Ava Hallin and Emily Martinez
To further our research into dress codes, we decided to look into both public and private high schools. From our experiences, we have noted that females tend to have more negative experiences with dress codes in high school. The rules about clothing for females are far more strict and tend to only restrict their way of dressing compared to males who only have a few rules. Ava and I decided to interview our female cousins who have both had experiences with the strictness and unfairness of their dress codes.
Private School
Amelia is currently a sophomore in high school and is attending a private high school. Amelia began to describe the dress code: no bra straps were to be exposed, no strapless shirts, no midriff, and no shorts were to be worn unless they were at least 2 inches above the knee. As for the boys at the school, they were not allowed to wear muscle tanks.
Amelia then talked about her experience being dress coded; she was forced to change because what she was wearing was inappropriate. She mentioned how she got in trouble for wearing a see-through shirt, even though she was wearing clothes underneath. Although, she stated that girls getting in trouble for having bra straps showing is far more common.
Amelia even told a story of a brave girl who got called out for her straps showing, proceeded to take her bra off and shove it in her backpack while saying “now you can’t see it.” After this incident Amelia claimed that the faculty became more lenient about bra straps. It is unfair that one girl had to go to the extreme just to gain some freedom.
In most schools when someone is dress-coded, they are forced to wear oversized clothes for the rest of the school day. Walking around campus in the “sweatpants of shame” is humiliating and embarrassing.
In most schools when someone is dress-coded, they are forced to wear oversized clothes for the rest of the school day. Walking around campus in the “sweatpants of shame” is humiliating and embarrassing. It is unfair punishment that students are forced to undergo to shame them into following the school’s policies. Overall Amelia believed that her school’s clothing policies did not allow students to express themselves.
Public School
Anna is a freshman in high school and has already experienced the downsides of her school’s policy about clothing. Her school’s dress codes were the usual no strapless shirts, no visible undergarments, no clothing with inappropriate images or sayings, shorts and skirts must be a certain length, no yoga pants, and no visible cleavage. Students are also not allowed to wear clothing with professional and college sports teams.
Anna mentioned that due to her body shape, she struggles to follow the school’s policies. She mentioned how she and another, slightly slimmer, girl wore the same shirt to school, but it looked far more inappropriate on her due to Anna’s bust size.
Anna recalled getting dress-coded for wearing a V-neck shirt because her cleavage was showing too much. The admin made Anna cover up so she did not distract her peers. Anna was hurt because to her she was just wearing a regular shirt when her male teacher sent her to the office to change.
When she woke up that morning and went to school, she did not know that her outfit would take priority over her education. She felt ashamed as she walked the halls in an oversized gym sweatshirt she was forced to wear for the rest of the day. She also told us the story about how the “no inappropriate sayings on clothing” rule was made because a girl wore a “Free the Nipple” shirt. This rule enraged many female students because they felt that they couldn’t express themselves in any way.
Conclusion
Based on the interviews we conducted, we can now see that both the public and private high school systems are unfair, mainly toward females, but all student’s freedom is restricted by dress codes. The school systems are not allowing students to express themselves in any way. By forcing young girls to cover up, it sexualizes them and forces the ideology that in order to get an education they must cover up. For all students not being able to wear what they want impacts their self-image. For example, some schools do not allow unnatural hair colors, but all this rule does is force students not to try new things and to look the same as everyone else.
Dress codes pose as a way to control students, ensure that everyone is dressed similarly, and leave no room for individuality. By analyzing the different dress codes in schools, we can try to find a common ground where clothing policies are still present, yet allow room for students to show their uniqueness.