There’s a new threat facing our society: the female body.
JONES: All across the country, dress codes igniting controversy.
DRUMMOND: Ripped Jeans and a tank top got her sent home from school…
CARLSON: A fifteen year old girl was forced to change into what her mom calls “a shame suit”.
But often, the fear isn't for the girl's sake
it's for the boys.
SHILLUE: The guys, they can’t deal with it
SHILLUE: Look at the kid! It reminded me of me when I was in high school.
SHILLUE: I couldn’t concentrate because the girls
SHILLUE: were in these wonderful little cheerleading outfits.
SHILLUE: How could I do geometry when they were sitting right in front of me?
SHILLUE: I could smell their hair.
WOMAN: That’s your problem.
The concept is nothing new:
boys will be boys, and girls need to conform to keep things under control.
But what happens when young women start speaking up?
This is Maggie Sunseri.
Her school here in Kentucky has a pretty strict dress code
LIZ: What do we got?
LIZ: Ok, what about...
LIZ: What about this?
MAGGIE: See that's a no-no because collarbone.
LIZ: Ooh I like this!
LIZ: This is really pretty.
MAGGIE: Shoulders.
LIZ: I would like wear this to a job interview.
So Maggie decided to take matters into her own hands.
MAGGIE: Last year I was in a filmmaking class
MAGGIE: and we were instructed to make short films
MAGGIE: but instead I chose to make a controversial documentary because that's just who I am.
STUDENT: I feel really crappy about myself because of this dress code.
STUDENT: One person happened to think it was inappropriate so I had to miss all of class that day.
PRINCIPAL: The biggest thing is: we're trying to teach students how to dress for success.
LIZ: You got them to change the dress code.
LIZ: What changes were made?
MAGGIE: I proposed a dress code where shorts and skirts,
MAGGIE: instead of going down to your knees, they'd come to finger tip length.
MAGGIE: And they took that and made it so
MAGGIE: it was a credit card length.
MAGGIE: I think it's two and an eighth inch is how high above it can be.
LIZ: That's very specific.
MAGGIE: Yeah and they have that for the collarbone as well.
ELI: Their whole thing is they don't want to have teachers have to touch the students to measure it,
ELI: but they want it to be measurable.
ELI: So...
LIZ: So they use... do they actually use real credit cards?
MAGGIE: They talked about having the engineering class making like a stand
MAGGIE: and like a credit card thing
MAGGIE: and then you go stand by it and it will measure you
MAGGIE: so they don't have to put their hands on you.
MAGGIE: I'm here to learn
MAGGIE: I'm not here for you to come measure me to make sure that I am at the eighth of an inch
LIZ: So do you keep like a credit card around in your closet so you can measure stuff
LIZ: This one has to be ok!
MAGGIE: Yes, that's perfectly okay and I wear that a lot during the winter.
LIZ: Amazing.
LIZ: Dress for success!
LIZ: Does it feel odd when you know...
LIZ: boys don't get called out in the way that girls do?
MAGGIE: We were talking to some of the guys and they were telling us like
MAGGIE: they feel kind of insulted
MAGGIE: and I think they should feel insulted
MAGGIE: because really, that's like calling them out. Like you can't handle yourselves?
But what if legs and collarbones are actually a distraction for boys?
I worked some connections to get ahold of two teen boys of my own. Matt and John,
Matt and John, both 18, were asked to take two separate math tests with me.
But for the 2nd test, I decided to add another variable to the equation:
my collarbones.
My bare collarbones on display, glistening in the light of my office’s conference room,
how would they be able to resist?
How would this distraction affect their academic performance?
JOHN: Your name on it?
MATT: Yep.
JOHN: Good.
LIZ: So, how did this test feel?
JOHN: I felt decent enough about it.
LIZ: Did you guys like lose your minds?
MATT: No.
LIZ: Something was different from the first test to the second test, right?
MATT: I think the format of the test was a little different.
JOHN: Yeah.
LIZ: You didn't see any change...at all?
JOHN: No.
MATT: I didn't really notice anything.
LIZ: You guys didn't notice that I took off my blazer
LIZ: and revealed my collarbones?
JOHN: No.
Some people might be super into legs, or shoulders, or collarbones,
but targeting and restricting girls out of fear that they'll be objectified,
we're only objectifying them more.
LIZ: Why were girls targeted more than boys and what's unfair about that?
MAGGIE: Well I think that girls were targeted just because in our society,
MAGGIE: our bodies are sexualized at every turn.
MAGGIE: and so we have to make these rules that
MAGGIE: cover up your body or you should be shamed for it.
MAGGIE: I think what I learned from this experience is that
MAGGIE: it doesn't matter how old you are
MAGGIE: you can still enact positive change
MAGGIE: and you shouldn't let adults tell you that you can't.