vixens

We grew up in a country with many, many rights, possibilities and privileges,

but when the school interrupts your day to tell you about the dresscode and how you're breaking the rules by wearing a skirt that's too short, or a top that's too low-cut and revealing, or a pair shorts on a hot summer day, we've been taught to stand up for ourselves because we have our own opinions and views regarding this controversial matter. To sit back and swallow your pride may be the easiest way to handle this type of situation, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the right way to do it.

 

People who made change in this world, people written down in history, most of them were rebels. They did something 'not okay' or even illegal in order to make a change. Do you think they would have gotten somewhere if they didn't speak up? What if they all just sat back silently, and lived by the rules. We have to remember that just because there are rules, it doesn't mean that they are good and valid rules, looking back at what kind of stupidass laws have existed in the past and sadly still exist today, it should be crystalclear that laws can be changed and often for the better, and in order to do this, we need people who actually give a shit.

"Rebellion is when you look society in the face and say I understand what you want me to be but I'm going to show you who I actually am." - Anthony Anaxagorou

 

Why do certain schools not let the students express themselves and be creative? It seems that letting people find themselves through the expression of fashion, hair colour, piercings or whatever the hell they want to do, is something you need to think through, discuss and set rules and limits for, why is it that this is something to think through and question in the first place? What is the purpose of preventing people from being happy and comfortable with themselves?

For example, I know schools who don't approve vibrant hair colours, in some cases even forbid them, which probably is by far the most pathetic thing i've ever heard of. Their argument is usually something in the style of "It's distracting the other people's ability to work and learn!!" Yeah no, if a colour is distracting a person and will disrupt and affect their education, then this is something they have to learn to live with and see, and in fact they should thank this dope, divine person, because the world ain't black and white, it's full of colours.

 

Finally, probably what we're most experienced with within this topic, is being told our outfit is too revealing, too distracting, and is 'breaking the dresscode'. This happened to me for the first time in 7th grade, I was 12, and I was running late to class, and as I ran my top slipped down a little, not that I even had tits at this age, and once I got to class and my french teacher told me how this was inappropriate and how it was a 'beach-wear'. She wrote a note in my agenda, and haha for what? It's not as if that was a life lesson for me and something I'd keep in mind for the rest of my life.. although in fact I did, but only for the reason that it just upset me even more and it made me develop these opinions I have today and which I feel very strongly about.

 

"Yesterday I was sitting in french class minding my own buisness, when suddenly my teacher calls out my name in front of the class, saying I have to come with her to the Dean of Students. She started pointing out what I was wearing, telling me how it was inappropriate and wrong for school and how I once again, broke the dresscode - for the record I was wearing a white jeanskirt, with tights underneath (because it's cold), and this red sweater. I stood up for myself and simply told her I wasn't gonna come with her, I thought it was really rude of her to bring this up in the middle of class in front of everyone, when she can simply just talk to me about it in private after class, and doing what she did also interrupted everyone else's education - not only mine, which is really disrespectful and unfair for everyone. 

Now here comes the absolutely wacky and preposterous part. While talking to the teacher she told me it's her job as an advisor to tell me off for it, not that she wants to, but because she has to, which is completely understandable, but the I asked her this; "Then why don't you tell the other girls off for wearing short shorts in our advisory class? They can just get away with it and I can't or what?" and she replied it was because I had "assets" which is completely inappropriate to say. I'm not gonna just sit back and swallow all the shit I get, I'm doing something about it."

- Clara

 

This isn't the first time this has happened to either of us, and honestly, we're fed up of it. Why do people continuously and endlessly tell girls what to and what not to do? What they can and can't wear? That we need to hide ourselves and not fully express ourselves, and not being able to show off our investments from our dazzling wardrobes, because this could distract boys because what if they start drooling over some girl in the middle of class?! 

If that's the case, not that I've ever been sexually assaulted or harassed at school by boys for my outfit if I've ever worn something revealing, then it is their mindset we need to change, not send girls home to change their outfit. Why stereotype boys as sexual beings with no control at all? Maybe it's that very stereotype that contributes to certain guys thinking it's okay to behave in this way and ultimately making girls responsible for their actions, rather than making them realize it's their own responsibility to control themselves - as goes for girls, as goes for everyone. 

 

We're not just going to sit back and let this be, because it's about time that we make a change - we actually give a shit.