Many students at Polo High School feel that us girls are being oppressed due to the dress code. Before you say, “Well it’s not only directed towards girls, it’s meant for the boys too!” It’s not enforced for the boys. And these are directly towards the girls. You don’t hear anyone saying “No boys can wear crop tops,” you hear “No girls can wear crop tops!” When you tell a girl to change her clothes or “cover up,” because straight boys can’t focus, you’re essentially telling her that boys’ education is more important than girls’. To elaborate more, you’re taking time out of the girls’ day, time where she could be learning, to cover up or go home and change just because boys can’t stop staring or can’t focus. That is completely unfair, and come on: it’s 2020. Telling a girl to change her clothes for her own “protection” is also victim blaming; a girl getting sexually assaulted, no matter what she’s wearing, is not her fault. 

There are lesbians and bi girls at our schools. And yet, they share the same locker room as straight girls. These girls know how to not stare or get distracted, so why can’t the boys learn too? Most boys aren’t even uncomfortable with what the girls are wearing, because it shouldn’t matter. Our education matters more. Shoulders and belly buttons don’t turn them on, they don’t lose focus just because a girl is wearing a tank top. Boys are able to go shirtless at practice, and while us girls are there, whether it’s practicing too or being a spectator, we don’t lose focus on what we’re doing and we don’t throw ourselves at them. We have respect for them, and we are able to control ourselves. Boys should too. 

Stomachs and shoulders are just body parts. That’s like saying we can’t wear short sleeve shirts because it shows off too much of our arms. It makes no sense. We need to learn not to sexualize everything, especially children. All of us are still children. We shouldn’t be ashamed of what we have, we should own it and be proud of it. Covering up our shoulders and stomachs is telling us that they’re ugly and no one wants to see it. But everyone has them, they’re all unique and all beautiful. Again, they are just body parts. 

Let’s talk about clothes and why it is such a big deal that us girls get to wear what we want. We have a huge problem with depression and anxiety in this culture. Wearing clothes that make us confident essentially makes us happier. Confidence = happiness. Telling us to change makes us extremely embarrassed and angry, and I can attest to it. I know the school wants to keep us as peaceful as possible, but when you tell us we can’t wear something that makes us happy, you make us extremely frustrated. We all know that it isn’t fair towards us girls. When you point it out, it just makes it worse. Clothes give us personality. It’s how a lot of us made friends. It’s how we express ourselves, and it’s hard to find another way. 

One day during this school year, I wore a white crop top. I was asked to keep pulling it down so my stomach wouldn’t show. But doing so exposed my breasts more. Now think about it, would you rather a bit of my stomach showing, or most of my breasts showing? We understand that breasts can be a bit provocative towards straight men, so we aren’t asking to show up completely shirtless. And we aren’t asking to show up with no pants on, either. 

What we are wanting, and what we are asking, is that you change the dress code to “all generals are covered” because we know that you can’t just completely abolish it. We don’t want to go to school and show our breasts, we want to be able to wear spaghetti strap tank tops when it’s warm outside, and wear crop tops that show a little bit of stomach. We understand that it is still school and the number one focus is learning. We just want to make sure girls and boys, or whatever you identify with, are getting a fair opportunity to learn, no matter what they’re wearing. Whether you want to admit it or not, the dress code is sexist and completely outdated. Again, it’s 2020. They’re just clothes and quite frankly, I don’t understand why schools are making such a big deal out of it. You can go anywhere else and wear whatever you want, what’s so different about school? They are just clothes. My education is more important than worrying about whether or not you can see my belly button.