Tube tops, spaghetti straps, short shorts…

Here at ERHS, we don’t hear a lot about girls complaining at the dress code. We are not suppose to be wearing shorts higher then your thumbs, spaghetti straps, or anything strapless. In all my four years at high school I have never been personally dress coded. I have had friends and classmate get dress coded but this year I have seen less and less of them. Maddie Gorrie, senior here at ERHS, said that through her experience, “the dress code here is not strict at all,” compared to her old school where they would make a big fuss over something small.”

There are protest and students in other high schools where girls have been sent home because they where wearing something strapless on a hot day, or because some teachers noticed that some girls were not wearing a bra. Apparently what a girl chooses to wear is not based off their identity, comfort, the whether but because what they wear can actually “distract boys from paying attention in class.”

A girls dressing decision of her life should not be based off of what others think but of how they would like to express themselves that day. We should not be targeted for something as simple as our clothing choices. If boys get distracted by the clothes of girls then maybe they should buy it so they can also wear them or maybe just stop staring and start paying attention. Us girls have the same right to education as boys and that right should not be taken away from us because they believe our clothes are too “provocative” and “distracting.”

My heart goes out to all those girls struggling with the authorities of her school. You’re in the right for standing up and fighting for a right that should not even be questioned. “It’s crucial for girls to stand up for what they believe in and for their bodies.” Your clothes, your identity, your rights. Claim them.

Gisselle Guerrero