![]() To further investigate this phenomenon, we looked at one high school’s dress code and its differential impact on students. ![]() While research on school discipline and its disproportionate impact on Black males has abounded (e.g., Fergus, 2016), the research on racialized effects of dress codes is still emerging. The National Women’s Law Center (2018) recently reported that although many dress codes in the Washington, D.C., area included race-neutral language, they specifically banned styles mostly worn by Black girls and women, such as hair wraps. A group of New Jersey students, for example, created the hashtag #Iamnotadistraction to push against dress codes that required female students to cover their bodies, implicitly blaming them for distracting males from learning (Krischer, 2018).ĭespite this growing attention, schools continue to enforce dress codes that are explicitly gendered and implicitly aimed at minority cultural groups. And students are taking notice and speaking out. Such messages create unwelcome and potentially even hostile school climates for students whose choice of dress goes against established norms. Perhaps even worse than losing out on instructional time, they also receive the message - whether explicit or implicit - that there is something wrong with their clothing choices or their bodies. When students are disciplined because of how they are dressed, they lose class time - for a five-minute hallway lecture, 20 minutes to search through a bin of “appropriate” clothes to wear, an hour-long trip home, or even a full-day suspension. In the era of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, these news stories highlight ways that seemingly neutral school policies may inequitably impact students based on their gender and race. Recent headlines in the popular press highlight stories of girls and young women who were forced to wear a sweatshirt over a tank top during a heat wave, put tape over their nipples if they were not wearing a bra, or remove hair extensions. Teachers, students, parents, and administrators struggle, often against each other, to determine what is appropriate for school and who should get to decide. ![]() “When you have a Black girl and a White girl walking down the hall, and the Black girl gets called out, I mean, that’s the issue.”ĭress codes have always been a point of contention in public schools. If what I wear bothers someone else, it says more about them than me.” “I am aware of what makes me feel uncomfortable. Too often, school dress codes are enforced in ways that disproportionately impact students of color - both male and female.
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