School Dress Codes Contribute to Rape Culture

Every person who grew up being raised as a girl has been sat down to have a talk about their clothes. If you're one of those people, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Maybe it was a tank top that didn't cover your bra strap. Shorts that were too far up your thigh. Maybe you were a little younger, and it was a pair of leggings that your t-shirt didn't cover well enough. In every senecio we were taught two things.

One. Our bodies are disruptive.

I have been more traumatized by graphic videos covering every possible angle of 9/11 than I ever have by my friend's midriff. If the argument against certain clothing is that "there are 12 year olds in the building", then maintain that standard. Don't show them violent videos in history. Don't make them read graphic descriptions of genocide and war. Don't teach them about alcohol and drugs. Now, if you're reading this and thinking "that's ridiculous, 12 year olds can process and understand that sort of information", I would say to you, ding ding ding, we have a winner. No one in this building is still at a level of maturity that they need to be bubble wrapped. The argument of "protecting the children" has been used forever to justify restricting all sorts of marginalized communities, such as gay people, trans people, and in this case, girls. The 12 year olds being "protected" by the dress code are actually being targeted by it. By acknowledging that the reason the dress code is the way it is is to shield children from sexual expression, and then applying that dress code to said children, you are assigning sexuality to young girls. Intentional or unintentional, that is disgusting. Now. This is not to say schools should let everyone wear whatever they want. Obviously things like lingerie and garters are inappropriate because they have inherent sexual meaning. But there is a fine line between adults sexualizing a teenager and said teenager sexualizing herself. Tank tops are not sexual clothing. Ripped jeans are not sexual clothing. To pretend they are is, for a lack of a better term, so weird. Teenagers have little control over what our bodies look like. Even if we look like grown women, we are not.

Two. If we get raped, it is our fault.

We are high school students, putting our faith in school officials to have our backs when it comes to harassment on campus. It's really hard to do that when you know the attitude you will be faced with is "Well, what were you wearing?"

"What were you wearing?" It's a phrase that rings in every girl's ears. Statistics say that one in five women have been raped. Of those women, one in three were 11-17 at the time of the assault. There are less than 50 girls in my graduating class. Before we die, at least 10 of us will be raped. Three of us will be raped before we finish high school. I understand if that fact makes you uncomfortable, but I'm asking you, just for a second, imagine how it feels to me. To every girl in this building. To know that it's less of a matter of if, but when. To hand craft your commute, your schedule, who you spend time with, and yes, your outfit, in the terrified hope that maybe if you do everything right, you'll be ok. Because here's the truth: we know we're looked at as sexual objects no matter what the clothes are on our bodies. But dress codes enforce the idea that we actually are. Dress codes tell us it's our bodies that are the issue. That it's our fault if boys can't focus. Our fault if boys can't control themselves.

Shorts and exposed bra straps shouldn't be sexy enough to corrupt 7th graders or distract 12th graders. They shouldn't and they aren't. Dress codes don't protect anyone. What they do is teach impressionable girls their bodies are exclusively made for sex and that boys just can't control themselves. Dress codes truly are the final nail in the coffin that is rape culture.

Sources

https://www.nsvrc.org/statistics