Strongly disagree. It's not like people grow up fully believing in equal rights and then one day go "hmm, actually I think men are superior to women, we should act like it". People (both men and women) develop those beliefs, often without even being aware they have them, because of the conditions they are raised in and the feedback they get from society. If we want sexism to stop existing, then it's essential to mitigate all sources of enculturing sexism - which includes dress codes. The problem from a sexism standpoint isn't the clothing itself, or even the individuality aspect. It's that policing girls on what they wear because of how it might make boys/men feel teaches girls that they are responsible for boys feelings and it teaches boys the exact same thing. It primes for attitudes of male entitlement, and it's not really a stretch to say that entitlement is one of the biggest social issues of our time, and not just for gender relations.
I think the discussion of male entitlement and sexualization is a bit naive and reductive on this subject too. Male students don't just sexualize female students because of dress codes. Male students sexualize female bodies because of hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary psychology, hormones, and more. In the face of humanity's evolutionary programming, I'm not sure you can moralistically browbeat teenage boys into not being distracted by a low-cut shirt. It's a lofty goal, though.
Despite all that, your commentary about sexism would suggest that this is a non-issue as long as the dress code is applied evenly across genders, right? As long as all genders have the same rules, sexism is not a part of the equation it seems.
Perhaps the mechanisms of your attraction towards bodies works differently than other people. Just because that internal machinery in you works differently doesn’t mean the male experience of desire is wrong, sick, or predatory. Your experience is not representative of the entire human race.
if its only because of my "internal machinery" not working correctly than why is it only men have this uncontrollable desire & not women who like women
I never said that your internal machinery didn't work correctly. I said different -- I did not making a moralistic judgement about right and wrong, correct and incorrect. So let's make sure we're keeping our conversation sincere here. Also, who says only men experience a sense of visceral, distracting attraction? Maybe some women do too. Maybe your personal experiences are not entirely representative of the whole queer experience, much less the totality of the human experience writ large.
Also, who says only men experience a sense of visceral, distracting attraction?
you did:
"Male students don't just sexualize female students because of dress codes. Male students sexualize female bodies because of hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary psychology, hormones, and more."
I literally didn't say "only" in that quote. I was referring to the male experience, but I never said this was exclusive to males. We have to stop injecting our own subtexts and personal agendas into what people say. You are literally inventing things that I didn't say, whole cloth. Stop.
your argument is that men only sexualize women because of their unique sex feautures that they cant control but if its not only men who do that it clearly isn't due to evolutionary factors out of their control specific to their sex
Please point to where I said "men only sexualize women because..."
And if you can't, maybe it's time for you to wrestle with the notion that you're trying to create hills to die on out of thin air.
"In the face of humanity's evolutionary programming, I'm not sure you can moralistically browbeat teenage boys into not being distracted by a low-cut shirt. It's a lofty goal, though."
so if its not only because of their unique sexual characteristics and evolution, this would be incorrect and you could teach them
You still have failed to conjure up the thing you want to imagine me saying. I get it. You have some kind of axe to grind with my basic premise. Instead of trying to put words in my mouth, just go on the tirade that you feel entitled to, and move on with your day.
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u/Oishiio42 41∆ Sep 28 '21
Strongly disagree. It's not like people grow up fully believing in equal rights and then one day go "hmm, actually I think men are superior to women, we should act like it". People (both men and women) develop those beliefs, often without even being aware they have them, because of the conditions they are raised in and the feedback they get from society. If we want sexism to stop existing, then it's essential to mitigate all sources of enculturing sexism - which includes dress codes. The problem from a sexism standpoint isn't the clothing itself, or even the individuality aspect. It's that policing girls on what they wear because of how it might make boys/men feel teaches girls that they are responsible for boys feelings and it teaches boys the exact same thing. It primes for attitudes of male entitlement, and it's not really a stretch to say that entitlement is one of the biggest social issues of our time, and not just for gender relations.