Why is it that the school systems are teaching young women that they need to cover up because it’s distracting, instead of teaching young men to stop letting themselves get distracted by a woman’s body? Women can’t wear tank tops because their shoulders are showing or their bra strap is showing. Women can’t wear shorts because they’re showing too much skin. Instead of teaching women that a normal thing is distracting, why not teach teachers and male students not to overly sexualize a normal body part? We go to school to learn, not to be kicked out of class because a bra strap is showing or their shorts aren’t long enough.
What is truly so distracting about a woman’s body? Why is it that only straight men can’t control themselves?  Women can control themselves when a male is wearing a muscle shirt, and LGBTQ  women can control themselves around the same women that men can’t control themselves around. It is not about the people that are distracting, it’s about the people who don’t know how to control themselves. Men not being able to control themselves can lead to sexual harassment and catcalling. This will lead to women feeling unsafe in certain places where they should feel safe. Women shouldn’t have to worry about a man sexual harassing her due to a piece of clothing.
This also feeds into sexism because it signals to women that their bodies are sexual and that they aren’t allowed to be comfortable in their clothes.  “It tells her she’s not entitled to human decency and respect if her skin is showing, which is slut shaming, but also objectifying. It tells girls their bodies are more sexual than boys. She is the object, and he is the subject,” said “5 Big Reasons Sexist School Dress Codes Need to be Stopped” in an article  from MTV. It is not a woman’s job to prevent men from being distracted.
We don’t need to eliminate the dress code, but we should change it to fit a more modern day lifestyle. Account for clothing styles, gender expression, and cultural diversity. We have drilled into everyone’s minds that they need to dress a certain way to be successful, but what about people who just want to express themselves? The people who have a different way of dressing then the typical white man’s image.
How can we help solve these problems? First we need to understand the dress code in place now. There are a total of nine rules: a few are no exposed boxers, no spaghetti straps, and no do-rags. Out of all nine there is only one that is directed towards men, no exposed boxers. Four of them are directed towards everyone. But four of them are directed towards women. One that shouldn’t even be in the dress code is no durags. Durags are there to protect certain hairstyles including waves and braids. They can’t say that it’s not allowed because it covers your head if we can still wear hats.