My Thoughts On Dress Code In Schools - Isabella Barbero

  I've always had a love, hate relationship with the dress code. Dress code is everywhere...it's in certain restaurants, at work, in schools, or simply just out in public. I've personally only been dress coded 2 or 3 times, but I know several girls that have been dress coded almost everyday...so here's my thoughts about it.

     Dress code is necessary in some circumstances...the problem is when females get obsessively sexualized is where I believe it crosses a line. For example, two girls could wear a tight shirt and jeans...but these two girls have two different body types. That's where the issue hits. Most times one girl is shamed for it, while the other is not. It's not either of their faults, they can't control that they are two different people who look completely different. It's just unfair that girls have to be put down constantly because they don't fit the standards dress code demands. Having someone come up to you, and tell you that you are showing "too much" skin isn't necessarily a confidence booster, especially if you're a repetitive target of it.

     I have always believed that if you feel comfortable in what you're wearing nothing is wrong, having people tell you how to dress, and how to look makes you feel like you are doing something wrong. It causes insecurities that aren't needed at the ages of 15-18. Especially when you're pointed out as a "distraction." A belly button or shoulders never hurt anybody. I understand if you are dressed in something that really is an interference, and truly is unacceptable. However if everyone else is wearing what you are wearing, and you're the only one who gets called out for it. It's not right. I simply wish that females weren't seen as distractions, but were respected and treated how they want to be. This issue isn't just at high schools, it's everywhere...it's time that it gets solved, and it's time that anyone that thinks otherwise understands that it's not the women that are the distractions. It's the people who look and blame it on them who really are.