their hormonal impulses around girls’ bodies, and by doing this they are encouraging a culture that transfers the blame from men to their female …show more content…
This is especially problematic in pubescent girls, where their bodies are still growing and developing. Curvier girls are constantly singled out and told that their more developed body is distraction to other students. This teaches them that they should be ashamed of the fact that their body is developing at a different rate than the other girls, and that they are nothing more than a mere sexual object. Many school administrators have expressed some concerns about the pressure put on girls to show their skin in the first place. Although this may be true, the way to combat this pressure isn’t to restate their position as a sexual object. Woman and girls are constantly bombarded by hyper-sexualized images of women on a daily basis, and often feel pressure to sexualize their own bodies. They are lured into the idea that they must be beautiful and sexy to matter. These young woman are told that it is important to look beautiful and sexy, but at school they are told that sexy is disgusting and wrong. This message not only harms young girls, but their male peers as well. It encourages the mindset in which that the viewing of females solely as depersonalized objects of desire instead of as individuals with complex personalities is normalized and