Kelly Geier

Scott Erdiakoff

English 134

5 December 2017

Dressed in Confidence

Imagine at the innocent age of eleven, your sixth-grade math teacher humiliates you

in front of your peers on the playground by saying your brand-new khaki shorts violate the

rule of having an inseam of at least three inches. You cower in fear as your math teacher

approaches you with a traditional wooden ruler. She puts it on your inner thigh as she

announces to everyone in earshot that you are compromising the learning environment for

male students by distracting them with your body. Embarrassed and in tears, you call your

mother on the office phone, taking time out of your science class that started forty minutes

ago, to inform her that you will be in need of a change of clothes. This eleven-year-old

mentioned above is me. A mere child unaware of the blatant sexual objectification that is set

forth by not only the dress code, but how discipline is conducted for violations. Girls are

shown at a young age that their bodies being covered up is more important than their own

learning; considering that girls will be pulled out of class and told to change so they will not

be a distraction to their male peers. In a society as advanced as ours, steps must be taken in

order to change the rules that are currently promoting objectification, mainly to protect the

impressionable minds of our youth.

In a successful attempt to lessen the controversy of dress codes, Evanston Township

High School District, in Illinois, proposed and passed a new dress code policy that states

Students should not be shamed or required to display their body in front of others (students,
 Geier2

parents, or staff) in school. Shaming includes, but is not limited to kneeling or bending

over to check attire fitmeasuring straps or skirt length calling out students in spaces, in

hallways, or in classrooms about perceived dress code violations in front of others

(McCombs). The journalist Emily McCombs addresses the phenomenal changes made to this

Illinois high school districts dress code. The phenomenal changes include rules directed at

faculty and a single gender-neutral category that speaks about what clothes must be worn,

instead of having separate sections for both male and female attire requirements. The code

used by the Evanston Township school district is derived directly from the Oregon NOW

(National Organization of Women) model, which was created and set into motion in 2016.

This reformed dress code fixes the demeaning and controversial issues that stem from sexist

dress codes, especially the rules that prohibit faculty from objectifying students with rulers

and other humiliating ways. This new dress code should be implemented at high schools

across the country to combat these injustices.

In order to further emphasize the issue of humiliation and its effects on young

women, providing an example of my first-hand experience can provide a valuable context.

Gliding into my senior prom with my closest friends, I felt empowered and beautiful. I was

wearing a 2-piece royal blue embellished gown, that exposed around an inch of my midriff.

Despite the gown being floor length without a slit, I saw the disapproving finger of my vice

principal in the corner of my eye, motioning that he wanted to speak with me. My vice

principal, Mr. Haws, without the respect of wishing me a good evening, threatened that if I

acted in any questionable (most likely meaning provocative) ways at the dance, I would be

thrown out. To further the blow, he asked whether or not I respected myself as a woman. To

this day, I do not think I could have a more degrading encounter with a member of school
 Geier3

faculty, in fact, simply anyone with authority over me. These may seem like just words, but

these types of comments are detrimental to those with already wavering self-esteem and

worse-- those who suffer from depression and self-hate habits. According to the American

Psychological Association (Zurbriggen), sexualization and objectification undermine

confidence in and comfort with ones own body, leading to a host of negative emotional

consequences, such as shame, anxiety, and even self-disgust (Zurbriggen). Not only this,

but the APA has evidence that strongly supports the claim that continuous exposure to a

skewed image of a sexualized body leads to lower self-esteem, negative mood and

depressive symptoms among adolescent girls and women (Zurbriggen). In an article written

in the New York Times, author Peggy Orenstein explains that there is the pressure young

women face to view their bodies as the objects of others desires (Orenstein) because of the

amount of backlash women encounter when they wear something that is considered

distracting. Implementing a new dress code cannot completely eliminate these psychological

difficulties that women may encounter, but a new dress code can certainly begin a start to a

new standard. A standard that not only applies to students, but to faculty as well.

Instead of creating a new more in-depth dress code, some schools have chosen to enforce a

uniform policy. Although students wear uniforms for a variety of reasons, Dr. Larry Wilder,

a professor at Fresno State University, states that some possible benefits include

decreasing violence and theft, preventing students from wearing gang-related colors to

school, instilling student discipline, helping to resist peer pressure, helping students

concentrate on academics and aiding in recognition of intruders (Larry Wilder). Wilder

writes about various positives and negatives found within a schools policy on proper student

attire, however, his points about the benefits of uniforms are prominent. A uniform policy
 Geier4

would eliminate quite a large amount of body-shaming consequences for being out of dress

code, since everyone has the exact same options for clothing. Unfortunately, only nineteen

percent of public schools in the United States report that they require uniforms, meaning that

the other eighty-one percent of students are susceptible to unfair ridicule based off of their

attire. Not only is forcing all public-school students to wear uniforms impossible, it would

greatly decrease a childs ability for self-expression, which leads to a whole other set of

issues. According to Michelle Kouzmine, an established online writer for childrens fashion,

these issues include but are not limited to the fact that Kids and teens use the way they dress

to express themselves and to identify with certain social groups. Many students who are

against school uniforms argue that they lose their self-identity when they lose their right to

express themselves through fashion (Kouzmine). Not a single child wants to go to school

and feel as if there are not many things that differentiate them from their peers appearance-

wise. Finding where you fit in is an important part of growing into yourself and finding who

you are. Taking away style, which is an important part of self-expression, is not worth the

benefits that a district enforced dress code provides.

There are important issues within our school dress code policies that need to be

revised, in order to keep up with the advancements we are making in our society; because

frankly these ideas are absolutely outdated. It is time to stop supporting the stigma that turns

a blind eye to problems that can arise from these policies, such as sexual harassment. Telling

a young girl that her exposed body is a distraction to her peers is a form of victim-blaming,

which is an unfortunate occurrence that can be prevented in this instance. With reformed

attire code rules, the harmful psychological effects can be combated efficiently and
 Geier5

effectively. All students have the right to feel comfortable in their own skin, without the fear

of ridicule for reasons they may not even understand.

Annotated Bibliography

Wilder, Larry. Pros and Cons of School Dress Code, Fresno Pacific University,
https://www.fresno.edu/news/11/11/2007/pros-and-cons-school-dress-code. Accessed 9
Nov. 2017

McCombs, Emily. Sexist School Dress Codes are a Problem, and Oregon Many Have The
Answer, Huffpost, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sexist-school-dress-codes-and-
the-oregon-now-model_us_59a6cd7ee4b00795c2a318e5. Accessed 9 Nov. 2017

Zurbriggen, Eileen. Sexualization of Girls, American Psychological Association,

Orenstein, Peggy. The Battle Over Dress Codes, The New York Times,
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/14/opinion/the-battle-over-dress-codes.html.
Accessed 15 Nov. 2017

Kouzmine, Michelle. Why Wearing a School Uniform Can Be a Bad Idea, Live About,
https://www.liveabout.com/the-arguments-against-school-uniforms-2101087. Accessed 5
December 2017.