It’s a new school year. It’s hot outside which allows many the option to wear somewhat skimpy clothing. Tank tops, dresses, short skirts, shorts- you name it. Dress codes are aimed to keep the skimpiness to a minimum, but when do they go too far? Is the line between slut shaming and making sure one looks appropriate for school? School dress codes inherently promote the act of slut shaming and this shaming is more aimed towards girls than boys. Slut shaming is essentially when someone calls another person a slut, maybe not by directly, but in essence calls someone that.

Girls are held up to completely different standards than boys are. You don’t hear about a boy being sent to his administrator for wearing too short of a skirt, or just for showing too much skin because it is “distracting.” While it is understandable that some things are not appropriate to wear at school, (such as shirts that make references to drugs and alcohol) it’s important to note that these are just clothes. It’s not like people who wear them are actively making threats by doing so, and that’s the same with girls who wear “slutty” clothes. What we are teaching our children is that it’s okay to judge someone based on the clothes they are wearing.

It’s almost like those who make the argument that victims of rape are asking for it based on the clothing they are wearing. Women (and men) don’t asked to be sexual assaulted like that- no one wakes up in the morning and says “Gee I really hope I get sexually assaulted today,” and that is because that’s a horrible thing to wish upon a person or on oneself. Just like women (and men) don’t ask to be sexually assaulted, they also don’t ask to be slut shamed.

What are we teaching our kids, and more so boys, at school to do by enforcing dress codes? Well nothing really all that good. We teach the boys to look at women like pieces of meat. It is even described as such. Say one gets in trouble for wearing too skimpy of a shirt- “You’re showing too much skin,” or “Your skirt is too short you need to cover up those thighs.” The human aspect of these people is gone and what is left is that idea, that idea of being shameful about what you are wearing.

Central is not immune to this epidemic. Recently the dress code has been more heavily enforced with certain days of the week called “Wardrobe awareness days.” There was a girl on one of these days that was sent home because she was wearing a spaghetti strap tank top, a violation of the dress code. The girl took to Facebook to rant about how this made her feel saying that the only reason why she was wearing a shirt like that was because she had just gotten a tattoo. If anyone is familiar with how tattoos work they have to have time to heal without anything touching them, such as a shirt. In this particular case the dress code went too far in not only promoting slut shaming, but not listening to the girls current situation.

The point of all this is to stop the idea that women are objects of others desires. One should not be judged based on the form-fitting top he/she is wearing or by the sleeveless dress that doesn’t adhere by the dress code. The dress code, while its intentions are good, needs to be reworked and looked at on a case by case basis or it with further the spread of slut shaming among young people.