Dress Code Double Standard
Finally, after four long months, the snow on the ground has melted. Sunlight peeks through the trees, inviting students to do work on blankets on the quad. The constant drone of the ice cream machines in D-Hall has become part of a daily routine.
Spring has come, and now is the time for students to toss away their parkas, turtlenecks and scarves in exchange for skirts and dresses for girls and shorts for boys. But this simple shift in school wardrobe has created quite a controversy within the student body.
While girls often are dress coded for too-short skirts and dresses, boys never get in trouble for short-shorts. So, should girls just accept this and go on? Should a boy’s shorts rule be implemented? Should both just get dress coded? The answer to all these questions, in my opinion, is no.
Although I understand that school dress should be appropriate and inoffensive, girls should not have to suffer through constant berating from a teacher or faculty member about the length of their skirts. As the weather warms up, they should be allowed to wear what they want to be comfortable in the heat, in order to concentrate better in classes. In addition, if somebody feels confident in a relatively shorter skirt, they should not have to feel embarrassed and forced to change; a length of an article of clothing should not determine the value of how serious or hard working one is. After all, a large part of Exeter is the ability to express oneself, one of which being fashion.
In addition, these terms should also apply to the men of PEA. Already stuck with a relatively stiff dress code of ties, sweaters or tucked in shirts, they already don’t have much room to be creative. But if a guy is happy and comfortable enough s to wear shorts shorter than that of social norms, risking strange looks and some chuckles, he should be able to do that without repercussions. With the upcoming heat waves of spring, a shorter pair of khaki shorts honestly doesn’t seem too inappropriate. Thus, although some people believe it is unfair that boys never get dress coded for their short-shorts, I believe, along with some changes to the girls’ dress code, that this should continue to stay the same.
My main point is, I truly do understand why Exeter has a dress code. It keeps people in order, makes the school look overall more mature, focused and well put-together. But my concern is what the message that all dress codes in general are sending out: that you need to tailor yourself in order not to distract others. A girl shouldn’t wear short skirts and tank tops because it could attract unwanted attention. A boy shouldn’t wear over-the-top clothing unless he wants to pay the cost of unwanted name-calling and doesn’t want to be taken seriously. We shouldn’t have to change ourselves to please the opinions of other people.
In other words, of course Exeter shouldn’t allow offensive t-shirts with racial slurs or offensive sayings, but they shouldn’t encourage a standard for what’s appropriate and what’s not based on distracting others, resulting in the embarrassment of students who are forced back into their dorms to change. So, along with boys not getting criticized for their short shorts, neither should girls for their skirts and dresses. Hopefully, one day, the dress code will come to a happy medium that will satisfy all different styles, comfort zones and confidence levels.