Why dress codes are perpetuating rape culture
In a recent Huffington post blog the issue of
ridiculous dress code rules have been brought to attention and up for
discussion not by angry teenage girls, but by parents of these girls. In a
recent post a girl’s mother was baffled at the fact that she had to leave work
to pick up her daughter for inappropriate wardrobe, but when the mother saw her
and found out that she was being sent home for her collarbone showing she was
beside herself confused as to why if she’s covered from head to toe and the
only thing showing is her collarbone then why was it inappropriate dressing?
In this day and age a common issue is said that the reasoning
behind dress codes for girls is to not distract boys in class. If the case is
being made that a girl’s collarbone is such a distraction towards a boy that
the school feels the need to take girls out of important classes, disrupt
class, and call in parents from work to bring them home all so that the boy
isn’t distracted what kind of example is that setting for young girls, feeling
the need that need to dress according to how a boy is going to respond to them,
in my opinion this rule on needing to not distract a boy is absurd, where are
the rules for boys? Why is this issue being directed only towards girls why
isn’t it towards boys as well.
The issue at hand is the need to change the way we look at
girls as being this distraction to boys and start treating them with more
respect. The process in which these rules are made are through school
committees and leaders of schools, but their opponent in these arguments and
debates of how to handle the rules are the parents and teenage girls who fight
the issue and argue its ridiculousness. In my opinion we should stop teaching
girls to fear boy’s perception of them and start teaching boys to respect
girls. I find that dress codes are perpetuating rape culture and oppressing,
and objectifying women.
The title of your article suggests that you will be persuading the reader to agree that dress codes are perpetuating rape culture. But you don't actually say anything about rape culture until the last line of the article. You should lead with that statement and then spend the majority of your article explaining why you believe that to be true.
ReplyDeleteAlso, remember that when talking about politically and socially charged topics such as "rape culture", throwing the term in your article with no evidence supporting your claim, will immediately turn most readers off. "Rape culture" is also an incredibly flimsy term and carries a lot of connotations with it. To strengthen your credibility, I would first define what "rape culture" means to you, so that your readers are on the same page.
And any grammatical errors or typos weakens your credibility. It would be hard for me to agree with your opinion if you can't communicate it well.
I completely agree. Dress codes tend to depend on the logic that "boys will be boys". Boys will be whatever we teach them to be, and designing dress codes to placate them teaches them that their sexual desires are stronger and more important than that of their female peers.
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea: Girls should be allowed to wear what they want, to express themselves and their sexual identity, and boys should be the ones punished or sent home if they get caught leering.
Teenage girls are a distraction for teenage boys. And to a lesser extent, teenage boys are a distraction for teenage girls. Attempting to fight hormones and biology is counterproductive.
ReplyDeleteInstead, the problem with dress codes is that they have become part of a larger "zero-tolerance" rules-based method of administering public schools. I agree with you that the rules-making process is ridiculous.
On the other hand, the opinion you state in the last sentence is not substantiated by the argument before it. While the first three paragraphs explain why dress codes are ridiculous, the jump to "rape culture" is abrupt.
Greetings from the former Mr. FSU in Micronesia! I really look forward to what the legendary Carl Hommel has to say about this post!
ReplyDeletePretty much everything you say here is spot on. But then again I might be biased toward your point of view, as a feminist myself.
My only critique is that you speak as if boys don't have a dress code too. We actually have more of a dress code than girls do. Think about it- what happens if a girl shows up to class in short-shorts? More uptight teachers might give her a lecture, but most people will be chill with it. What if a boy did the same thing? He'd be a laughing stock! Not only would the teacher probably find that same clothing more inappropriate on a boy, but he'd also get made fun of by his peers. If anything that social pressure makes the dress code more strict for boys than for girls. I think they'd both get chided by strict teachers though.
But I totally agree that teaching boys to respect girls is FAR more important than teaching girls to cover up just because it might distract some boys.
As an interesting tidbit- the dress code in Micronesia is a lot more strict. Girls are expected to wear full-length dresses. Even showing an ankle or a shoulder is considered revealing. It's totally unfair to the female teachers I work with, who can't really use the clothes they brought from home unless they're not leaving the house. Really puts things in perspective though- American dress codes for women could be a lot more strict!
Did I live up to your expectations?
DeleteYes you did! You said something similar on my group's blog last year!
DeleteI just want you to know that even though your comments were discouraging sometimes, they were usually helpful and gave us a different point of view to consider. I never really thanked you for that.
I just hope you become as notorious to this year's classes as you were to mine- we had a lot of fun complaining about your comments!