For decades, high schools all over the world are teaching girls to cover up and to “not be a distraction.” Taking away our learning time to make us put duct tape over our legs because “oh no theres a hole above you’re knee!”.(i would say that’s more of a distraction that a tear in jeans) We have been through so much with covid and going hybrid and changing schedules, and even the students mental health issues. You would think dress code shouldn’t be the schools top priority. Teaching girls that if a boy is looking at your jean rips or your shoulders it’s classified as her fault and she should cover up. Us girls should not be told to cover up for the same things boys have. Why are we being told to cover up for something we cannot control? That is unacceptable. Instead of teaching girls to cover up, teach boys to keep their hands and eyes to themselves. I understand we still need a dress code in place. I’m not saying that we need to completely get rid of it, I’m saying that we need to make it less directed towards us girls. I mean I thought we were supposed to be confident and comfortable in our bodies, but how can we when are always told that we’re either showing too much, and sometimes that we’re not showing enough. And that we’re a distraction because our shoulders and legs are distracting. Self confidence is already something girls struggle with through high school, but the dress code in place doesn’t help. So, this is a petition to change the school dress code. Not drastically but just a few changes. 

1) Holes in jeans.                                                  
  Any girl you ask it Wilson will tell you that the dress code about rips in jeans is not fair. Almost all jeans have holes in them now and over 50% of those jeans have rips above the knee. Some kids can’t go out and buy special clothes for school and I understand if it’s showing the whole thigh, but a small rip above the knee should be acceptable.

2.) Midriff.                                                                          If you cannot see the bellybutton of whoever is wearing the shirt then i don’t see why a shorter shirt would not be acceptable. From the length of your pants to shirt if it’s under 2 inches it should be allowed. I understand if the shirt is all the way up to our “chest” but our stomach should also not be a distraction.

3.) Brassiere Straps                                                    We cannot help it if our bra strap is showing through our shirt or you can see it on our shoulder. I understand to dress code if is the shirt that the student is wearing is see-through and you can see the bra completely through it. That is understandable, but it is not right to send a girl home or dress code her for something she cannot control.

4.) Leggings                                                                  I can say that every girl i know has a pair of leggings, and we can’t help it if we don’t have a huge shirt to cover our bottom half. Please just understand that we are not trying to purposely break the dress code. We just want to be comfortable at school and if our shirt pulls up a bit we cannot help that. 

5.) Spaghetti straps
Once again our shoulders should not be classified as a distraction. Everybody has shoulders so why are we being told ours are distracting.I see boys everyday wearing tank tops that don’t cover their full shoulder but why haven’t they got told to cover up? 

We are being told almost every day at school that we are a distraction and it’s not okay. I hear at-least three stories a day about a girl getting dress coded for something they cannot help. It is not our fault if our shirt rides up, it is not our fault if our shoulders are distracting but why would they be? Everybody has them.
I hope that you will understand that this is truly a issue that we deal with every day. We cannot help that young men sexualize us. I understand that this is a learning environment but we should be able to express ourselves. Being told to cover up almost everyday can take a toll on somebody, a lot of girls I know struggle with self confidence and hearing “you’re  being a distraction, you need to cover up” makes it 10x worse. Please don’t think this is us trying to “disobey” because that’s what you all tend to think anytime we try to express ourselves. We only want to change the sexism in the dress code.
Thank you for reading this,

the girls of WHS.