"High Schoolers Protest Sexist Dress Code That’s Landed More Than 100 Girls In Detention"

[niyad]

(I know this is from last year, but the actions and issues are still relevant)

"High Schoolers Protest Sexist Dress Code That’s Landed More Than 100 Girls In Detention"




Students at a Staten Island high school are frustrated with a strict new dress code that’s landing girls in detention for wearing shorts, despite the fact that many of their classrooms don’t have air conditioning. After the school reportedly gave detention to 200 kids — 90 percent of whom were female students — teens are gearing up for a protest again the rules.





. . . . .

Both male and female students have complained that the dress code is “sexist” and “biased” toward young women. “Tottenville should just be an all boys school considering this dress code is only affecting the girls,” one teen pointed out. Another said it was “humiliating to be pulled aside like an object” to be told that her outfit was inappropriate.
. . . .
Schools typically justify their dress codes by maintaining that it’s important to keep the classroom free from distractions; however, that language actually reinforces the idea that women’s bodies are inherently tempting to men and it’s their responsibility to cover themselves up. Students and parents across the country are increasingly pushing back against the double standard, saying that it sends harmful messages about gender stereotypes to kids. After all, if students are taught that girls need to dress a certain way so they don’t “distract” boys, that ultimately furthers the idea that boys can’t control themselves — and that unwanted sexual attention is sometimes justified because girls are “asking for it” with their short skirts and low-cut tops.

It’s also arguably more disruptive to the learning environment to single out female students in this way. Other girls have been called out in front of their peers, kicked out of school dances, sent home for the day, and forced to change into baggy gym clothes for wearing things that are deemed to be too revealing.

“I get that they want to teach us to respect ourselves and others, and that they want us to dress for success, but if you’re comfortable and relaxed in class — not sweltering or fearful you’re going to get pulled aside — you can pay attention better and learn,” one Tottenville student pointed out.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/09/15/3567291/dress-code-staten-island/

[DetlefK]

1. Those girls should show up in burquas.

Make some heads explode.

[niyad]

2. when I was in high school--back in the dark ages--the school had a policy against both

mini skirts and granny dresses. just shook my head at the absurdity. principal finally saw the light (and no, it wasn't me shining a flashlight in his eyes!)

[haikugal]

35. We had rules about skirt length and

Open toed shoes...much too arousing those toes out in the open like that

[ProdigalJunkMail]

47. not that they should be covered

but there was a girl in my 4th period geometry class that would take her shoes off exposing her bare feet... it was then that i learned how sexy feet could be and it lasts (quite strongly) to this day...

so don't knock it.

sP

[haikugal]

50. Oh I don't...

but I'm convinced that there are many sexy parts of the body...it's just that all these efforts to keep hormonal animals under control by absurd dress codes is ridiculous! Enjoy your sexy feet and toes..

[niyad]

60. and then there was the whole issue of black patent leather shoes, which led to

this wonderful book, "do black patent leather shoes really reflect up", by john powers.


Book Description

John Powers’ classic comic novel of the 1960s Catholic subculture stars Eddie Ryan, a Chicago boy who learns about the important questions in life in his years at an all-boys Catholic school on Chicago’s South Side. He views it all through the prism of his Catholic mentality, which often deepens the mystery but sometimes clarifies it.

[haikugal]

63. LOL...

I'd forgotten that! Unbelievable isn't it?

[niyad]

76. a lot of what they told us was pretty unbelievable. they could not abide people

questioning the nonsense.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Burqua Was The First Word I Thought Of!

As someone who used to be a high school boy that liked girls, i knew how to pay attention to what i was there for.

[MADem]

52. Better still, all the boys should show up in Magic/Bird shorts.

Nothing like a little solidarity to drive the point home.

As an amusing aside, in fundy Iran, in the heat of summer, you might be surprised at all the short shorts and halter tops under some of those chadors! Although the hijab/manteau is popular in the winter months, in summer the chador is a cooler option.

[cwydro]

3. Shoot

When I was in high school, girls were not even allowed to wear jeans.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. Yep, and no bared midriff, no cleavage and no knees exposed when standing.

Boys had to tuck in their shirts and wear a belt, IIRC.

[WillowTree]

7. When I was in school, **no one** was allowed to wear jeans to school.

[RobinA]

9. Me Too

Lame reason - The rivets scratched the chairs. Hey, for that matter, I guess it says something that when I was in school jeans had rivets!

[Worried senior]

14. When I was in high school

no girls were allowed to wear pants of any kind. No nice slacks or anything.

We had a football game one Friday afternoon, could wear shorts or pants but one girl snuck her shorts on and wore a trench coat over them, got caught and banned from the game.

Riding on a cold school bus for an hour every morning and evening got mighty cold, pants of some sort would have been nice.

[winter is coming]

18. We were allowed to wear pants *to* school, but we couldn't wear them *at* school.

[cwydro]

34. Lol!

They eventually made a rule that we could wear pants if the temp was 32 or below!

[Blue_Tires]

32. I went to Catholic school...no jeans for anybody

[DeSwiss]

4. They worry over what you wear so they don't have to teach.

- Because they don't know anything. So-called education in America is a joke. A bad one.

They just want all the pegs to fit into the right holes......

K&R

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. Solutions! Two for one sale! today only!

Single sex classrooms. No more distractions or perceived benefit to a dress code.
Uniforms. Shorts or long pants optional.

[Lochloosa]

13. Better yet, let's have single sex/single color/single religion classrooms. I'm sure there are more.

Pretty soon you would have one teacher/one student classrooms...






Do I really need the sarcasm tag?

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. Can you show some educational benefit to the latter two? n/t

[Lochloosa]

16. Not even going to try. People, including young ones, need to learn to work and play together.

It's part of an education.

[lumberjack_jeff]

17. Learning should also be part of that education. n/t

[LanternWaste]

20. Learning to discipline oneself against distraction too, yes?

Learning to discipline oneself against distraction too, yes?

[LanternWaste]

19. I think any student undisciplined enough to use women's clothing as an excuse

I think any student undisciplined enough to use women's clothing as an excuse for a distraction will simply find another distraction to occupy himself with sans females in the room (unless of course, one pretends that there are "no more distractions" at an all-male boarding school).

[LiberalAndProud]

27. Separate but equal?

Thank you, no.

[CreekDog]

37. is every thread an excuse for these hobby-horse ideas?

[bettyellen]

55. I thought boys did worse academically at same sex schools.

[tammywammy]

57. I've only read studies about the positives to single-sex education.

Especially girls. Do you have a link that says boys do worse?

[bettyellen]

59. Nope sorry, saw a link here at least six months ago but yes-

You are right, girls perform better in same sex schools. Boys however perform better in coed schools, but.... I might have just read an exerpt w stats, cannot for the life of me remember more about it than that.

[tammywammy]

61. thanks anyway. n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

62. In the studies with which I'm familiar, boys and girls both do better.

http://www.singlesexschools.org/evidence.html

[HockeyMom]

8. I wore city shorts with tshirt to work as a Para

Long Island Public School. When it's June, temps in the 90s, no A/C, what ARE you supposed to wear when you feel like you are going to pass out from the heat of a stuffy classroom? We even brought in our own fans from home. Didn't help much.

Don't even ask what the high school kids, both girls and boys, wear to school in Florida, which HAS A/C classrooms!!!

[sunnystarr]

10. When I was in high school

I was sent home (had to walk over a mile and back) to change my skirt because it wasn't the required one hand below the knee. The skirt was just over my knees. It was 1959.

[NOVA_Dem]

11. At my high school we were not allowed to wear sports related attire b/c of perceived ties to gangs.

I would've liked school uniforms b/c of the ridiculous status issues that went with pressure to maintain the latest fashion trends. Growing up poor and wearing "unfashionable" clothes often made school terrible.

[jeff47]

12. Never understood the rationalization of dress codes.

"But the boys will be distracted!!!"
Guess what? The boys are going to have to learn to not be distracted. During the rest of their lives, they're going to come across scantily-clad women in situations where they need to pay attention. They're going to have to learn to let their brains override their id.

"It shows respect!!"
No, it shows you can force people to wear particular clothes. Respect is earned, not dictated by fiat.

"But that's just not appropriate to wear at school!"
Then don't wear it yourself.

About the only regulations I can understand are uniforms in order to make social class less apparent in schools. But the rich kids who want to show off will always find a way to exclude the poor.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Apropos Your First Paragraph!

See my post above. That's exactly what i knew i could do. I liked girls, but i knew what i was at school for.

Just more dumbing down i guess, Jeff.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

30. I can't agree

"But that's just not appropriate to wear at school!"
Then don't wear it yourself."


Well, if "socialization" is a crucial part of the high school experience, it's understandable that the staff is trying to teach kids to dress for the appropriate social occasion - something that some parents don't seem to understand actually does matter when it comes to their kids getting a job.

What you wear to the beach is probably not what you wear to the mall, what you wear to the mall is not necessarily what you wear to school, and what you wear to school is not necessarily what you wear to a job interview.

A friend of mine manages a fast food type franchise, and she absolutely cannot believe what teens wear when applying for a job. Even in a casual, fast food business, she expects kids to appear clean, neat, and presentable. No hanging pants, no short shorts, no flip flops. No spaghetti strap tight shirts on girls. A clean shirt, clean, tidy jeans, and clean tennis shoes is all it takes to give a kid a second look, but apparently that's never been expected of them. Sad. She's decided she's tired of teaching kids things that their parents should have taught them. She generally passes them over unless they have a totally stellar personality.

[jeff47]

54. And they learn when they don't get a job.

If they care that little about the job, wouldn't your friend prefer they show it in the interview instead of doing a crappy job and getting fired later?

[kcr]

70. School as training for a job

School is not strictly for training for jobs, particularly at the level we're discussing. All jobs do not require the same dress, therefore your argument that it is important that kids learn to dress a certain way so schools should implement a dress code is faulty reasoning. I have never dressed for a job interview or job performance the way I ever dressed for school, dress code or no dress code. No school ever included lessons on dressing for jobs or job interviews because those things vary according to the type of career. Your friend who manages fast food is complaining because she deals with teens. Not because schools don't implement a certain type of dress code.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

72. Just by abiding by a dress code

schools are teaching teens that certain clothes are not appropriate for certain occasions.

Frankly, I don't understand folks who think that girls should be able to wear tight spaghetti strap tops that show their stomachs, expose their boobs, while wearing extremely short shorts and flip flops to school. Meat market or place of learning?

[Taitertots]

68. You understand dress codes

Or do you think (insert insanely stupid and obviously distracting clothes) should be allowed at school.

Klan robes
Assless chaps
Count Chocula costumes
Thong Bikinis (for men too)
Vulgar shirts
The pink cock and balls onesy from Bruno

[jeff47]

75. Anything that would not result in an indecent exposure arrest should be fine.

Btw, all chaps are assless.

These kids are going to have to deal with the horror of "bad words" and the utter destruction that is sexual imagery in the rest of their lives. They might as well start in school.

[uppityperson]

21. What do teen boys think about? Sex. When do they do so? Always.

Over broad, over reaching I know. But still, to make girls responsible for trying to stop boys from thinking about sex? Fail.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

43. Being a former teen aged boy

you nailed it. And it's taken many more years to not think about sex always as an adult male........... but I'm learning.

[BlueJazz]

24. I like this one >

[haikugal]

65. Oh hell...now you've got it!

Perfect!

[Dont call me Shirley]

25. Boys must be taught with regard to their sexual urges that self-control is of the highest importance

Boys and girls both need also be taught proper etiquette in regard to sexual advances and behavior. A set of ground rules such as, no does not mean yes or ask before advancing to "next base". Not sexual frigidity but mutual respect for the space of the other.

[Liberal_in_LA]

26. k&r

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

28. Are the boys allowed to wear short shorts?

"The dress code prohibits "tank tops, low-cut blouses, tubes/halter and midriff tops" as well as "short-shorts " and "mini-skirts," and mandates that "all shorts/skirts must be at relaxed hand-level" and also prohibits "visible undergarments."


Sorry, I have no problem with this. There's no reason a girl's ass has to be hanging out, nor do her boobs have to be shoving out of her too-tight tank top.


Maybe we should teach ALL of our kids to dress to respect themselves and the occasion for which they are dressing. A skimpy bikini is fine for the beach, while short shorts aren't even appropriate for school, imo. Wear them out with friends, but not to school.

I'll bet the boys can't wear things like tank tops, either.

[Nay]

31. I've got no problem with this dress code, either. They're not at the beach. nt

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

33. It's not that they can't wear shorts

The problem is that they want to wear very short shorts. Too bad. A couple of more inches is not going to cause you to pass out from heat stroke. LOL

[Nay]

36. Exactly. The boys can't wear short shorts or tube tops or wife-beater t-shirts --- at least

I assume that's true. Of course, I blame the idiocracy for making sex puppet clothes for children, and then selling that shit to them as the only way to present yourself. Adults who buy this stuff for their kids? Dang. I realize we're all cheap prostitutes in this sell-yourself capitalistic nightmare, but why do it to the kids so early?

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

42. My seven year old granddaughter is extremely tall

and already moved from the "toddler to 6X" sizes to the regular girls sizes. It's a nightmare to dress her if you have an aversion to seven year old girls dressing like hookers. Oh, and sometimes you can look like a Disney hooker! Double yuck if you don't want her to be a walking corporate advertisement.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

29. Girls could not wear slacks of any kind when I was in school.

Some girls started wearing long dresses when it was cold and they tried to figure out how to ban those.

It got awfully cold in the winter and we froze our feet, legs and rear ends off. I think the principals and men teachers enjoyed looking at the girls freezing in their short skirts.

I remember sitting in the girl's counselor's office crying on the phone to my mother to come pick me up because my skirt was too short. It came to the top of my knee. This was in 9th grade. I was crushed and humiliated. It's all about control.

[uppityperson]

45. Me too. Once we broke the dress code it was slacks only, with matching top. Our science teacher

in high school, wouldn't let girls in his class until we rolled our pants up over our knees. That didn't last long but was a serious wtf experience. I resented the popular girls clique in high school but they are the ones who were able to break the dress code and not get suspended, were greatly appreciated. 2 years later we could finally wear jeans but had to have sleeves on our shirts.

In grade school and jr high we could wear pants to school but had to remove them as soon as we got inside from the freezing weather.

Remember hunching your shoulders to make your fingertips not extend past your skirt?

It was all odd and all about control.

[allforone]

38. I like the idea of all students in every public school having uniforms

It makes it where the poor kids don't have to feel ashamed forwearing
old and out of style clothes .

That was me

[uppityperson]

40. Welcome to DU. How will those poor kids pay for these uniforms?

[allforone]

41. There could be an allowance the parent can get for the uniform

It would be kind of the same way my brother and I got our lunches.
My mom would have a ticket she would give both of us every morning before school
and you would hand it to the cashier

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

44. In areas where school uniforms are worn

the generic kaki and navy school uniforms at Wall Mart and Target are usually fine. The public schools around here that do require uniforms allow kaki or navy long pants, kaki or navy shorts, kaki or navy skirts, and kaki or navy "jumpers" for the younger girls are usually available, as well. Tops consists of white long or short sleeved buttoned down shirts, navy, red, yellow, or green polo type shirts.

And our local Goodwill generally have several of these items for sale.

My kids never wore uniforms, but - gosh! - I can't say there weren't a few times that I wished they had.

[allforone]

46. I know alot of the kids wouldn't like it at first

but they would get use to it.
When I was growing up there was a catholic where they all wore a nice uniform.
I remember seeing them waiting for the bus.They had a nice jacket and nice new pants and new black leather shoes.
They looked really good.

[uppityperson]

49. Money used for food is good, to provide uniforms seems really low on the list though.

I'd rather the money was used for more teachers, educational outings, or art classes.

[allforone]

51. I guess but at the time to us at least it did't seem low on a list

It would have been nice to wear new clothes and not listen to other kids make fun of your clothes or shoes .

I guess times change and even rich kids just wear old clothes to school now.

[kcr]

71. There can be just one more thing they have to get an allowance for

Oh yes, those allowances for the poor that are just so easy to get and no stigma there.

Or, better idea and far more simple to implement. No uniforms.

[allforone]

48. I'm sorry I didn't mean to be rude

Thank you for the welcome.

[raven mad]

66. I grew up in one of those schools, and the uniforms -

are a lot of times free (in parochial schools) or very low-cost.

[B2G]

74. How do those poor kids pay for their school clothes?

Seems to me it's cheaper for parents to invest in a couple of uniforms and not worry about being barraged by the kids constantly for the latest fashions to show up in.

[One_Life_To_Give]

39. In the dark ages a guys short were supposed to

IN the dark ages a guys shorts were supposed to cover the ah bits. Fortunately we didn't wear swimsuits in school. As Mark Spitz was then in the news with his ah suit.

[AndreaCG]

53. I went to a very liberal girls high school

Even my teachers liked my t shirt that said "If you can't dazzle them with your intellect baffle them with your bullshit."

[marshall]

56. It Sounds like the dress code is gender neutral

it is the students themselves who are continuing sexually differentiated modes of dress.

The school ought to proscribe a uniform that is gender neutral and meets whatever standard of length it wants. And then require that uniform for all students regardless of gender.

It saddens me to see society become more fixated on rigid gender roles after the progress we made in the past decades.

[surrealAmerican]

58. Good for those kids.

Protesting school dress codes is a time-honored tradition, and a great way for kids to learn how to organize and speak out as a group.

When we tried this when I was a kid, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that our school didn't actually have a dress code. It turned out that they discarded it some years earlier when those students successfully protested. The administration stopped citing violations, girls wore shorts - we won.

[ND-Dem]

64. when i was in school we had to wear dresses and we fought to wear jeans. in retrospect, i

don't think it mattered much. certainly there were many things that mattered a heck of a lot more.

but clothes were simple, for simple minds pretending to be radicals.

[SoCalDem]

67. In 1967, my friend and I were sent home for wearing "granny dresses" (remember them?)

We made the front page of our local paper for being so bold as to wear dresses too long...in the era of the micro-mini ..aaaah Kansas !!!!...Fun site

[LWolf]

69. When I was in elementary school,

girls wore dresses or skirts 4 days a week. We were allowed to wear pants on Fridays.

I loved Fridays. I could do more at recess.

When I was 5 years old, I broke my collar falling off the monkey bars. Why? Because I was wearing a dress. A boy climbed up to the top of the bars while I was hanging upside down so he could tell everybody that, along with London and France, he could see my underpants. I let go of the bars, grabbed my skirt, and fell off.

I wanted to run and climb and swing and hang upside down...the dresses and skirts got in the way.

[DiverDave]

73. Even if they girls were foced to wear

bed sheets with eye holes, teenaged boys would be distracted.
You know, hormones and imaginations.
Teach your boys to respect the opposite sex, and they will not be as distracted.
Notice I didn't say they wouldn't be distracted?
Because, you know, hormones and stuff