A reader writes:
I’ve been keeping up with the feminist umbrage about the “no legging” dress code rule. I’ve been
surprised that the “pro-legging” argument seems to carry the day, as if it is the obvious feminist position.
Black leggings are the de facto uniform in my kids’ middle school. I have attended a sixth grade choir concert where I could see the full contour of the butt, crotch, and sometimes very personal areas of the 11- and 12-year-old girls performing for their parents. I have seen 5-year-olds come to kindergarten in very fashionable clothing that made them look like prostitutes.
Girls are hyper-sexualized in our culture, and the fashionable clothing is short, tight and revealing. Your 12-year-old girl almost certainly doesn’t intend to be presenting herself as a sex object in skintight leggings or short shorts. She’s wearing what is fashionable and popular with her peers (and just about the only thing available in stores). But the fact remains she is dressing in conformance with a society that sexualizes young girls. The fight should be against the culture that encourages young girls to show skin, not for the opportunity to allow your daughter to participate in it. Surely she can have the freedom to choose clothes that cover her crotch.
And please note: even the Eliana Dockterman defense of leggings in Time is illustrated with a picture of a girl whose shirt covers her leggings-clad backside.
Another quotes Dockterman:
The argument being made by school administrators is not that distant from the arguments made by those who accuse rape victims of asking to be assaulted by dressing a certain way. We tell women to cover themselves from the male gaze, but we neglect to tell the boys to look at something else.
Can somebody please explain why the above argument wouldn’t also apply in support of criticizing a dress code that prohibited girls from wearing bikinis to school?
Not to mention the incredible gulf between a boy assaulting a girl, and just looking and being distracted – a horrible comparison. Everybody has inappropriate thoughts from time to time, which is completely different than controlling one’s actions. If boys were wearing tight leggings that clearly showed the outline of their, um, stuff, that’d be distracting, too, no? Would we criticize the school for a dress code on that?
Another:
How I long for the days of school uniforms! Think of the advantages:
– Schools can spend more time figuring out how to teach better rather than how to design dress codes that will not offend finely tuned sensibilities of pundits, who can now spend time thinking about more important things
– Kids can spend more time studying than keeping up with the latest fashions
– Parents get to save money
It works fine in most countries, and in private schools even in the United States. Why we can’t do that in most schools is a mystery to me.
(Photo by Maria Morri)
