I just googled 'how to be a girl' because I was curious about what would come up: use makeup and cosmetic products, carry a bag and ditch a rucksack, pay attention to the way you look, don't wear flats, girls wear heals. I don't know about you, but I know for me, I like a rucksack every now and then and I can't walk in heels so thats a NO from me. Why are there rules on femininity and womanhood? Why do I need to be a certain way in order to be 'feminine'? 

Surrounding girls, there seems to be a particular set of rules that have to be followed. Take a dress code for example, they promote a more serious school atmosphere. My school sixth form has a dress code which is smart. I must look smart. However, in order for us all to 'look' smart, we can't wear a tight skirt or tight trousers or a t shirt, why can't I wear a t-shirt? There is nothing untidy about a t shirt. I think that if you look smart and studious, then that should be fine. School always has to go a step beyond that. To me, a dress code is absolutely fine until I start being told specific items of clothing that I cannot wear. That is where the area begins to turn grey. why can't my trousers be tight? your telling me to buy smart trousers so I buy them and I wear them, to be told that they are too tight. Not all forms of clothing are able to accommodate every body type out there. If my clothes make you feel uncomfortable then YOU are the problem. I understand that a school tries to protect their students and safeguarding is very important, but at what point should my clothes be deemed inappropriate because they make people feel a certain way? At my school, in the summer, you are not allowed to wear knee high socks. My friend asked why and a teacher told her that it resembles the clothes a prostitute would wear. We were all 14 at this time, some of us didn't know what a prostitute was, let alone what they supposedly wore. I realised that I went to a school where the length of my socks or my skirt length was of the same importance as my education or more important. That is not the way we should be raised. We should be told that we can wear what we want and not have to worry about the looks we get or what is said to us. I thought that we were empowering ourselves and each other by what we choose to wear. How can we be expected to be respected in the world when we are oppressed and a subject to discrimination at such a young age? 

I am 100% aware that a dress code reflects stability within the school, but dress codes should not exist in the outside world. What I'm wearing does not reflect how ready I am to learn or how I will behave. What I'm wearing also does not give you a free-pass to disrespect or touch me anywhere. Consent still exists regardless of what I'm wearing. To an extent, a dress code is sexiest and promotes rape culture. If a boy/man was wearing tight trousers school or work, he wouldn't be told to go home and change because he was distracting female members of staff. Why does that rule only apply to women? If my trousers distract you from teaching or from daily activities, then the problem is not me. 

Dress codes are not only enforced in schools or work places, but in everyday life. I am not, by any means, attacking schools for having dress codes, but I don't think it is fair to state items of clothing that we can and can't wear. Just state a theme: smart-causal, causal, smart. The length of my skirt doesn't affect how smart I look. 

People who implement dress codes and enforce them are also the people who tell us to be ourselves and to not let anyone tell us what to do. I am told that having my stomach out isn't very modest or that my skirt is very short. I should not have to be modest in order to be respected.

My post wasn't supposed to be all about school dress codes, but then I came to the conclusion that I think it is important to identify the problems in society in order to, then, identify where we went wrong.