With as much evidence we have showing how dress codes specifically target women, you would think that finally, in 2024, there would be an end to it. But here we are.
To show how this ridiculous, blatant discrimination continues to rear its ugly head, look no further than a video posted by a mother named Shasty Leah, who received a phone call from her daughter’s school a mere two hours before school day would end…due to her outfit “distracting the boys.”
And just what was Leah’s daughter wearing that was so distracting? A high neck, long sleeve shirt and blue jean-like leggings.
That’s it. No crop tops or above-the-knee skirts or any of the other clothing items that typically get penalized.
And yet, this outfit was considered somehow too sexually alluring. Probably because Leah’s daughter was on the curvier side (Leah says that she and her daughter wear the same bra size). Seriously, this feels like it should be in a silly period piece movie. But no.
Understandably, Leah was livid.
“It’s 2024, and we’re still teaching the boys that girls are their sexual play toys,” she says in the clip.
@its_shastys Schools are just full of shit#teamhypeasmile ♬ original sound – Shasty Leah
“We’re not teaching the boys: You don’t have a right to put your hands on any girl. You don’t have a right to call her anything outside her God-given name, and you don’t have a right to think that she is your sexual object. We’re not teaching the boys that. No.”
But she doesn’t stop there. She rightfully adds that if schools really were concerned about all kinds of potentially suggestive dress, then there would be the cheerleading or volleyball outfits many tween and teen girls wear. Valid, valid points.
“It’s 2024. We’ve got to do better as a society,” she says while shaking her head.
Leah even went on to say that as a mom to four boys, she has somehow, someway been able to bring them up to speed on not sexualizing women.
“They were taught the same thing, and you would think while the moms and daddies out there teaching their kids to play football and baseball and basketball, fish, hunt, all the fun things, maybe you could teach in gaming … maybe teach them how not to be little s**ts. Be men.”
And by the way, below is the infamous outfit in question. Leah’s daughter couldn’t have been more conservative if she were wearing a burlap sack.
@its_shastys Replying to @Krystalkd1108 #teamhypeasmile ♬ original sound – Shasty Leah
Other viewers chimed in to share their support, and encouraged Leah to take action.
“There is NOTHING wrong with this outfit,” one person wrote.
Meanwhile, another added, “GO to the school board,” while someone else suggest “set up a meeting wearing that shirt.”
A few even noted that perhaps it’s not the boys who really have the problem, but the adults who are making the complaint.
“At my daughter’s school the boys started wearing crop tops and things girls get DC for to make a point and they change the code,” one person shared.
Another commented, “When the school calls about dress code violations, I really want to know more about the adult who’s been staring and having a problem with it.”
Officials might argue that dress codes help instill a sense of productivity and focus, but for young girls—especially young girls with curvier body types and BIPOC students—they do more harm than good. This is fairly common knowledge by now, is it not? That’s why so many schools have been called out for it over the years.
And yet, an overwhelming majority of schools in the U.S. still enforce them. We’ve tried productivity the patriarchal way. It’s time to try something else, for crying out loud.