The current dress code at Durango High School represents an ingrained misogyny in our society that most people do not want to talk about. While there are some aspects of a dress code that are completely necessary, such as prohibition of clothing that explicitly promotes violence or intolerance, the section that regulates how much of the body, specifically women’s bodies, can be shown is archaic and destructive.
The main reasoning behind these restrictions is that if a woman shows too much of her body, she becomes less than a student, or a person, but a distraction. The priority of the administration, as shown by the dress code, is to ensure that hormonal, heterosexual boys get an uninterrupted education. There is an implicit hypocrisy in this: People who get periods are expected to control their hormonal urges while in the setting of school, but boys are completely pardoned and even accommodated when they feel that they are distracted by their hormonal urges.
Self-expression through dress is extremely important for teenagers, and to take away that freedom destroys self-esteem. Students walk freely through the school wearing Confederate battle flags with no repercussions, while a girl who has too much of her back showing is punished. This needs to change.
Oskar Searfus
Durango
