How school uniforms enhance rape culture - an overview

So, there are definitely upsides to having a uniform. This is universally recognised, and believe me, I see these upsides but personally, they just don't cancel out the detrimental side. I attended a very conservative school, where it was a bigger sin to wear socks that weren't black or white than to not attend lessons, where we were banned from wearing ankle boots despite the school being located on top of a hill which was deadly when icy, and finally, where we, the girls of the school, were told showing shoulders, legs or worse was "distracting to male staff". So is this the fault of the students? Definitely not. The fault is definitely with your archaic attitudes and your over-sexualisation of normal body parts.

I think it's important to say that I haven't attended said school for over a year now. Things have undoubtedly changed, however, that doesn't mean the past should be forgotten. The reinforcement of the uniform was ,to put it mildly, vigorous. It was a regular occurence for our lessons to be interrupted for random uniform checks, where boys were virtually ignored and girls taken outside the classroom to stand in a line and teachers, male and female, would walk up the line pointing out things that were right or wrong, and if wrong, you were taken to one side and told to remove said article of clothing/make up/piercing etc.

"You aren't going to a nightclub, you're going to school." which is fair enough, were any of us dressed appropriately for a night out, however a pleated skirt and pump shoes are hardly the hottest trend for such places, and if they were, they probably wouldn't be worn all in navy blue. Besides the point, however, in a bid to get girls to stop wearing make up to school, my school actually removed all the mirrors from the girls changing rooms and toilets. To prohibit girls wearing skirts "too short" they changed them THREE times in my school career of seven years. More than once, I was threatened to be sent home if I had bare shoulders or no tights with a skirt. Fundamentally, their reasoning? Because "it harms the school's reputation, and your own." So I ask you, dear reader, why does it harm the school's reputation, if a body part of mine that have existed in our biological existence for millions of years? And more importantly, why does it damage mine?  Because society says so. Who is society? Us. Who teaches society their values? Parents and teachers.

So we come to yet another problem. If  girls are constantly being told they aren't good enough, by the opposite sex, their own sex, peers, the media, and what's more, by their teachers, how can we expect girls to feel about themselves? Not only is it simply impractical to wear black tights in 26 degree heat, but also entirely unnecessary. If girls were made to feel comfortable with their own bodies, without the fear that someone might god forbid find them unnattractive or unpleasant to look at, or on the contrary, sexually appealing when they are simply warm, a lot of time would have been saved that could be used to teach a valuable lesson of self-worth. There are some lessons that aren't meant to be on a timetable. And self worth is one of them.

But it is not the girls hearing this that are the greatest problem. The bigger problem, is that the boys who hear this adopt this mindset, and the idea that if a girl is showing her skin or "dressing inappropriately", that it is her fault and therefore he may treat her as he may wish. It implies that it is the girls responsibility that men do not look at her or treat her in a sexual manner.


With that said, something needs to be made abundantly clear: It is not trashy to bare your arms. It is not unnaceptable that people know you have legs and see them. It is not embarrassing for the school you attend if you admit and show the world that you have shoulders, and there is nothing wrong with them being there. It is wrong to teach girls and boys that their bodies are to be hidden away, that they are in some way shameful, that showing your body ill lead to you being taken advantage of in some way. If my body makes your male staff uncomfortable, it is not the fault of my body for being here, but rather the morals of your male staff if they can't look at a 16 year old they are supposed to be teaching and choose to see legs or shoulders or arms for what they actually are. Body parts.