Whether you realize it or not, you have fallen victim to the outdated culture of the dreaded dress code. It might not be obvious, but even those who consider themselves as modestly dressed have been manipulated into a way of thinking that goes directly against our ever-improving society. 

Although some nearby high schools have adopted the “have it but don’t enforce it” principle, Lockport has increased the severity and enforcement of our dress code. Gone are the days where you could wear a tank top and off-the-rack shorts. Now, the rules have been updated to: no tank tops period, shorts and any rips in your pants must fall an inch below your fingertips, and absolutely no midriff peeking out. Those rules might be strict, but the proposed additions two years ago were even worse. The ones that stuck out the most were the addition of no leggings and no bra straps showing at all. The new additions were denied, but the enforcement of the dress code was amped up and so were the reactions from students. 

So why do we have a dress code anyway? Well, originally it started to make all students feel safe at school when the nation was divided during the Vietnam War, and kids started wearing armbands for shirts pointing to which side they were on. However, as more schools started implementing a dress code, the rules started to morph into something more chauvinistic. Males in positions of authority within the school districts started to think that what girls were wearing to school actually affected how well their male students learned. Since then the problem has not been resolved, and some might argue it has gotten worse. We have got so caught up in these ideas that we, as a society, view women’s shoulders as distracting. Now, I’m not a guy, but something tells me if they see a girl walking on the sidewalk in a tank top they aren’t instantly transfixed by how gorgeous and perfect their shoulders look. 

This idea that young girls have to excessively cover themselves up just to cater to the male gaze and prevent their distraction is entirely ridiculous and flat-out insulting. What these girls are unintentionally learning is that their body is bad and should be covered up because it is deemed inappropriate. Those same girls will grow up being scared of men, and what happens when they show off their bodies in the same fashion men do.

Let’s all just stop shaming women for what they can’t control, like their bodies, and start treating each other for what we are: human beings. Teenage girls shouldn’t have to worry about being sexualized or seen as only an object. Therefore, the dress code should be adjusted.