September Blog Post

In our book, there is a section that discusses “our individual positions as listeners,” which encompasses the different experiences we have all had that shape our understanding of certain situations. This highlights how each person that we might come into contact with will not know our background, just as we will not know their background. This means that we should be empathetic and compassionate towards others when communicating with them in order to be great communicators. I think this concept is important to talk about because if we try to think beyond ourselves when talking to strangers, it makes us better communicators and we can accomplish more in the conversation. 

In class on Tuesday, September 26^th, we discussed school dress codes in high schools. It made me reflect about my own experience with dress code in my past in a way I never had before. I did not used to think about my experiences with school dress codes because I thought it was normal. I thought everyone had dress codes because that was how I was raised and something I experienced regularly. As I reflect on this part of my childhood, I realize that is because of how I was raised. I grew up in a Lutheran household, going to a Lutheran Middle School, and graduating from a Lutheran High School. Even outside of school, I felt like there was a certain dress code I should be following so I looked like everyone else. All my friends were similar to me, so we were all more conservative with our clothing as children.

It wasn’t until 8^th grade when I started to realize how strict our dress codes were. There was a “fingertip rule” for girls’ skirts, which is really weird when you think about a grown adult checking to make sure their students’ skirts were not reaching further than their fingertips. My parents were pretty conservative with my upbringing, so I never really had an issue with dress code rules, but my friends were constantly being stopped by administration in high school to discuss their outfit. It was annoying to have to walk the long way to class with those friends because they were afraid of being stopped, and that is really when I started to notice how dress codes were hurting more than they were helping.

This is a social issue that I think is important to talk about because it is giving young girls a certain expectation for what they are and aren't supposed to wear, which ties into what they think their personalities are supposed to be like as women. If we are constantly telling young girls to dress a certain way in order to not distract boys, this makes them feel like they also have to have personalities that boys like. It also tells them that the way they dress is more important than their education. Their school day is interrupted by an adult telling them that the way they are dressed is distracting to boys, so they have to change.

How has this become a norm in our society? How is shaming girls in front of of their peers an okay thing to do? Young girls are very impressionable and therefore should not be treated like that. I think opening up the conversation about changing dress code standards to be more equal for boys and girls is important because it can open the conversation about gender equality overall. Our society has recently started making changes to the way we talk about gender equality, and I believe this is very important to actually making changes for our society. This conversation is not just important for women, but also for men and for reaching a more equal society overall.