Letters / Letter to my Sister's Futile Principal [3]

To Whom It May Concern,

I have received notice via the monthly school newsletters that the dress code is changing, and surprisingly not because of the change of season. Being a middle school student once myself, I have realized problems in your school socially, physically and emotionally, but none of which have any correspondence with what girls, in particular, are wearing. Whether it is a male or female, no one should be told what to wear, nor should they have to put up with the complaints coming from your staff simply because their tank top straps are two fingers wide instead if three. Going to school should be about learning respect, and how to work appropriately with other students. These skills in life will be much more important than a˛+b˛=c˛. Dress codes should remain limited, but not strict.

Every one of us is entitled to freedom, whether we're in a classroom with 20 people or strolling through the mall surrounded by hundreds. Being strict with the rules at your schools lessens the freedom your students have. I do understand that there are limits, as there should be, but as far as I can tell they are no longer limits, but mandatory rules that your students now have to follow. Having to wear shirts with a high neckline? Oh, okay, that's understandable. Having to wear tank tops with thick straps to cover your shoulders and bra straps? Well that one's a little weird. (I do enjoy the fact that you attempt to stop males from getting aroused from a bra strap or shoulder, yet they find this rule strange as well.) But wearing a shirt long enough to cover your butt because the male population supposedly can't handle their raging hormones because of the oh-so fabulous floral print on your behind is too much for them? Now that's down right absurd. If we can't express ourselves by wearing leggings - in which we only wear for comfort or style, not to show off assets as we're all known to do now - then put us in uniforms. Stop your foolish attempts of trying to make the school a better place by giving men a reason not to respect us at all.

Besides the nonexistent freedom with the students' apparel at your school, which is seeming like a jail the more rules you tack onto the never-ending list, I do recognize a lack of respect, which distinctly doesn't have anything to do with clothing. Respect is to be earned, but do females not deserve respect just because their butts are showing? Oh, wait, they aren't showing. They're covered by fabric, if not multiple layers, and not an inch of bare skin is showing. What a sin! They definitely need to go out and buy new clothing so their behinds aren't too distracting in their leggings. If you are going to enforce this rule, do me the honour of giving us money for a new wardrobe. Money for new shirts, long enough to actually cover the "distraction". Money for new pants, so nothing will be too distracting. You do realize that not everyone can afford a new one, right? Women should be respected, whether their naked or fully clothed. Since when did showing skin automatically get the "disrespect" tag? As said before, us females are not trying to show off anything, can we not be comfortable without being convicted of showing off our body? Or are males just going to have it so much easier because they don't have as much to show off? We serve men with respect, why can't we be respected?

As for males, their rules are much more agreeable and make much more sense, such as wearing pants above the waistline. No, we don't want to see their underwear, yes that's right, but do they have to wear a shirt to cover it? Does the school enforce it as much as your new-going rule you've recently created about how the female students should dress? Males have bodies as well, and despite also having their own, they enjoy flaunting it just as much as the females do. All men and women should be treated respectfully and equally. Those girls don't drool over the prepubescent, barely-there muscles that their male classmates have - in which they aren't supposed to show off yet they don't get in trouble for doing so - why should they have to cover up something that is already covered up? Equality is something that is hard to find in this world, and I do believe that schools and the school board should set a good example of it. The sad reality being that you aren't. Instead of yelling at the girls about how they are dressing, yell at the boys for being disrespectful! Isn't that your job? Isn't that the point of the respect 4? Respect 4 is enforced when your precious property gets a scratch on it, but not when it comes to a women's body. Your school is setting such a good example, so proud of you guys! "How we dress, does not mean yes" (Rookie).

Dress codes should remain limited, but not strict. Freedom is a huge part in one's life, and without freedom leads to deprivation. Depriving children from what they need is wrong, as well as giving male students another reason to be disrespectful to their female classmates. If respect is not taught, you might as well add another sexual assault story to the list of the already existing millions out there. Students should all be treated with equality even when it comes to clothing. Your school can have assemblies to discuss selling magazines to get hundreds of dollars for your precious school, resulting in a $10 gift for the seller, but you can't have an assembly to discuss meaningful things such as respect and equality? Women should not have to put more clothes on because it makes a man uncomfortable. A man's self control is not a woman's responsibility.

i realize there is a spacing problem btw ^^^