Dress Codes Are Sexist

In April of 2017, a high school girl was pulled out of class because she was not wearing a bra and was forced to cover her nipples with band-aids. After Lizzy Martinez posted her story on social media, a wave of support followed. People all around the country called for a #bracott, in support of Martinez and to protest sexist school dress codes that are strictly enforced on girls in schools around the country. A twitter movement followed the incident and enacted a wave of girls telling stories about how they have been dress coded and how their schools dress codes target girls.

Following the #bracott twitter campaign, more stories were released about girls being treated unfairly due to dress codes. One middle school student was forced to duct tape the holes in her jeans because she violated the dress code. Another student, in Alabama, had to fight her school to wear a tuxedo at her prom. The student argued that her First Amendment rights protected her against the school's sexist policies that forced girls to wear dresses to prom.

Dress codes are inherently sexist because they are only regulating the clothing that girls are allowed to wear, and rarely have rules against the clothing worn by boys. Since the #bracott in April, 2017 there has been an increasing amount of students who are protesting school dress codes and exposing the sexist context of dress codes in schools. Social media has played an important role in advocating for this issue. This twitter campaign shows the importance of sharing your story and getting the word out about a wrongdoing.