Hello my name is James Cortes. I am 15 years old and a sophomore at Eastport South Manor Junior-Senior High School. I am pushing for the reconsideration/revamping of a select few policies listed on the current student dress code policy (released on 05/18/21 via Email).

The first reason is due to inconsistency/misclarity in the rules. The second rule on the current dress code policy directly quotes: "Recognize that certain garments, as identified by school administrators on a case-by-case basis, such as plunging necklines..." By using the words "case-by-case basis", you have directly established that it is an OPINION if someones appearance is inappropriate and that there does not exist a quantitative or qualitative measurement of someone's "inappropriateness". The dress of women (yes, women, show me an example of a boy breaking dress code, go on, I'll wait) is directly up to the discretion of administrations, and with a vast majority of MALE administrators, this directly correlates to the unfair and subjective treatment of women.

Based off of the previous point that I briefly mentioned, when has a boy ever been dress coded? I have seen boys who have broken dress code policy whom have walked directly past administrators and they have done nothing about it. Same goes for teachers, and other school staff. Boxer bands above sweatpants, shorts that are subjectively too short, and shirts with vulgar sayings on them. Despite this, I have not heard of ONE SINGULAR EXAMPLE of a boy in our school being a victim of the dress code policy. This alone cannot ultimately determine the blatant sexism that exists in our dress code policy. However, what can accomplish this is the ideology that the subjective dress code policy stating that all dress code violations "disrupt or interfere with the education process". This implies that boys are distracted by girls appearances and that we will not get a proper education because of this. As a boy, this is beyond insulting. Why do girls have to suffer to consequences of the inappropriate behavior of boys? In addition, why do boys need to be the ones to blame for this ordeal? What makes us "not safe"? The depiction that all boys will inherently treat shoulders, stomachs, and thighs sexually is simply incorrect and again, BEYOND insulting to all men.

I am now going to list some of them side affects of strict and/or subjective dress code policies. I will heavily that these rules are almost strictly female targeting women based on a merely observation basis. In addition, high school girls feel significantly higher levels of body dysmorphia due to the sheer amount of shame surrounding dress code policy. Girls don't feel held accountable because of the dress code policy, they feel shame about there body and in turn, will objectify themselves. 

My solution is to create a liberal dress code policy and to equally enforce it amongst ALL genders. The new dress code policy should not rely on being subjective with loose and unclear adaptations, instead it should directly tell the student body what is and isn't inappropriate. 

Thank you for listening.