Sexualization, Sex Discrimination, and Public School Dress Codes

Abstract

If you follow social media, you may have noticed the rash of reporting on battles over public school dress codes and their effects on and implications for girls. 1 Complaints have been registered across the country, including here in Virginia. 2 For example, in September 2014 at the Maggie Walker Governor‘s School, administrators announced over the PA system that school officials would be performing a shorts-length spot check. 3 Any girls found to be in violation of the rule would be forced to change; if ten girls broke the rule, all girls would be banned from wearing shorts for a day. 4 In Evanston, Illinois, school officials banned leggings because they were ―too distracting‖ for boy students. 5 In New Jersey, high school girls were prohibited from wearing strapless dresses to prom because they, too, were distracting. 6 In Florida, a new student who inadvertently violated her school‘s skirt rules was made to wear a so-called ―shame suit‖: red sweatpants and