No spaghetti straps. No short skirts. No midriff shirts. A typical school dress code may be seen as a way to maintain order, but what many don't consider is the message it is sending to female youth. In Laura Bates's opinion article, "How School Dress Codes Shame Girls and Perpetuate Rape Culture", she includes personal experiences from other girls, and appeals to pathos through the feminine tone that she establishes to reveal the negative effects that dress codes are having on young women. While the school may think it is playing a positive role by creating a "distraction free environment", girls are being taught that they are the distraction.
Throughout her article, Bates includes different statements from girls with a similar viewpoint on their schools' dress code. Their experiences with challenging the dress code or being criticized for what they wear result in the discrepancy that Bates is aiming to reveal. One girl shares, "at my school our dress code dictates everything about a girls outfit" but "there's no dress code for men". By including the reality of one girl's school dress code, Bates not only establishes a general idea of all dress codes, but she is also leading into the problem it creates with gender inequality. Another girl shares a more personal experience- "I've been asked whether I'm ashamed of myself because I rolled up my skirt". By associating the dress code with a word such as 'shame', girls are becoming easily succumbed to feeling bad about themselves for wearing what they normally wear or what is comfortable to them. This negative impact on young women supports Bates's argument that the dress code is damaging to female confidence and sends off the message that their bodies are something to feel sorry for.
Bates also calls attention to the issue that school dress codes impose on sexism. Through her feministic tone, she is able to appeal to the emotions of the women in the audience. Some of the girls that she interviewed for her article shared that they had been verbally harassed in a sexual way by boys at school. She then explains that often half the problem is not the clothing, but just "a lack of any attempt to discipline boys for harassing behavior, which drives home the message that it is the victim's responsibility to prevent". In Bates's opinion, the dress code is a way of putting the blame on girls in these situations. By comparing the effects on both genders, she is attempting to reach out to the female audience and make them aware of the injustice they are facing. The pride that she holds in her femininity causes women to think twice the next time somebody places the blame on their clothing choices.
http://time.com/3892965/everydaysexism-school-dress-codes-rape-culture/
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