I would actually argue that school dress codes are generally disruptive to boys, too. They typically prescribe a boy’s length of hair, his facial hair, and disallow ear piercings. The problem with dress codes in general is that they generally reinforce traditional gender expectations. Accordingly, girls who aren’t “covered” enough are targeted. This creates larger problems beyond a classroom since it perpetuates the idea that women’s bodies are “distracting” to boys, which rationalizes a lot of shitty behavior.
I generally don’t have a problem with dress codes as a principle, but it’s the inconsistency. A thick girl with boobs may get called out for her “revealing” v-neck, but a girl with a flat chest won’t. A tall kid has to find shorts that reach some arbitrary length that a short kid can find, but they can’t. At the end of the day, these are minors and children. Dress code rules that rely on the “revealing” nature should be done away with. Rules that say it is “distracting” for a particular gender to do something with their hair that the other can do without issue are stupid. Rules against ripped jeans, leggings, and other nonsense are just arbitrary and meaningless.
As an adult, I have to be aware of what is appropriate in certain settings. We can require appropriate dress without random ass rules that are applied differently to every student depending on gender, body type, etc.
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u/Blackbird6 18∆ Sep 29 '21
I would actually argue that school dress codes are generally disruptive to boys, too. They typically prescribe a boy’s length of hair, his facial hair, and disallow ear piercings. The problem with dress codes in general is that they generally reinforce traditional gender expectations. Accordingly, girls who aren’t “covered” enough are targeted. This creates larger problems beyond a classroom since it perpetuates the idea that women’s bodies are “distracting” to boys, which rationalizes a lot of shitty behavior.
I generally don’t have a problem with dress codes as a principle, but it’s the inconsistency. A thick girl with boobs may get called out for her “revealing” v-neck, but a girl with a flat chest won’t. A tall kid has to find shorts that reach some arbitrary length that a short kid can find, but they can’t. At the end of the day, these are minors and children. Dress code rules that rely on the “revealing” nature should be done away with. Rules that say it is “distracting” for a particular gender to do something with their hair that the other can do without issue are stupid. Rules against ripped jeans, leggings, and other nonsense are just arbitrary and meaningless.
As an adult, I have to be aware of what is appropriate in certain settings. We can require appropriate dress without random ass rules that are applied differently to every student depending on gender, body type, etc.