“Good Afternoon Lakers,
Just as a reminder, please take a look at our Dress Code Policy below. Any student who comes to school dressed inappropriately will be asked to change his/her clothing. If a student does not have something appropriate to wear, his/her parents will be contacted to bring appropriate clothing to school.
Unacceptable Clothing includes (but is not limited to) the following:
- Extremely low cut, plunging or transparent clothing and clothing that is suggestive
- Tube tops, halter tops, spaghetti straps, backless and bare midriffs
- Sleeveless tops are prohibited for boys
- Bottoms that exaggerate, emphasize, reveal, or call attention to anatomical details
- Short shorts, pajamas, other forms of sleep wear, and bathing suits
- Sunglasses, headbands, bandannas or other head coverings (unless worn pursuant to a bona-fide religious belief or other medical purpose), metal chains, jewelry or accessory articles that have the potential to be used as a weapon, gang attire, facial markings that display non-school related symbolism
- Slippers, footwear intended for the beach
- Hats and hoods must be removed upon the teacher’s request
The dress code is meant to be a guide for appropriate dress at school and may not include specifics regarding changes in trends. Please be aware that the dress code may be modified from time to time during the school year to more clearly define appropriate dress for school. Special consideration will be made for field-trips and other school-related activities.
As always, if you have any questions or are confused regarding this policy please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation,
Mr. Mangili“
Above are the exact words of an email sent to the entire student body of MLHS. This sparked outrage, for a day. If you also felt the outrage, you may be an anarchist. Anarchism is defined by David Graeber as the belief “that human beings are, under ordinary circumstances, about as reasonable and decent as they are allowed to be, and can organize themselves and their communities without needing to be told how.” This relates to the dress code, since we students are reasonable and decent and do not need to be told what to wear. We will not come to school half-naked, and we do not need to be taught rules of decent dress. If you agree with this, again, you may be an anarchist.
Some people may say that a dress code is not actively harmful because if we follow it appropriately without being asked, then it does no harm. I rebut this with the specific wording of the dress code. The code’s fifth point states that unacceptable clothing includes “head coverings (unless worn pursuant to a bona-fide religious belief or other medical purpose), metal chains, jewelry or accessory articles …” I find this statement to be harmful. There is no stated reason to prohibit people from wearing hats, and secondly, the concept of “hats worn pursuant to a bona-fide religious belief” is subjective, and therefore could be used to harm students that are members of religious minorities that are typically not seen as legitimate (like Pastafarians, for example).
The dress code also has elements of misogyny. The first, second, and fourth restrictions on the dress code are directly aimed at those with female anatomy, without directly stating it. Such “guidelines” reflect how society, in general, tends to consider women and femme-presenting individuals to be less valuable than men and masc-presenting individuals, as women face heavier restrictions than men. A broader, societal example of this misogyny is the pink tax, in which necessary hygienic products used predominantly by women are treated as “luxury items” and are taxed as such. The school dress code attempts and fails to conceal its misogyny.
In conclusion, if you take issue with the school dress code, you may be an anarchist.
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