#EndTheDressCode

There’s been a lot of discussion about dress codes in schools this year; in May, a ‘Crop Top Day’ protest was organized in schools across the GTA after grade 12 student Alexi Halket was sent home for the day because of her choice of attire.

Andrea, Erin, and Kerin – the young women who founded Project Slut – have also experienced the impact of dress codes in school first hand, and they actually successfully changed the dress code at their Toronto high school before starting a campaign aimed at ending the policy in all schools across the Toronto District School Board.

What we really like about their campaign (besides the awesome stop-motion video they recently released), is how their critique of school dress codes focuses on why the dress code policy is an issue that affects all students.

First and foremost, dress codes are usually enforced on female bodies – telling them to cover up and wear less-revealing outfits.  But the underlying message is that male students are unable to act respectfully or control their physical/sexual desires around their female peers, unless they are wearing less ‘distracting’ clothing.  When this type of thinking is upheld by teachers, in a position of authority, is it a surprise that harassment, bullying, and worse forms of sexual violence continue to occur?

Project Slut also talks about how school dress codes enforce harmful race, class, and gender norms: racialized students may be stereotyped as criminals or thugs because of what they’re wearing, students with larger bodies may be told to cover up when wearing an outfit that thinner students would get away with, and trans and gender nonconforming folks may be asked to dress in a way that is not true to their identity.

Though the Toronto District School Board explained that the dress code policy is purposefully vague to allow each school to interpret and implement the policy in their own way, we hope that they are now paying attention to the negative impacts of the policy and have an understanding of why this is an issue that students and others care strongly about.

Sign the petition on Change.org here, and spread the word using the hashtag #EndTheDressCode!

— Jason