Someone at my school made these in response to my principal announcing a dress code that, as usual, only applied to girls, and I’m kind of proud
those signs should be ripped down. It is called the real world, unless you work at a place like hooters, or a god damn strip club have some fucking decency and dress like a normal person. Works have dress codes, and I would like to see these stupid girls do this at one of their work places. Thanks. I could tell you, I would be fired on the spot.
Take some fucking responsibility for your body. Yes, you’re 15. You’ve been pubescent for about 3-4 years. Just because you’re not finished developing doesn’t mean you’re not developed at all. And you know that’s the case because you’re so fucking keen to show off. And you keep specifically using the word ‘show off’, so clearly you expect to be looked at. If you only want to show off to yourself, do it at home.
Calm down, stop trying to show your ass in school, and maybe focus on your lessons instead of insisting that dresscodes are sexualizing you.
Uh, why are shoulders, legs, and stomachs a problem? Why are visible bra straps a problem? They’re not talking about walking around looking like strippers. They’re talking about ordinary sounding clothes in a casual dress code environment. So long as they’re not in school in a bikini or shorts that show their asscheeks or whatever, I really don’t see the problem.
You know what, fair enough. I saw the bullshit tagline about dress codes perpetuating rape culture and objectification and veered off course because that shit was old before it was new.
Let’s back up and approach this again.
Item 1: Bra straps.
They’re undergarments. Most dresscodes would like you to abide by the ‘under’ part of that. If you intentionally wear your bra strap showing because you are comfortable with it and insist that it’s shaming when somebody says ‘it’s supposed to be under you clothes, jackass’ then I don’t know what to tell you. Additionally, when that idiotic ‘wear your pants almost on the fucking floor’ fad was making its rounds and the halls were full of male asscracks and boxer bands, the ‘don’t show your underwear’ rule was probably applied more to boys than girls. When the equally ridiculous equivalent of ‘thongs visible above women’s waistbands’ thing came through, it became a universal problem.
Nothing to do with women specifically, or with rape culture. Keep your underwear under your clothes.
Item 2: See through clothes
Tied to Item 1, I would hazard. Confidence is great and all, but in the end you’re still just demanding to be able to show off in a place where you and everyone around you is supposed to be concentrating. Men don’t really have sheer clothing options, so there’s not precedent for needing to enforce it on them. You’re not supposed to feel guilty for having a body, you’re just supposed to exercise your inner professor oak. School’s not the place to wear sheer clothing.
Item 3: Mid-sections
There’s casual and then there’s minimal. It depends on where you are from and what the social climate is where the division between the two is, but showing off sections of your torso in an environment that aspires to casual codes of dress is usually going to be a no for the same reason that skirts have a length requirement. Yes this is specifically a girl issue. Men don’t really have shirts made to show their midriff.
You will have all of college, where the code tends to be basically ‘no shirt, no service’, shoes optional to show off your midriff all day and all night if you want to. Right now, it’s because you’re a minor surrounded by other equally stupid and horny minors that yes, they do want to minimalize the amount of skin you’re showing. Realistically, high school is a building full of underage people, most of whom are hormonal as hell, and half of whom are doing something sexual to some other similarly underage person, so ‘don’t sexualize me, i’m a child’ doesn’t hold any kind of water in my book. Not in this scenario. A patch of skin that draws attention to your hips and/or is a good stretch away from showing off you bra is not something a school district wants around
Item 4: Shoulders
This is largely dependent on your district. If you live in the bible belt, sorry I can’t help you. You’re at the mercy of religious ideas penetrating public domain and good luck fixing it. Shoulders were not a problem at my school. However, the idea put forth that this has something to do with men being seen as human instead of object reeks of a victim complex. Again, boys don’t really have clothes that show their midriffs. Men don’t really show their legs either outside of sports, which often have their own specific uniforms. They have male-cut tank tops, which some schools (mine included) disallow despite allowing girls to wear them for reasons I have never examined but probably have to do with male shoulders, placing you on even ground.
In short, follow the goddamn dresscode while you’re at school. Show off when you leave. it’s not that hard, and has nothing to do with rape culture or oppression. The fact that you don’t see it enforced on guys has more to do with the differences in their clothes than some plot against women.
Somebody saying it better than me.
(Source: redrosesredwine)
