Dress Codes In Schools Essay

Improved Essays
School dress codes are usually blamed for being sexist towards girls. There are many reasons for why this may seem true such as how the dress codes usually revolve around girls. This is also true because girls have a lot more clothing choices, then boys so there is more rules towards them. Many people also claim that dress codes are here only to keep the older generation happy. An argument for why dress codes are there is to help prepare teenagers for jobs, and the rules also apply to boys there is just not as many. School dress codes can appear to be sexist towards girls for a lot of reasons.

One of the bigger reasons why dress codes appear to be sexist towards girls is because most of the dress codes rules revolve around girls. One of the more important reasons for having a dress code for a girl is so they won’t be seen as “a distraction”. In an article written by Laura Bates she mentions how schools want “a distraction free learning environment.” When they are saying this schools are
…show more content…
Schools are mainly preparing you for a job just how other aspects in school prepare you for jobs. They also claim that there is also a strict dress code on male clothing. As you get older your clothing style will most likely change so schools need to make sure that you are dressed appropriately as a teenager when you are more body confident. Dress codes can very much be sexist towards girls, but not in a mean way. Schools are just trying to prepare us for the real world, but the rules they use can make it seem kind of unfair. Clothing seen as “too distracting” can be seen from both genders and not just girls. The older generation also may be coming to an understanding of how teenagers dress, and are finding ways to mend the dress codes. School dress codes are an important part of schooling, and without them who knows how students might dress during

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    They have less things they can wear, when men can where almost anything they want. When people state that women’s attire is distracting and men can’t concentrate; it supports that women are seen as objects and not humans. “Dress codes—given the power they entrust school authorities to regulate student identity—can, according to students, ultimately establish discriminatory standards as the norm. The prevalence and convergence of today’s protests suggest that schools not only need to update their policies—they also have to recognize and address the latent biases that go into creating them.” As Charles Haynes says in the article T-Shirt Rebellion in the Land of the Free, women being criticized by their clothing, being stated as distracting, or even being taken out of school or work because of their clothing is saying that men’s education/work is more superior than women’s. This is because they make it seem as if women’s clothing are distracting men from work, but women are being taken from work because of their clothes which is making women get less hours of work which means less money. Just like it right here in the article called “Do school dress codes perpetuate sexism, rape culture?” by Rowena Lindsay, “Girls are not supposed to wear anything that deems at vulgar or inappropriate because it will distract boys from their education, but in reality, you are making it harder…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    School Dress Codes

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Many people acknowledge that having a dress code and removing students who aren’t following it is a big distraction, but some schools argue that there is one bigger distraction that having a dress code remedies. That distraction? Female skin. Most school dress codes force women to cover their skin so that boys don’t get distracted. That is clearly bull crap. Women shouldn’t be forced to change what they wear because boys get distracted. Honestly, are boys distracted when they see a girl wearing leggings? Probably not. While I can see some reasonable limitations; you probably shouldn’t wear a bikini to school, most limitations placed on women by dress codes aren’t reasonable. Let’s start with the three fingers on the shoulder rule. What is so distracting about a woman’s shoulder? As a resident male myself, I have not been distracted simply because a woman was wearing a shirt that didn’t cover all of her shoulder. The fingertip rule with shorts is equally stupid. Yes, women have legs. They are meant for walking, not distracting, and we all know that. While obvious areas should certainly be covered up, I don’t believe that there is an argument about that, the fingertip rule might be a little much. There are more restrictions that I could go on and on about the impracticality and stupid reasons that these rules exist, but there is a bigger point here, the results of these rules. Having rules that restrict the…

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have decided to write this journal article on an article that I found online that speaks directly to experiences that I had throughout middle school and high school. The article is titled, “The Sexism of School Dress Codes”. A young girl named Maggie Sunseri noticed that the dress codes in her school were geared more directly to girls than it was to boys. At first, Maggie rightfully saw this concept to be unfair. The rationale that the administrators gave behind this idea, however, was even more upsetting to Maggie. Those who were in charge at her school told her that the dress code was enforced so strictly for girls because certain clothing that girls wear can be “distracting” to young boys.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The dress code should be less strict in that we dress to show our personalities and express ourselves. It should also be less derogatory towards female students, because “their bodies will distract the boys,” is a sexist statement claiming that boys will be boys and that girls just need to deal and accept it. Most girls breaking the dress code do not do it for attention, but when they spend money on clothes that have nothing wrong with them they want to wear them. In fact, it is hard to find clothes manufactured to actually fit the “dress code” due to designers conforming to society's new…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The school dress code has been argued about for years. There are some that say yes, in fact there are 20% that say that the dress code is good and that it is needed. There are 80% that say that it is not good and it is not needed. Some of the reasons are for safety. The first reason is for hats, they are big enough to fit something that can harm someone under it. Another reason is for cleavage, people say that girls need to wear a shirt that does not show cleavage. It has been debated on for a long time.…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Are dress codes unfair, or should their arms be bare? Dress codes have been placed in schools for years, and many of them are to enforce respect in schools. Others, take a more judge mental stance, where they shame girls for wearing revealing clothes distract male students. Dress codes are sexist because they are mainly directed towards female students, they make girls uncomfortable and they teach students that a girl's body is sexualised.…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Everyone has their own opinion on what attire is appropriate for school; some people may feel that some of the clothes that the girls wear is “too much”, but what exactly is too much? A majority would say that revealing shoulders and bra straps are inappropriate, but others would think differently. While some of the clothes people wear shouldn’t be worn in a learning environment, society shouldn’t be biased and make a fair dress code for both male and female students because it can make female women students ashamed of their bodies, which is degrading and makes them out to be sexual objects.…

    • 1299 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As the school dress codes get more and more intense, it seems that most of the rules are directed towards females, not males. For example, “Many of these protests have criticized dress codes as sexist in that they unfairly target girls by body-shaming and blaming them for promoting sexual…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Dress Codes In Schools

    • 2544 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Ever since we started school we’ve had to deal with dress code. However, schools have different rules such as whether you have to wear uniforms or how short your skirts can be. My elementary school required us to wear uniforms and as the years went on the dress code got progressively stricter. When I moved on to high school it wasn’t much better. They would constantly send people to the office to get a change of clothes, but by doing this they also removed students from their classes, making them fall behind. Most of the reasons people got dress coded were for flip flops, crochet tops with tank tops underneath, ripped/ frayed jeans, the length of shorts or skirts, and boys were even sent to shave their facial hair in the bathroom. Most of these…

    • 2544 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    While dress codes are provided, most times they are said to keep boys’ more comfortable, but only because they are always sought to be sexualizing a classmates shoulder. Discussions concerning the dress code even bring up, “everyone is in theory affected by dress codes, girls and LGTBQ youth are disproportionately affected” (Bily). The idea proposed by school dress codes is to protect students and teachers, but it does the opposite by targeting anyone who is not a heterosexual cisgender male and shames those for wearing what they want. School dress codes do not need to be removed completely, but should be reworked to get rid of double standards that shames females of their own anatomy. The rape culture stigma is formed because of school dress codes because it pushes an idea that a female body is too sexual before a young female can fully understand what it truly means to be sexualized. The ideas of “boys will be boys” being okay when they refer to the sexualization of girls is rape culture and should not be permitted by superiors at school, a place where student should feel safe (Bates). A reworked dress code that allows for the self-expression of a student, will not deteriorate their self worth, and allow for the double standard be removed so a boys’ education will not be prioritized over a girl…

    • 1789 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “Dress codes given the power they entrust school authorities to regulate student identity-can, according to students,ultimately establish discriminatory standards as the norm”. (Gordon)People have started sexualising and discriminating a woman's attire, and having to cover up just so male students can go to school free of distractions. There have been several arguments against school dress codes, such as dress codes being mainly sexist against young women in schools. This does not mean there has not been instances where some young boys have been singled out, just simply stating young women are the main focus. Another issue that has been pressed is that dress codes are not sexist they are just preparing us for our future career. The majority of concerns on school dress codes is the young women themselves. A wide variety say their set dress codes have made them very self conscious, which in some situations have distracted them from learning since they're too busy wondering if they will be called out on their attire.…

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Boys say that they get distracted because of what girls wear, however they show lack of respect to girls. Most female students follow the dress code but males still find ways to get turned on by what they are wearing. According to the article Do school dress codes end up body-shaming girls, “Pearlman said her daughter, now 13, had been told in the fall by a teacher that she couldn’t wear yoga pants because the boys would get turned on and then be embarrassed” (Wallace). Schools judge girls for their bodies and are being sexist towards females by blaming them for not being able to control what a boy thinks about her body. A dress code just calls girls out on what they are wearing and causes them to become self-conscious about her body and feel as though she does not belong. According to the girl getting dressed coded in the article Do school dress codes end up body shaming girls, “The message her school is sending her, she said, is that she should cover up and be ashamed. If I show a little bit of my body, I’m considered a bad girl. Just because I’m wearing this doesn’t mean that I want people to look at me sexually. I want to be seen as a woman. I don’t want to have to feel bad about my body”…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When teachers give dress code violations to a girl for wearing shorts that are too short or because her choice in clothing is ‘innappropriate’, you are telling her that hiding her body and normal female parts (such as stomach, shoulders or thighs) is more important than her education. You are also telling her that a boys’ disturbance-free learning is more significant than her disturbance-free learning. Obviously some degree of dress code is important but shoulders, stomach and thighs should not be classed as inappropriate or distracting.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The girls who "violate" the dress codes. Are being body-shamed by schools. The reason why schools are having dress codes is because it's a "distraction" to the boys. The dress code, is definitely a bad thing to…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dress codes are nothing new to our society. Many times clothing guidelines are set up in the workplace, and more commonly in today’s schools. Dress codes are often implemented into school systems to “prepare kids for the real world” but some school systems believe that certain articles’ of girls attire should be prohibited because they “distract” boys. Are these strict guidelines fair and appropriate for both young men and women? Most dress codes restrict wearing skirts and dresses that are “too short”, low cut shirts, yoga pants or leggings, all of which are worn by young ladies. There are very few guidelines regarding men. What is this saying about our society? Why are young women having to cover up to prevent “distracting” young men? While dress codes keep clothing in schools appropriate, school dress code policies are sexist and perpetuate discrimination against female students.…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays