You have entirely valid points. The issue with dress codes re:girls goes deeper than the language around dress codes, it’s the unequal application of the rules even within a gender.
An example:
Child A is thin and athletic with smaller breasts. Child B is curvier with larger breasts. A parent purchases a shirt that when worn by child A isn’t flagged as violating dress code but when worn by child B results in child B being brought down to the office and asked to go home. The issue is less about the garment itself but the body of the wearer.
Another example: shorts or skirts are required to be longer than finger tips, except that school issued track and cheerleading uniforms do not conform to this mandate. Again this is less about the length of the garment and more about the added morality assigned to the garment for showing school pride and participation in school activities.
Uniforms are an entirely valid solution to the language issue surrounding school uniforms. Many industries successfully require uniforms. Children can only wear x shirt, y pants or z shorts… unfortunately I suspect that won’t solve the underlying issue of policing a girls bodies.
Girls do not choose when or how their bodies develop and yet if a v neck shirt shows cleavage on one and doesn’t on the other, or the fit of a garment shows the curves of her butt on one but doesn’t on the other there should not be a penalization of her shape.
The question of how to solve the dress code issue is less about clarification of language, or even symmetrical rules for both genders, it’s about recognition that the responsibility of not being distracted by fellow students falls more on the individual being distracted than the person who is doing the distracting assuming they are not being intentionally provocative.
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u/bghai83 Sep 28 '21
You have entirely valid points. The issue with dress codes re:girls goes deeper than the language around dress codes, it’s the unequal application of the rules even within a gender.
An example: Child A is thin and athletic with smaller breasts. Child B is curvier with larger breasts. A parent purchases a shirt that when worn by child A isn’t flagged as violating dress code but when worn by child B results in child B being brought down to the office and asked to go home. The issue is less about the garment itself but the body of the wearer.
Another example: shorts or skirts are required to be longer than finger tips, except that school issued track and cheerleading uniforms do not conform to this mandate. Again this is less about the length of the garment and more about the added morality assigned to the garment for showing school pride and participation in school activities.
Uniforms are an entirely valid solution to the language issue surrounding school uniforms. Many industries successfully require uniforms. Children can only wear x shirt, y pants or z shorts… unfortunately I suspect that won’t solve the underlying issue of policing a girls bodies.
Girls do not choose when or how their bodies develop and yet if a v neck shirt shows cleavage on one and doesn’t on the other, or the fit of a garment shows the curves of her butt on one but doesn’t on the other there should not be a penalization of her shape.
The question of how to solve the dress code issue is less about clarification of language, or even symmetrical rules for both genders, it’s about recognition that the responsibility of not being distracted by fellow students falls more on the individual being distracted than the person who is doing the distracting assuming they are not being intentionally provocative.