Article #1 Final
Comments(1) 8th Grade Georgia Girl Challenges Dress Code
Simpson Middle School 8th Grader Sophia Trevino began a protest looking to find changes in the district dress code after her own dress code violation on the first day.
According to The New York Times, Trevino’s ensemble included a white Los Angeles shirt, distressed jeans, and a pair of Air Force 1 sneakers. The outfit raised no red flags among her friends and parents.
However, a teacher at Simpson Middle School in Cobb County, GA, who was ensuring that students were following dress code did not find Trevino’s outfit appropriate. Trevino was asked to place her hands along her sides to see if the rip in her jeans was below her fingertips. It was not. Trevino, in addition to 15 other girls, was dress-coded before the first period.
The Simpson Middle School dress code states that no skin may be showing above the fingertip and that all shorts, skirts, and dresses must be at least fingertip length.
Trevino expressed one of her main issues with the policy is that it singled out girls and made them responsible for the actions of the boys. The school district’s policy emphasizes the avoidance of distraction to learning according to The New York Times.
In an article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Trevino is quoted as saying “‘The school talks about empowering women,’” but then is “‘pulling them out of class because of a hole in the knee of their jeans.’”
Every Friday following the incident Trevino and other students have worn t-shirts that criticize dress codes as being ‘sexist, ‘classist’, and ‘racist’. A spokesperson for the Cobb County School District quoted in The New York Times said the district’s dress code should “‘encourage a focus on learning for all 110,000 students in Cobb, not on what students prefer to wear.’”
Some parents and students have mentioned the school’s “up-to-you” mask policy when protesting the dress code said GoodWordNews. If parents are allowed to decide whether or not their child wears a mask it raises the question of why can’t they do the same when it comes to their child’s wardrobe.
A study done in 2020 by University of New Hampshire Professor, Todd A DeMitchell researches the inappropriate sexualization of female students to be the problem that dress codes focus on. The study found that 25 New Hampshire schools had policies that directly targeted girls.
National Women’s Law Center fellow Sabrina Bernadel also finds that dress codes are sexist. Bernadel explains that dress codes put the responsibility on girls to not be distracting, rather than on other students to respect their peer’s bodies.
The New York Times says that Trevino hopes change will come from her petition and Friday protests. Her idea for a new dress code is quoted as “shirts, bottoms, shoes.” She is hoping to create something gender-neutral and inclusive. This policy would allow areas such as “thighs, cleavage, and abdomen” to be showing. All outfits would need to cover the groin, buttocks, and nipples.
In a story from WJCL Trevino’s parents are said to support her in this fight.
https://goodwordnews.com/georgia-8th-grader-challenges-school-dress-code/
https://www.wjcl.com/article/georgia-school-dress-code-protest/37545150#
I think the lead gave all of the needed information and was to the point. The only question I still had after reading is what specifically was in the dress code that targeted woman and needs changed. I feel the paragraphs did flow well, but could be improved by some sentence variation instead of starting with the source every time. Overall, I believe this story was well done.