Evanston Township High School adopts a kinder, gentler dress code where leggings are OK
August 26, 2017 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
Welcome to a Tale of Two Dress Codes, a modern tale that unfolds during the Leggings Revolution.
It’s nonfiction.
In South Carolina, high school Principal Heather Taylor is accused of telling high school girls not to wear leggings if they’re larger than a size 2.
“I’ve told you this before, I’m going to tell you this now,” Taylor allegedly told students at a dress code assembly this week. “Unless you are a size zero or 2 and you wear something like that, even though you’re not fat, you look fat.”
Worst of times.
Someone audio recorded the assembly and shared that bit with a local NBC affiliate. Parents and students are justifiably outraged.
Meanwhile, over in the best of times …
Evanston Township High School has released an updated dress code for the school year that starts Monday, and it explicitly prohibits decisions and language that shame students.
It begins: “Staff shall enforce the dress code consistently and in a manner that does not reinforce or increase marginalization or oppression of any group based on race, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, cultural observance, household income or body type/size.”
Under the new code, students may wear hats, hoodies, tank tops and spaghetti straps — all items barred under the old dress code.
Students may not wear clothing containing violent language or images, images or language that depict drug or alcohol use, or clothing that includes hate speech, profanity, pornography or hostility toward marginalized groups.
Leggings are fine.
“Fitted pants, including opaque leggings, yoga pants and skinny jeans” are specifically green-lighted.
“It speaks volumes about how much they respect their students,” Evanston community activist Christine Wolf told me. “It really shows a commitment to listening to kids and what they need and being open to as many different voices as possible.”
Wolf, mom to an Evanston Township graduate and an incoming freshman, penned an op-ed in 2014 that was critical of nearby Haven Middle School’s inconsistent policy on leggings.
Wolf’s op-ed quotes a letter from parents of a Haven middle schooler who was told her leggings were distracting the boys.
“This kind of message lands itself squarely on a continuum that blames girls and women for assault by men,” the parents wrote. “It also sends the message to boys that their behaviors are excusable, or understandable given what the girls are wearing. And if the sight of a girl’s leg is too much for boys at Haven to handle, then your school has a much bigger problem to deal with.”
In the new Evanston Township dress code?
“Students should not be shamed or required to display their bodies in front of others (students, parents or staff) in school,” the policy reads. “Shaming includes, but is not limited to … accusing students of ‘distracting’ other students with their clothing.”
For years, the school’s students have approached administrators with concerns that students of color get called out for dress code violations more frequently than white students and students whose bodies are more developed are cited for wearing clothing that other students get away with.
“These are 14- to 18-year-old kids,” Wolf said. “Their bodies are changing every single day. They’re trying to live their lives and get an education.”
Students surveyed classmates last year about what they’d like to see in a new dress code, led protests against the old policies and worked closely with administrators, led by Principal Marcus Campbell, to craft a better set-up.
As recent graduate Marjie Erickson wrote on Facebook this week about the new dress code:
“This is a revolutionary act of reclaiming our bodies as ours instead of a ‘distraction’ or something to be ashamed of. This is our protection against being penalized for someone else’s perception of our bodies, and what is appropriate and respectable. … The new dress code is inclusive, progressive, and the standard every school should be held to.”
I couldn’t agree more. And I can think of a school in South Carolina that should be the first on board.
hstevens@chicagotribune.com
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