Not As Weak As You Tell Me I Am
By: Heavenlea Yenser
May 6, 2019
MOre than a pretty face
For generations, there have been a set of expectations of gender roles. Those roles being, men should be “strong and emotionless”, while women are “vulnerable and filled with emotions.” This heteronormative stereotype follows us wherever we go.
In particular, the dress code for women reflects bias towards us as sexual beings who are “vulnerable and filled with emotions” instead of also considering who we are and what we are capable of. There was a high school student suspended from school because her shirt was inappropriate according to a male principal’s observations. We see incidents like this happen with school dress code all the time. Not only is there inequality in schools, but also in sports, the work place, and so many more scenarios. Because gender roles have been in place for quite some time, it is hard for us today to break these expectations of what one should be and how to act in accordance to gender.
After conducting my own research, I have uncovered that many teenage girls would agree with the statement that it is easy to break the gender stereotypes, but it is difficult to do so without being looked at in a negative way. Take an 11th grade girl here at G.W Carver who I interviewed for example.When asked “ How many times have you gotten dress coded, and if so, what for?” she responded “ I have been dress coded more times than I can count on my fingers. I tend to break the uniform dress code a lot just like everybody else I see, but I feel like I only get dress coded because I am seen as ‘bustier’ than the other girls. I like to dress bold and do not care what people think and I think that some people might be intimidated by that, causing me to get yelled at for what I am wearing."
"What do you think is unfair about the concept of dress code and what can we do about this?" was the following question. "
