Annotated Bibliography

Meghan. #IAmNotADistraction: How Dress Code Policies Sexualize Young Bodies. Published

September 30th, 2019

Dress codes nationwide really harm young people's thoughts, ideas, and bodily autonomy.

Dress codes typically target certain body types and a certain gender. Schools defend dress

codes by saying they are training professionalism and “leveling the playing field”.

Enforcing said dress codes however can be very problematic, and make the students feel

shamed and attacked.

Holland, Hadley. Dress Code: Is it sexualization?. Published November 17th, 2022.

From a student perspective, this article shares how the dress code is viewed as a personal

attack on the individuals and their choices they make for themselves. Students are

confused about how a shoulder is sexual, how female skin is inherently sexual even

though every human has skin. Dress codes are described as sexualizing and sexualization

is defined, “Sexualization, as defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary, is the act of

sexualizing (the making of something sexual) someone or something”.

Mishra, Stuti. College basketball coach hits back at sexist attacks over her pink leather game

day outfit. Published February 17th 2022.

University of Kentucky’s women’s basketball coach Sydney Carter had to respond to

comments about an outfit she wore to a game. The comments were mainly focused

around her tight, pink pants. The people were questioning her coaching ability in tight

pants. Coach Carter responded to the comments saying “I just think that people are

uncomfortable with a Black woman being in a power position,”.

Legal Momentum. Dressed and Ready to Learn: A Resource for Students, Parents and Educators
 to Identify, Challenge and Change Gendered Dress Codes in K-12 Schools. Published

2022.

Dress codes are restrictive, disproportionate, perpetuate rape culture, impact minorities,

and are very invasive. Dress codes violate many people and their rights. There are

definitely better ways to go about them to make them more inclusive and still

professional.

B. Navya. The Objectification and Dehumanization of Girls Through Dress Codes. Published

2020.

Through dress codes, whose main target is teenage girls and women as a whole, there

begins a long process of sexualization and dehumanization. When dress codes prohibit

free dress it makes girls feel like objects and that their looks are the only important thing

about them. By sexualizing parts of a human body, specifically a women’s body, it takes

away accountability from the men who are viewing them sexually. As small and normal

as a shoulder has now been sexualized, what random body part is next?
Kenadie Jackson

Dr. P

COMM 1270

3 July, 2023

The Sexualization of Dress Code

The Merriam Webster dictionary has defined dress code as a “formally or socially

imposed standards of dress.” There are many dress codes in the world. There are professional

attire dress codes, wedding guest dress codes, funeral dress codes, themed dress codes, beach

dress codes, work dress codes, and many more. There is a standard of dress for certain occasions,

and labeling them as such is no issue. The dress codes that are an issue are the dress codes that

make people feel uncomfortably looked at, judged, and shamed; school dress codes are a prime

example of these. Dress codes that target certain body parts are sexualizing, dehumanizing, and

perpetuate rape culture.

Dress codes and dress code violators often feel shamed and judged for their clothing

choices,and it will typically be females in violation for being “too distracting”; “Usually what

they’re talking about are distractions of a sexual nature. These rules punish the person who is

being perceived as sexual rather than the engaging in conversations with the person who is

‘being distracted’” (Meghan). What is hard to comprehend is how shoulders, thighs, stomachs,

necks, and arms became sexual in the eyes of humans; these are body parts every person has.

Typically, these body parts are only seen as distracting when it is seen on a woman.

Gendered dress codes that enforce the notion that girls’ bodies are distracting and

boys cannot be expected to control their own actions perpetuate rape culture. It solidifies
 for another generation that girls do not have full control over their own bodies and that

the way someone dresses gives someone else permission to violate them. Our boys

deserve more credit than permitting this assumption to persist and, instead, schools

should be fostering a culture of mutual respect and consent and personal responsibility

for one’s own actions. This cannot be achieved with enforcement of a gendered dress

code (legal momentum).

High school journalist, Hadley Holland, writes in her school paper the “Lafayette Ledger”, about

a first hand experience of the dress code having a gender double standard:

Adding to this, there is a clear double standard between male and female students at

schools when it comes to the dress code. I, along with many other students, can testify

that with the uprising of the pulled-down-pants trend, there have been many male

students seen with their pants pulled down to their thighs with no reprimand. While

female students are getting in trouble for the sight of their shoulders and midriffs, male

students walk around participating in such trends without a single person raising an

eyebrow (Holland).

Why are girls being punished for following fashion trends and having skin while the boys are

able to walk around with their underwear out? College basketball coach, Sydney Carter, was

being attacked online for wearing tight pink pants to coach at a game. She was covered from

neck to ankle, but since her female figure was shown people online tried to say she was “Out of

dress code” (Mishra). “Dress codes…add to the objectification and dehumanization of girls.

Although it may seem like it’s preventing them from wearing inappropriate clothes or that it’s

protecting them, it actually…reinforces the idea that what they wear is the most important thing

about them” (B. Navya).

 Proposals

Topic: Dress Codes are sexualizing and dehumanizing

1. School dress codes should be more lenient and less gendered

2. School’s should hold students for being distracted accountable, rather than punishing a

student deemed distracting.

3. Dress codes should be in the workforce, rather than the school yard

4. Dress codes should be adjusted to not be shameful or judgemental to certain students