Sexist School Dress Codes Are Back For Prom & These Students Are Petitioning For A Change

Generation Z is not a generation that takes things lying down, as has become evident this month when a Hawaii high school announced sexist prom dress codes for the gowns that students could and could not arrive in. This kind of policing isn't anything new. In 2015, a school principal stated that dress codes were there to protect girls' "purity." In 2017, a high school enforced wearing tights during the summer because bare ankles were thought to be racy. One school even offered to wash all of the boys' gym uniforms, while making the girls' wash their own at home.

While those in authority might think that these dress codes promote an environment of professionalism and structure, what they actually do is promote gendered stereotypes. From the idea that men aren't able to wash their own clothes but women will take to it naturally, to promoting the notion that women are responsible for a culture of sexual harassment, these kinds of rules send the wrong messages to students. And the students of Kauai High School in Hawaii are not about to accept such viewpoints.

A month before prom, the high school issued a new dance dress code that was only targeted at the girls of the school. Posters went up around the halls explaining what kinds of dresses were prohibited: No gowns where the slit of the dress exposes the upper thighs, no dresses that show any "excessive" cleavage, no dresses that show midriff or contain any kinds of cutouts, no off-the-shoulder dresses that show cleavage, and no backless dresses that fall below mid back or under the bra strap.

If you have ever gone formal dress shopping before, you know that leaves you with little to no options. And as many students pointed out, raising these restrictions a few weeks before the event leaves little time to buy a dress, especially seeing how many have already purchased one that they now cannot wear.

In response, the students protested and have started a change.org petition asking the Department of Education to reverse these restrictions. Started by student Annie Funaki, she wrote in the petition, "These many restrictions on our prom dress are discriminating and insulting to girls due to the number of restrictions put on this."

One student took to the comment section in the petition, writing that these sorts or restrictions only teach girls and women that they need to hide their bodies from the public or else they are inviting harassment. In turn, this sends them the message that their bodies are inherently unsafe from men. She also pointed out how a lot of these restrictions were asking the students to hide body parts that aren't even thought of as sexual to begin with.

"We also know that shoulders and legs should not need to be covered. Shoulders are not sexual. Legs are not sexual. Why should we be told that we have to hide our bodies because they're sexual when they're not?" she asked.

"If you're worried about boys getting too excited over seeing a girls shoulders, you should be teaching them some self control," she said.

The petition further explains, "The facts are this is 2018, where we are told to be confident in our body, but then you create these restrictions that discriminate us and hypersexualize us to the point that we cannot feel comfortable without the assumption that we are being 'provocative.'"

The students went on to explain that they are not asking for the abolition of all dress codes, but to alter these conservative rules to something more reasonable and without such a damaging message. If this is the future, we are proud of it.