Girls are taken out of class everyday for wearing clothes the school system deems “too distracting” for male students.  However, what people don’t see is the damage this lesson has on young women and society as a whole.

School is one of the most important times in a young persons life. It’s a time when young adults learn about the world around them and create their own opinions surrounding said world. It teaches young people that in the society we live in, hard work always pays off and that education is a necessary stepping stone to be successful in the adult world.

What most people don’t think of though, is the underlying lesson schools are also teaching: girl’s bodies are inherently sexual and harassment will forever be inevitable. 

Society has been convinced that dress codes are to teach students about professionalism but since when did showing your collarbones mean you were unprofessional? This is sadly the world we live in, a world where a young girl’s body is seen as inherently sexual and something to be hidden from the male gaze. This overwhelming message of sexism is being broadcasted around the nation to impressionable young students. However, it’s not just the sexist dress codes that are the problem. It’s also the way these sexist dress codes are enforced.

Just a year ago, a teenager in Canada was given detention for wearing a full length dress because her school deemed it inappropriate. The school claims that it went against their dress code because she was showing her shoulders and back.

” If you are truly so concerned that a boy in this school will get distracted by my upper back and shoulders, then he needs to be sent home and practice self-control.” – Lauren Higgins

When the teen in question tried to speak out against the school for the over sexualization of her shoulders and back, she was sentenced to a one-day suspension.

However, this was not the only time a young woman was personally attacked by a sexist dress code. In the UK, Bridlington School announced a plan to ban skirts all together just over a year ago. The school claimed that female students wearing skirts made the male teachers feel “uncomfortable”.

The sad fact is, these are just two of the many cases on an ever-growing list regarding sexist dress codes in schools. The showing of un-sexualized body parts, such as shoulders and knees, have become the epitome of a war zone within schools world wide. Clothing deemed as appropriate by the fashion world, such as leggings and yoga pants, have been banned by many schools. Girls attire is constantly being inspected by school staff, while boys walk by without receiving a second glance.

Schools are quick to respond to criticism, claiming that they are only trying to maintain a ‘distraction free’ learning environment. However, it seems to me that the only learning environment they’re trying to protect is that of the male student body.

However, there are two groups that are trying to fight against this subtle injustice towards women: the Everyday Sexism Project and the Amber Rose SlutWalk.

The Everyday Sexism Project is a website where people from around the world can post about their experiences with gender inequality. The website has gained hundreds of testimonies from young women from around the world who are directly effected by sexist dress codes. Many young women who post on the site claim that they personally feel a strong sense of injustice due to their gender.

” I got dress coded at my school for wearing shorts. After I left the principal’s office with a detention, I walked past another student wearing a shirt depicting two stick figures: the male holding down the females head in his crotch and saying ‘good girls swallow’. Teachers walked right past him and didn’t say a thing.” – Anonymous, Everyday Sexism Project

One student on the site claims that she was given three reasons why there was a dress code at her school:

“1) There are male teachers and male sixth formers (high school seniors)

2) Teachers feel uncomfortable around bras, etc. 

3) Don’t want the boys to target or intimidate you”

This powerful and sexist message in schools and society is one of the many reasons why Amber Rose created the SlutWalk. SlutWalk is a city wide event where people gather and march in the streets to fight against “all forms of sexism and bigotry”. Similarly to the Everyday Sexism Project website, SlutWalk allows its users to post about their own battles with sexism. Just like the Everyday Sexism Project, hundreds of posts directly refer to sexist and unfair school dress codes.

These sexist dress codes teach children that the female body is meant to be sexualized and that boys are biologically programmed to objectify said body.

This message prepares our children for college, where one in five women is sexually assaulted. However, rather than fighting this, society will instead blame the victim and let the real criminal get away with little to no disciplinary action being taken. This problem is only furthered by the fact that most of the time, there is little to no disciplinary action when boys are showing harassing behavior. This simply maintains the idea that it’s the victims fault and they should be held responsible for preventing such instances. There have been thousands of cases posted to both SlutWalk and the Everyday Sexism Project where girls are sexually assaulted at school, only to be told that “boys will be boys”.

What schools fail to realize, is that the very act of teachers calling out young girls for their clothing simply perpetuates the over sexualization of said clothing item or body part.

In this case, girls are not the only victims. There have many instances where boys have also been banned from school due to their clothing choices. However, it’s probably not for the reason you’re thinking of.

Boys have been banned from school for having their hair deemed ‘too long’ or wearing fashion choices that are dictated by the school as ‘feminine’. This includes but is not limited to skinny jeans or skirts.

One instance of this injustice came from a transgender student. The student claims he was threatened to have his yearbook photo removed, simply because he wore a tuxedo to prom.

It’s beginning to look like school dress codes are less about protecting children and more about exploiting them. Schools seem to be more interested in protecting widely accepted social norms that exclude diversity.

When a girl is removed from class for showing her shoulders because she’s ‘distracting’ to her male classmates, his education is prioritized over hers. When schools chose to focus on the covering of the female body while ignoring inappropriate behavior from boys, the school is only prolonging and supporting the assumption that victims of sexual violence are responsible for their own fate.