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Thoughts on 'dress codes'?
AislingDM
Moderator Posts: 1,666 Extreme Poster
Now, I know this is classic debate that they make you do at school: "should we have a school uniform, yes or no?"...
It made me think about dress codes more generally, whether that is at school, university, the workplace etc...
Lots of places have expectations about how we should dress (which is certainly not limited to clothes, but includes tattoos, piercings and hair as well) and I was wondering what you all thought about this?
Do you think people have the right to expect us to dress in a certain way?
Is it a good thing? Are there any downsides?
It made me think about dress codes more generally, whether that is at school, university, the workplace etc...
Lots of places have expectations about how we should dress (which is certainly not limited to clothes, but includes tattoos, piercings and hair as well) and I was wondering what you all thought about this?
Do you think people have the right to expect us to dress in a certain way?
Is it a good thing? Are there any downsides?
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I think everyone should be able to wear what they want even it if it meant that the clothes they were wearing meant that they were comfortable. I think it is better for people to feel comfortable rather than feel trapped wearing the same as everyone else. I feel this way for the school system however I am aware that with non - uniform, it could pose the issue of people comparing each other clothing which shoulden't really happen. I find that a lot of schools aim to strip their student's of unique personality simply by making them wear the same as everyone else. It tends to happen a lot more to girls and women specifically in the US. I recently found out that in most American school systems, girls are more likely to be 'dress-coded' than boys just because they wanted to wear something they liked. I also found out that apparently some schools think that the boys will be distracted by 'certain' types of clothing even though they should be taught not to be distracted by what a girl is wearing. I don't know I just feel like the dress code system may be a little outdated ish.
I quite liked school uniforms too - wearing a common outfit made me feel more included in the school and with my peers. Also, a big factor in school bullying is where people are targeted based on what they wear (often those who had less money and so wore older clothes, hand-me-downs, or just not keeping up with the latest trends). Removing that factor meant that bullying was less common, and it's been a consistent story with all other people I've met who went to schools with uniforms.
Couldn't agree more @Amy22 ! You make a very relevant point about the importance of certain outfits, not only for contamination and such but also to signify your role and identity to the general public. For example, if you rush into a hospital or you have an important question to ask, it's useful to be able to quickly ascertain who the nurses and doctors are, right? Well, exactly Amy! You're so right, I think it is very evident that girls appear to be dress-coded more than boys, especially in places where uniforms are not required. Nevertheless, even at my school where we did have uniforms, the girls who were curvier were often directly told off more than others for their shirts and their skirt lengths. This felt very unfair altogether. Plus, you're so right, our bodies should never be described as a 'distraction', it feels pretty dehumanising and objectifying really, and a little bit creepy when you could get dress coded by grown adult teachers... I'm hoping there will be more sensitivity in the coming years to dress code approaches. Fortunately, my school recently began allowing the girls to wear trousers not only skirts haha x
Certainly so true @ebyrne556 , allowing young people to express themselves, so long as it is safe and (hopefully) does not negatively impact them, should be the basic norm for all schools and parents really. This is why I love parents who encourage their children to be a part of the clothes-buying process at the shops! Plus, things like nail varnish are likely not to affect anyone negatively. Really, the only argument I can see making a bit of sense is the point about 1) kids judging each other's clothes 2) wearing makeup and the complex feelings that can come with this for young people. Equally, I suppose there is a point to be made about getting comfortable with wearing 'smart clothes' in 6th form to get prepared for future careers etc... Nevertheless, the burden of acting like a role model can be pretty exhausting, especially if all you are trying to do is bring a bit of creativity to your outfits/general style.
See, this point makes sense too, especially with regards to being respectful of others and minimising the mental effort required to select an outfit from a range of options. Like, if you know you can only go to work in a suit, then you have to choose between your three suits, rather than every item of clothing in your wardrobe. Plus, with things like weddings as well, lots of people expect the guests not to wear white, so maybe this is an example of a less 'everyday' dress code @Azziman ? Equally, it makes me consider how important image is and what 'sophisticated' or 'neat' dress looks like these days. For example, I see a lot of TikToks nowadays about teachers seeming to have more freedom with their style and it makes me happy to know the kids will grow up seeing people who look different
An additional point that I wanted to mention is that often students of certain races are also disproportionately affected by dress code policies, and especially hair 'codes'. For example, many Black students at my school got in trouble regularly for having certain styles of braids. Additionally, at the local boys schools, boys were frequently put in isolation and even excluded for having longer hair or having certain styles the schools had banned (e.g., twists). This type of discrimination was very normalised, and definitely shows the awful impact that dress codes can have upon young kids
I got to agree that it is mostly females who are more likely to get dress-coded especially members from ethnic backgrounds or religions which is sad to think about sometimes. I'd say it's worse for black students as they often get discriminated against for wearing braids or certain hairstyles that are important because of their hair types.
Another thing I wanted to mention was that in my secondary school, looking back we had to have what were called 'uniform checks' where we would all line up at the back of the school, and the teachers would check our uniforms and even bags sometimes which was a little bit creepy. Apparently, our head wanted to make sure that we were 'properly dressed' but I think there was something more going on really especially with the fact that we had to have the teachers searching us. It was worse during fire alarms too as once me and my friends had to get our bags searched because of an incident with deodrant sprays. I hated having to open my bag because of personal stuff I had in there too sometimes that I didn't want other students to know about even teachers.
1000% we had a similar thing in younger years (which makes it feel extra creepy) they were especially keen on 'checking' skirt length and somehow it always happened to be this one specific teacher who was a man
I think you make such a critical point here about how children and young people should be entitled to privacy and respect when it comes to personal belongings and their bodies. I remember being embarrassed about having period products in my bag (ofc that's not embarrassing at all to anyone reading this, I was just a nervous 14-year old) and the idea of teachers being able to invade your personal space and look through your life in that way feels fundamentally wrong. Especially because, if bag searches are absolutely essential (e.g., life-threatening situation) then there is a way to do this with care and empathy for the young people involved. I'm sorry that experience with school was so awful, certainly you deserved better than this
Dress code IS important, so people feel that they are included, like @Azziman said. But what concerns me is that it goes to the point where people don't have a say about what to wear and I f***ing hate that. Another problem is that the clothes might be outdated, uncomfortable, fragile, or worse. My idea of a dress code is one that fits the certain scenario, and at the same time is comfortable to the person wearing the dress code.
@AislingDM what do you think?