Is it really that big of a problem? The question you are answering is about women's dress code in schools and the answer is yes, it really is that big of a problem. I'm going to introduce to you why and how serious this problem is, especially in the state of Michigan.
After several times of reading a press news story, I can take away that the root cause of the problem is that the schools are trying to limit distractions through clothing, however, in doing-so it is directed towards women which results in harming their self image about what their body represents. According to the article, Kentwood schools of Grand Rapids told their students that spandex related clothing is considered sexually provocative. The article describes this as “. . . harmful message to young women: that they are nothing more than sexual objects distracting male students” (Grand Rapids Press Editorial Board, 2019). The Grand Rapids Press Editorial Board also believes that schools violate Title IX which protects students from being discriminated against based on their sex.
Another article I found on Newsweek covered a story about a minister at a Catholic High School in Michigan who told his female students that they are looking for objectification from men based on the way they are dressing. That is right, to sum it up a minister told his female students that they are just asking for it because of their clothing and the way that their unchangeable body is represented. The paper targets used to protest by students at this school read “ . . . teach men not to oversexualize women’s bodies.”
The same school held a formal dance, the prom, and decided to create their own “modesty ponchos” for women at the dance whose dress might be too revealing in the staff's personal opinion at the school. The seriousness of this issue grew when the ponchos given to the female students made their way to social media to be criticized. Some claimed that it is body shaming. Other women stated that they cannot help it that their body does not present the Divine Child High School's idea of a “modest woman”.
So, I ask you again, is it really that big of a problem? Reading these articles only gave me more questions like, what gives the school the right to deem a woman as “too revealing”? Where are their credentials to do so? There are too many questions for a problem that should be so easily solved. It is 2021, it is time to stop treating women as sexual objects and time to start teaching men the same thing. Women want an education, not an environment to be ridiculed in for their bodies.
Works Cited
Grand Rapids Press Editorial Board (2019, April 03). School dress codes have a serious dress code problem. MLive. https://www.mlive.com/opinion/grand-rapids/2015/09/school_dress_codes_have_a_seri.html
Murdock, J. (2019, June 12). Michigan HS Students Slam Lesson Blaming How Girls Dress for Harassment: 'Teach Men Not to Over-Sexualize Women's Bodies' Instead. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/michigan-divine-child-high-school-sexual-harassment-student-protests-catholic-school-minister-1443519
Zaniewski, A. (2018, April 30). 'Modesty ponchos' to be doled out at Dearborn Divine Child HS prom. Detroit Free Press. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2018/04/30/modesty-ponchos-doled-out-dearborn-divine-child-hs-prom/566943002/
USE POLITICAL PROCESS TO GET CHANGE
SCHOOL BOARD
ALTERNATE PERSPECTIVE
Different perspective holders believe that the school dress code should not be revised due to the negative effects it can cause within schools.
WHY WOULD OTHERS DISAGREE?
TRADE-OFFS
A trade off some schools are offering are "Casual Fridays" which allows students to wear what they want within reason of the dress code. However, we don't accept this trade off because it is not changing the rules of the dress code and doesn't prevent students from being sexualized.
ISSUE
Women's Dress Code in Schools
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