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Sexist dress codes need to die, Entity reports.

Look, dress codes are sexist from the get-go. Ninety percent, if not all, of the language is focused on the women.

Even this school’s dress code, which clearly tried to add in “males and females” wherever possible is primarily directed at women. I mean, are there many male shirts with straps less than three fingers wide? Are bra straps often a male concern? I’m pretty sure they just threw that in to cover their bases.

With the exception of a note about boxers not showing, which feels like a very Nineties grunge concern, the entire dress code is directed at the female population and ensuring that no “inappropriate” amount of skin is showing so as not to be a “distraction” to the males. God forbid.

But all of this just comes back to rape culture. Why is it always on the women to worry about regulating the men’s behavior? We’re responsible for our actions if we fuck up. Hell, it’s usually our fault if we get raped, robbed or molested, too. But guys get “distracted” in class and a young girl gets sent home and her GPA gets impacted? Come ON.

You’re putting teen boy hormones on us, too? Like, we never even stood a chance. Forget being the first woman president. I’m surprised any of us are even graduating high school with those odds. Oh, this horndog, hormonal teen boy is distracted by you, please go home to change, because lord knows nobody cares if you graduate, Karen. Just put your tits away, for God’s sake.

I mean, I’ve written about this twice in just the last couple of months. One girl could be expelled — literally for showing her collar bones. An honor student. With a 4.0. This is insane.

And now a principal in Canada allowed a few guys to call the young women under her care THOTs (that hoe over there) because they had the nerve to stand up for their education? Wouldn’t that be something she’d want to encourage?

See, girls had been posting about a note shared in the women’s bathroom. It said, “When you interrupt a girl’s school day to force her to change clothes, or send her home because her shorts are too short or her bra straps are visible, you are telling her that making sure boys have a ‘distraction free’ learning experience is more important than her education.’ Instead of shaming girls for their bodies, teach boys that girls are not sexual objects.” PREACH, GIRL!

Sexist dress codes need to die - this girl gets it, Entity reports.

Sexist dress codes need to die – this girl gets it. Image via NBC/Giphy

However, boys and their fragile, fragile masculinity OF COURSE responded to this note with one of their own. You’d think it would be reasonable to want to be thought of as a person and not just a sexual object, but apparently that is not a request acceptable to the men of Breton High School.

They responded with their own note, this time posted throughout the halls, and not their own individual restrooms. “When you wear little to no clothing and dress provocatively because it’s ‘too hot out’ or because you think it’s ‘attractive,’ you are putting boys at a risk of having a distracting working environment and saying ‘your clothing is more important than their education.’ Instead of dressing like a THOT, value the male education and dress conservatively.’ Wow.

There’s so much to unpack there I don’t even know where to start. Oh, wait. Yes I do. How about “because it’s ‘too hot out.’” Right, as if temperature is not a real thing. Have men evolved beyond sweating and heat stroke just so that women would have another “silly women’s issue” they could judge them for? If so, I was not aware of that scientific development.

Also, the word “risk” is used WAY too casually here. I just can’t allow it. It’s like in “Pitch Perfect” when Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) says “it’s not a good enough reason to use the word penetrate.” Women know risk. We get followed home at night. We get berated for rejecting men. Young girls get cat called walking home from school. Boys are not “at risk” of being distracted. Give me a goddamn break. You don’t know what risk is. (And to clarify, I hope you never do. But honestly, shut your mouth.)

I know I’m circling back here, but having the word “attractive” in quotations is also really patronizing. Like, okay, *Chad, no one asked your opinion on fashion. Or maybe it was just comfortable. Like, I know a lot of men find leggings “distracting.” No, we’re not trying to show off our butts. They’re SUPER comfortable, Chad, and sometimes, we’re lazy. Or tired. We *shockingly* lead really busy and fulfilling lives outside of just putting on a show for you guys.

And obviously the last part is really demeaning and insulting and unnecessary, but I won’t repeat it, because what actually is the most upsetting part is that the principal, Lara Jollymore, approved the note. “Even though it is not appropriate for gentlemen to objectify ladies, when ladies wear extremely provocative clothing, they can be distracted,” she said.

This grown woman can’t see the difference between being distracted – and having a brain and will power and control over yourself and the ability to focus on your own work anyway – and being objectified? Like, hello, I had crushes on boys in school. We all did. We dated, too. And sometimes I was distracted. I remember I had a really hot music teacher once and all of the girls were distracted. But we didn’t get him fired because we had a crush on him. That’s dumb.

And if we had tried to get him fired for that reason, the school would have told us to get over it. So why is that not the response to teen boys who apparently get hot and bothered over knee caps and collar bones?

Enough is enough, guys. We need to get past this because with idiot men like Trump in power, we’re going to need all the smart, badass ladies on the up and up that we can get. So we can’t keeping interrupting their education over stupid dress code infractions.

Get it together.

* I don’t know this kid’s name, but I could just see a Chad being a sexist asshole like this, couldn’t you? That just seems like a bro-y, Nineties movie villain’s name.

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