Women are not here to distract you
By Conor Ammett
Growing up, you notice differences between the two main genders. You notice how women are expected to wear dresses and men are expected to wear pants. You notice how women have long hair and men have short hair. You notice how women are called fragile and gentle, and men are called strong and brave. Conventions of language, like the aforementioned examples, contribute to stereotypes that are entrenched within our society, like what is stereotypically feminine and what is classically masculine. Before women were allowed to vote, before women were allowed to work, before women were allowed to voice their opinions, there was a time when women were considered as lesser than men. This was such a popular belief that everyone believed it- boys and girls growing up, men and women already grown up. Women were not seen as equal to men. But that was in the past.
Or was it? The kind of archaic standards of dress for young women to be found in public schools suggest that it is not. Women are still not seen as equals.
In high schools, especially public high schools, where young men and women are given the opportunity to express their individuality through what they choose to wear to school everyday, there have been instances of teachers and principals telling students that what they’re wearing is ‘inappropriate’, ‘too revealing’ or ‘offensive’. At Stuyvesant High School, New York, kids are banned from wearing anything that shows their shoulders. Some young women that attend the high school have been told by teachers, assistant principals and principals that what they’re wearing is not suitable for a school environment, and in an extreme case, a school official implied that what Year 12 Lucinda Ventimiglia wore at school would carry out to her habits out of school and would make her more likely to be raped. ‘[…] and you want a husband, don’t you?’
Suggesting that what a 17 year old girl is wearing is the cause of men raping her is awful and only adds to this tainted foul filter that society has on women - that it’s the woman’s fault for the illegal and highly unethical actions of a male. There are plenty of examples like that of Stuyvesant High in America, and all over the world. In Canada, a teenage girl claims she was given detention for showing her shoulders and back by wearing a full-length maxi dress because it didn’t follow her school dress code. In the UK in 2015, a school announced plans to prohibit skirts altogether.
Even within our own school, University High, there are cases of teachers making students feel targeted on the basis of what they’re wearing.
A survey was conducted about clothing and discrimination within University High. In that survey of 89 students, 15% said that a teacher at school has said that what they’re wearing is ‘too revealing’ or ‘inappropriate’ for school. Not because it was a danger to that person or other people around them; they were told off because a teacher wanted to let it be known that they, or someone else, disagreed with what they were wearing. Another 48% of people said that they’ve been made to feel uncomfortable by other people because of what they’re wearing at school. As a student, this makes me think that maybe no one is guilt free - students, teachers, principals, and outside of school - siblings, cousins and grandparents. Perhaps all humans are judgemental and that’s the way we are. Everyone is allowed to make up their minds about what is ‘too revealing’ and they’re entitled to let that person know, even if it effects that person to the extent where they grow up to wear full-length clothing, and don’t show any skin.
When asked by students interested in clothing and discrimination, the school (principal class representatives) said something to the effect of: conversations about clothing with students happen equally with male and female students, and that conversations with students to discuss clothing usually arise when underwear is showing.
In September 2015, a year 11 Uni High student posted on The Uni High Feminists’ (TUHF) Facebook page describing her experience with her clothing choices at school, and principals accusing her of wearing revealing clothing. The student posted her story and asked if anyone had had any similar experiences to her, saying that she felt singled out. She writes in her post that she was pulled up for violating the school dress code: “That’s right loved ones, dress code. The dress code we don’t have.” According to the student, who was called into a principal’s office during school hours for a meeting, she was told the school had received numerous complaints from male members of staff, visitors to the school and other students that what she is wearing is inappropriate. It was also said that some male staff members have trouble maintaining eye contact with her; that if one can see any part of her bra, it is considered an inappropriate outfit and that short shorts are against dress code. After the student posted this on the TUHF Facebook page, there was an explosion of comments underneath with people voicing their outrage and speaking out about similar experiences. An angry year 11 commented, ‘instead of addressing a teenage girl, address the middle aged men that are […] checking her out? I can’t fathom how they don’t see that as an issue.’
And finally, a quote, from journalist Jessica Valenti, columnist at the Guardian U.S. “In addition to the violation of female students’ rights, the thinking behind the [dress] code sends a dangerous message to young women – that they are responsible for the way in which society objectifies and sexualizes them.”
**In response to this incident, Uni High has successfully collaborated with students and the SRC to revise the school's dress code