- Think a world without school dress codes would be chaos?
This week on Decoded, oh no, not this dream again.
A few years back student rebellions against
sexist dress codes were all over the news,
with campaigns like #iammorethanadistraction.
It's been pretty cool watching kids get in on the action
and fighting for the change they believe in.
Now, I know what you're thinking, if dress codes
are sexist what should we do, just not have dress codes?
But, that would lead to a world of unstructured madness,
mass hysteria, and no one would ever know
spaghetti strap tops were appropriate.
Someone think of the children.
Okay, stop.
Before you get your dress code compliant undies in a bunch,
let me just say that, no I don't believe
the answer is to just abolish dress codes.
But, let's strap in and take a look at
how dress codes can get things wrong.
Really, really, wrong.
Number one, unfair enforcement.
Let's get one thing straight,
it's reasonable for schools to have guidelines
on what not to wear, just like a normal workplace.
Or a convenience store with
a no shirt, no shoes, no service sign.
Also, the thought of being barefoot
in a convenience store makes me, ugh.
The problem is that a lot of the items schools ban
take pretty specific aim at girls.
Remember the story about the 15 year old Florida girl
forced to wear a shamesuit for wearing a skirt
just slightly too short to meet
the school's knee-length dress code.
Or, how about the 15 year old girl
recovering from cancer treatment who got sent
to the principal's office for wearing a hat.
Or, earlier this year, when a 17 year old girl
was forced to put bandaids on her nipples
because her sunburn made it too uncomfortable to wear a bra.
And, yes, for those who don't know,
black people can get sunburns.
Wait, really?
Hm.
And, while many of these rules are technically
evenly applied across genders,
like rules about how long shorts have to be,
whether tank tops are acceptable,
or if it's ever okay to show midriff.
They don't affect boys nearly as much.
Probably because we haven't progressed as a society
enough where 15 year old boys feel comfortable
wearing crop tops to school.
Plus, girls fashion has a lot more variety than boys,
and many of these rules send a message
that girls bodies are a distraction
that they're at fault for.
Which brings me to our next point.
Number two, dress codes sexualize young girls.
Distraction is a word that comes up a lot
when people talk about dress codes.
Can clothes be distracting?
Absolutely.
I imagine that if someone showed up to school
wearing one of those one-man-band outfits from Mary Poppins,
a full astronaut suit, or a hard core Black Panther cosplay,
you might have a few questions.
But, distracting is often a coded way
of saying that an outfit is too sexy,
which is incredibly subjective.
The rules that often get laid out,
bans on leggings, restrictions on shorts and skirts,
or rules about cleavage, are more about
policing girls bodies than they are
about banning certain clothes.
One Kentucky girl got sent home for violating a dress code
because a teacher could see her collarbone.
Sexy, forbidden, collarbone.
The lesson here is that girls bodies
are a distraction and boys aren't responsible
for staying focused on their own work.
It's a very backwards message,
and it doesn't give enough credit to girls or to boys.
We should be teaching boys to be responsible
for their own actions, instead of blaming girls
for what they're wearing.
Otherwise, we're just reinforcing the heteronormative
idea that teenage boys are uncontrollable sex monsters.
Whatever you do, don't show them your collarbone.
(screaming)
Even worse, the way students sometimes
get punished for breaking dress code,
by being given suspensions, or being forced
to wear intentionally hideous school supplied cover-ups,
feels like it's more about shaming the students
as opposed to keeping order in the school itself.
So, that whole thing about distractions,
sorry, not buying it.
Number three, racial prejudice can be built in.
Yes, dress codes can, and frequently are
racist as well as sexist.
Earlier this year, the National Women's Law Center
put out a report alleging that black girls
are significantly more likely to be hit
with dress code violations than their white counterparts.
There are a number of reasons why,
but one of the biggest issues seems to be hair.
Oh, if only there were some show
with a charming and fashionable host,
that already did a quick, funny explainer
about black hair stereotypes.
The NWLC report found that 70% of schools
in Washington D.C. banned students
from wearing scarves or headwraps.
Other schools have banned locks, braids, extensions,
or even just black girls being able
to wear their naturally textured hair.
A 12 year old Florida girl was threatened with expulsion
if she wouldn't cut or style her hair.
A Toronto eighth grader was told that
her hair was too poofy for school.
And, what constitutes natural hairstyles for black girls
is very different than girls with non-kinky hair.
And, those differences need to be understood and respected.
Oh, a video on black hair stereotypes
would be so useful right now.
Can someone make that video?
Number four, they reinforce gender stereotypes.
Did you know that public schools in the US
aren't actually legally aloud to have
separate dress codes for boys and girls?
Thanks Title IX.
Apparently, neither do a whole bunch of schools.
In 2013, one school punished a 14 year old boy
for wearing eye shadow and eye liner to class.
Something plenty of girls do every day without issue.
Guy liner, if Khal Drogo can do it, so can you.
In 2016, students in one California school
decided they were fed up with the rules
that required boys to keep their hair short,
banned them from wearing earrings,
and required girls shoulder straps
to be wider than two inches.
They protested against the policies
by swapping clothes for a day.
Boys wore skirts and dresses, girls wore jeans and sweaters.
One of the students said, our district's dress code
should not favor or discriminate any gender.
We believe everyone should be able
to express themselves equally.
A boy with long hair is no less of a hard worker
than a girl with long hair.
I'm not crying, you're crying.
The best part about all of this was just two months later
the school changed it's dress code
to get rid of gender differences.
This is good news not just for cisgender boys and girls,
but also for trans and non-binary students.
All students should have the same options
to express themselves, regardless of gender.
So, what should we do about all of this?
Look, school can be stressful enough as it is,
without having to worry about a teacher
body checking you in the hallway.
And, tossing you into a shamesuit,
to tell you that your shoulder straps
are a few centimeters too narrow,
or your fingers reach just past the tip of your shorts.
But, there is a way to do this right.
For example, Evanston Township High School
in Evanston, Illinois, created a dress code
that explicitly tries to avoid reinforcing stereotypes
on the basis of race, sex, gender identity or expression,
sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion,
cultural observance, household income, or body type.
And, they got the idea from the Oregon National
Organization for Women's model dress code.
The basic rule is simple, students need to make sure
that the butt, boobs, nipples, and genitals,
also known as BBNG, are covered.
Okay, that acronym isn't great, but you get it.
Other than that, students can pretty much wear
whatever they want, as long as the outfit includes
a shirt, pants, and shoes, and doesn't promote
violence, drug use, or hate speech.
Evanston Township's experiment seems to be going well.
And now, other schools in the area,
and around the country, are considering
changing their dress codes too.
So, shout out to all the student activists
who are pushing to change sexist and racist dress codes,
and looking good while doing it.
Thanks for watching.
We'll see you next time, right here on Decoded.