Discrimination in School Dress Codes While scrolling through social media, I’m sure you have seen girls post their outfits they got dress coded for and the hashtag #IAmMoreThanADistraction. For years, students, especially girls have been discriminated for what they wear. Discrimination is an unfair treatment of different groups or people; discrimination can be based on race, age, or sex. Complaints on the dress code at public schools have been heard around the world. Issue have been with shorts and skirts being too short, leggings that are a “distraction to boys”, and shoulders showing. The incidents that have been occurring have people talking about the stereotyping and are institutionalizing sex discrimination. School dress codes are much …show more content…
Students were told to remove the armbands and were suspended until they did so. The student, Tinker, then sued, bringing in the Supreme Court. The court said, “The Court held that students and teachers do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”. Ruling in favor of Tinker the Court stated, “in order for the state in the person of school officials to justify prohibition of a particular expression of opinion, a student must engage in a forbidden conduct that would ‘materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operations of the school’” (McPherson, 2007). The school was in violation of the First …show more content…
In school you learn valuable life lessons. Never give up, hard work pays off. Girls’ bodies are dangerous and distracting. The message of girls being “too much to handle” is being spread around the world. This message is being enforced in the schools and their sexist dress codes. “Many schools respond to criticism of dress codes by citing the importance of maintaining a ‘distraction free’ learning environment, or of teaching young people about the importance of dressing appropriately for different occasions” (Bates, 20015). Girls are constantly being told to cover up so they do not distract the boys or make male teachers uncomfortable. Bates also included “One student says she was given three specific reasons for the school dress code: “1) There are male teachers and male sixth formers [high school seniors] 2) Teachers feel uncomfortable around bras etc. and 3) Don’t want the boys to target you or intimidate you” in her 2015 article. Besides the physical distractions girls cause and the consequences they receive, the mental and sexualization can change their beliefs. The increase of sexualization of a woman or girl in a workplace or school can create sexism and bias, it can also lead to a decrease in performance and educational
Fraser (1986). During a student assembly, Senior, Matthew Fraser gave a campaign speech to elect his friend to student government. Fraser’s speech was rife with sexual innuendo. Consequently he was suspended and his name removed from the list of possible graduation speakers—he was second in his class at the time. In this case, the Court established that there is a monumental difference between the First Amendment protection of expression for “dealing with a major issue of public policy and the lewdness of Fraser’s speech” (“Key Supreme Court Cases,” 2015). Comparatively, Foster’s high school points out that there is a monumental difference between Foster’s desire to express his individuality and impress girls, and the school’s desire to regulate the serious public concern of gang activity within the school. Indeed, in the petitioner’s application of Tinkering and Chalifoux court cases, the defense notes, in both First Amendment cases the students were addressing a major public issue—political and religion statements. Foster’s message of individuality, however, decidedly lacked a message that would safeguard his First Amendment
In Zhou, Li’s article “The Sexism of School Dress Codes,” she explains how the dress codes are diminishing children's self-esteem and, is mostly sexist towards girls as well as the LGBT community. To reach a wide audience including students, parents, and high school administrators, she relies on a wide variety of sources from high school students to highly credited professors. Zhou creates a strong argument against strict dress codes and encourages audience to take a stand against out of date dress codes that schools implement, using the rhetorical tools ethos, pathos, and logos to advance her argument.
The statement in itself is not only incredibly sexist, but further shames girls and paints them as the instruments of their own oppression. To stop the sexualisation of young girls, people should first recognize that the girls are being victimized, and that unhealthy media standards along with oppressive ideals in a sexist society are the things that should really be changed, not their aspirations or identities.
Applying to the dress code, sexism can be seen commonly in schools due to the excessive amount of females who violate compared to the males. Basic arguments for dress code include eliminating distractions, which include the fantasies of a male student, which also leads into rape culture, defined as a society whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing sexual assault or abuse. Females are punished for a male capability to be distracted, allowing a male to fantasize about a female. Ultimately, this causes increase in rape culture, which has been very prominent in today's
The principal of the school Deborah Morse told Frederick to put away the banner, she was concerned it would seem as if the school was promoting illegal drug use. After frederick refused to take it down, he took the banner from him.. He was suspended from school for ten days. Frederick sued, saying morse violated his first amendment rights.The Court holds otherwise only after laboring to establish two uncontroversial propositions: first, that the constitutional rights of students in school settings are not coextensive with the rights of adults, and second, that deterring drug use by schoolchildren is a valid and terribly important interest. The court ruled that Morse did not violate his rights, the court ruled this while checking the legislative and executive
First off, they are unequipped to solve problems such as violence in schools. Enforcing a school dress code may slow the occurrence of certain difficulties, such as violence and distraction, and can be vital to the well-being of students for a short time, but it does not tackle the origins of the attitudes that cause these problems. The head of psychological services for the Detroit school system, Mary Louise Starks says, "A dress code is a temporary measure that is limited in scope. Students are committing these crimes because they don 't have a sense of power or self-esteem. They steal from their peers to gain control over another person."(qtd. In Miller 87). The impulse to commit violent crimes is an issue within a student that schools cannot diffuse with rules and regulations. This is also applicable to the pretext that regulations are needed because of distractions caused by a student 's choice in clothing. This reasoning falls most heavily upon female students. For instance, if a female student came to school in shorts that were deemed "too short", she would be sanctioned, because according to some school administrators rational, girl 's bodies are too much of distraction in the classroom. Again, this does not answer the question as to why girl 's bodies are so sexualized, or why the idea that boys cannot control themselves exists, it only provides a quick and
Web. 18 Feb. 2016. In this article, Bates argues that today’s school dress codes are sexist and leave a lasting impression on young girls. Bates explains that there are several cases where girls are being punished for their adolescent bodies being distractions to boys. Also, it can teach a young girl that her body is dangerous and that a young boy automatically has the right to sexually diminish and harass adolescent girls in schools.
In the 2015 article on The Atlantic on The Sexism of School Dress Codes, stating that "Many of these protests have criticized the dress codes as sexist in that they unfairly target girls by body-shaming and blaming them for promoting sexual harassment. Documented cases show female students being chastised by school officials, sent home, or barred from attending events like prom." (Zhou, l.) There are more dress code policies for the females compared to the males. For example, girls should not use backless shirts, no spaghetti tops, no crop-tops that exposes the stomach, no short shorts, no miniskirts, etc. Boys on the other hand have no specific dress code policies. Dress codes may come off as sexist for women and they get insulted by it. An article on the problem with dress code from The Daily Princetonian stating "- women are policed so that they are no longer distracting to men, while men, if policed at all, are never told to change for the benefit of the opposite sex. The most prominent example that comes to mind when thinking of male-specific supplements to dress codes relates to sagging pants, an urban trend where pants are worn low to expose many inches worth of boxers. Efforts to ban these practices have never once mentioned how visible boxers would tortuously distract nearby females. Rather, they focus on visible underwear being inappropriate for a learning or work environment.", based on that article, dress codes seem to be a little too specific on what girls should or should not be allowed to wear, while boys only have a few dress code policies to worry
We, all, have the opportunity to voice our opinion on subjects that matter to us. The First Amendment grants us freedom of speech and expression. However, this was not provided to all students in 1968. During this time, there were three students in Des Moines, Iowa, who wore black armbands to school. These armbands were a symbol of protest against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. After the Des Moines School District heard about this plan, they instituted a policy banning the wearing of armbands, leading to the suspension of students. A lawsuit has been filed against the Des Moines School District, stating how this principal goes against the students’ First Amendment rights. Thus, in the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case, Justice Abe Fortes determined the policy to ban armbands is against the students’ First Amendment rights. Yet, Justice Hugo Black dissented with this decision, determining the principal is permissible under the First Amendment.
Several high school and junior high school students were suspended from school for wearing the arm bands and refusing to remove them, although they knew of the school policy. They were told they could not return to school until they were not wearing the black arm bands. The Supreme Court said that it is not constitutionally allowable to ban one particular expression of opinion of politics when other expressions of political views are allowed to be displayed using other symbols. This is especially the case when none of the expressions are interfering with discipline or schoolwork. Therefore, the Supreme Court held that by creating a policy that does not allow students to wear black arm bands to school to show their opinion of the war does deny the students their right to free speech under the First
Dress Codes are commonplace in today's society but in recent years, outrage at restrictive dress codes are increasing. A report by The Guardian illustrates an example of a restrictive dress code. Stephanie Hughes was called to the Principal’s office because the outfit she was wearing revealed her collar bones. Her outfit, comprising of a cardigan with a tank top underneath and jeans, was deemed as by her School Principal as inappropriate attire. The Principal explains that because her outfit revealed her collar bones, it would distract fellow male students and was hence not appropriate for school. Such dress codes only highlight the objectification of females, teaching males that while it is their responsibility to study, attaining poor scores can be explained as a result of distraction by the female students’ revealing clothes. Such dress codes teach males, in this case teenage boys, that they have the right to push the blame onto the females and shirk responsibility. While dress codes are tied to professionalism and etiquette, enforcing unreasonable dress codes that place emphasis on covering up the female body only ascertains the fact that Rape Culture is
In a lot of schools in the United States young girls were send home to change their clothes, because those clothes were seen as a distraction. Girls have been sent home for wearing a top, which was showing a bra strap, for wearing a v-neck, for wearing yoga pants, or for wearing make up. Meanwhile boys often wear their trousers revealing their boxer shorts. However, there is not one single record of a boy being send home to change because he was seen as a distraction. In addition in most cases the boys in the classroom were not even distracted by the appearance of their female classmate, but the in most cases also male teacher decided that the appearance was distracting. This is a perfect example of how girls are already sexualised at a young age by men, who are twice their age. One may argue that a teacher, who is also a father of three children, should not see a bra strap that is showing because a girl decided to wear a top during a hot summer day as a
Schools typically justify their dress codes by maintain that it’s important to keep the classroom free of any 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.
Many female students fall victim to the gender biased rules. In an article written by Lee Hale for NPR, one teen named Sophie Manoukian in Pasadena, CA, told a local news station that "[i]t 's like girls should be ashamed of their bodies. And even though they presented it like it was about equal opportunity for education, it was about how girls can be distracting and pulled out of class to change." Hale explores the struggles of being an educator and fighting the war against dress code violations. Some of the comments from the educators she spoke with noted confronting students about the dress code were not something that they enjoyed, and that they have encountered negative pushback from female students. There are numerous social media stories like Sophie 's, about a female student who was sent home because she was violating the school dress code. One of the educators Hale interviewed points out the need to take gender out of the dress code and make the rules non-gender specific to ease the perception of gender bias. Uniforms were not mentioned in that article as a potential solution, however, non-gender specific uniforms would greatly assist educators in reducing gender bias. In an essay written by Todd DeMitchell from the University of New Hampshire, he summarizes the positive influence uniforms could have on the gender biases saying that “[a]llowing educators to enact such policies will allow
Schools all over the world have created and enforced dress codes. Some schools are more relaxed than others; however, they all share the common theme of regulating what students can and cannot wear during the school day. But what happens when the latest fashion trends completely compromise the implemented dress code? That is the problem student’s-particularly young women- are facing in today’s society. The overwhelming increase in dress code violations has brought to light another issue associated with the codes: sexism. More and more, young women are being targeted and punished for dress code violations. While this may be due to the fact that fashion in today’s society is all about tight clothes, it could also lead to more long-lasting and sinister consequences. The rules set in place by schools prevent students and teachers from being “offended” or “distracted” by what these girls are wearing; however, this also lends to rape culture and making girls believe it is their fault if they receive unwanted male attention, as well as leading boys to think their behavior is okay. Dress codes send the message that it is a girl’s fault of anything bad happens to her due to her “suggestive” clothing.