Girls Dress Code Research Paper

Girls Dress Code

Imagine walking to your car in an empty parking lot late at night after dinner. A man walks by and hollers at you. He slowly walks up to you and pushes you against the car. Before you know it, he comes on to you and you are trying to get away, but it doesn’t work. After he is done and has left you call the police. After a few days comes the trial. They ask the woman what she was wearing, she said “ I was wearing a fitting dress that came to about mid thigh”. They told her if she hadn’t been wearing such a revealing outfit, she wouldn’t have been raped. Imagine being told it was your fault for being raped. How would you feel? What would you do? The dress code girls have to follow are too strict and are teaching girls and women to be afraid of men and boys and what they will do based on your clothing.
Dress code is teaching a damaging lesson that supports the rape culture.
Girls are told the reason to cover up is to keep from “distracting” male peers. Dress code was made to keep girls from being targeted by men and boys. Telling girls to cover up is teaching them to be afraid of men. The problem is often compounded by the lack of any attempt to discipline boys and their actions.
The specific codes girls have to follow have come to an extreme. When a girl is taken out of class for distracting, her education is made less important than the boy she is “distracting”. The very act of calling a girl out for their clothing often leads to slut-shaming and girls feeling guilty without even realizing what they did. It feels as if such “codes” are more about protecting strict norms and refuse to tolerate diversity or difference. When a girl is punished for her clothing it teaches her not to wear something that shows her legs or shoulders because she might be
raped.
Dress code needs to be a little less strict because of the rape culture it is supporting. Telling girls to cover up only teaches guys that it’s okay to rape if they are wearing something a little revealing. Girls are often blamed for being raped and harassed by men because of their clothing. Many girls are told they are distracting to boys because of their clothes. Examples of strict dress code are: a girl was given detention for wearing a dress that showed her shoulders. Another example was a girl was asked to leave prom for her dress showing part of her back and her shoulders.
Men are not something we should fear. We should not be afraid to wear something we want because we are afraid men will rape or sexually assault us. Rape is a big deal and should have more attention brought to it. No matter what a girl is wearing or doing, she does not deserve to be raped.