I’ve read tons of posts about dress codes in US schools. Recently I even read an article about a girl who was sent home for having a top without sleeves. It’s so weird that our online magazines have started to cover it. And all of this seems like a dystopia to me.
Here’s a thing: Finnish schools do NOT have any dress codes. Like, at all. Nothing. As long as you have all legally demanded parts covered. Also, teachers might sent home a note if they notice a young child not wearing a hat or a jacket in winter (it’s FREEZING but hats are not cool yo).
I attended this elite high school (no, not EXPENSIVE, education is free in Finland, elite as in nerds and good teachers). All kids in there had the best grades of our entire country. It’s also a very old, traditional school that has produced many artists, politicians etc. for us (Finland is a small village but compared to that, those people are great). And what did I wear to this fancy school?
Leather skirts, so short everyone saw my garters. Skin thight red tops so open that you could see the color of my bra. Fishnet stay-up socks. Leather boots with stiletto heels. And I also sat on my desk most of the time, so all boys behind me could clearly see all the glory of my high-heeled legs. I admit, I was bit of a goth kid then.
Guess what? Everyone passed the classes. I did not cause all the boys in our year to fail. Actually, they got used to it so quick nobody even noticed my clothes. And nowadays I attend a respectable office job where I dress in a modest (altough personal) way. Because in Finland we let kids be kids. I had plenty of time to learn professional dress code after I’d had my fun.
TLDR; Dress codes for kids are weird and unnecessary and not having them will not make the world burn.
Honestly though? I live in America and went to a poor public school whose dress code was more akin to a uniform (it was sexist as all hell too, as dress codes usually are).
When we got a new principal, he got SO SICK of teachers sending kids to the office for something as stupid as not having a belt (news flash, some of us are poor, we couldn’t afford all those new clothes AND a belt), so he pushed and pushed to get a more relaxed code. And it finally happened.
And you know what the kids all finally fucking did? We either dressed like we would ANY OTHER DAY OF THE WEEK, or fucking sweatpants and t-shirts because it was high school and we were tired and wanted to go home and crawl in bed.
They were SO SCARED that people would come to school in stripper clothes and t-shirts with cuss words on them, but the minute we were given that opportunity? We DIDN’T take it. They completely didn’t know how we would react to this change, but for DECADES they just assumed the reaction would be “”“"bad”“”“.
Also I think it became clear that the dress code was being used by a lot of teachers to underhandedly abuse students they didn’t particularly like.
Anyways tldr: dress codes are stupid and sexist and also wildly underestimate a child’s ability to differentiate between right and wrong, and also THE WORLD DIDN’T FALL APART WHEN IT WAS FINALLY LAXED.
Because my mother told me that all I needed to do was get drunk and lie back and let my husband have his fun. Because if I was drunk, I’d be more relaxed and it’d be over sooner
Because my sister told me that I was trapping my husband in an abusive marriage, and that one day he was going to leave me
Because both of them looked at me in disgust
Because my asexuality is considered to be as great a crime against my husband as a woman who has affairs and cheats on her husband
Because my cousin didn’t even try to understand, and just kept asking ‘but what about in five years? how will you feel then?’
Because I was so afraid of my body and so afraid of sex that I didn’t seek medical help for a legitimate question for over a year for fear of being labelled a deviant or something broken
Because I still ask myself at least once every day if my husband wouldn’t be better off without me
Because I still ask myself at least once every day if I’m broken
Because I still tell myself at least once every day that I’m pathetic and useless and an abnormality
Because I love my husband with every fiber of my being, but everywhere I turn I’m told I really don’t, because love = sex
I need A to stand for Asexual because nobody ever talked to me about asexuality even when I was an outpatient at the women’s hospital for 18 months, and everyone told me desire would come in time
I need A to stand for Asexual because we are literally invisible, and so unimportant that people assume we don’t even need representation, because everyone assumes our lives must be bland and unimportant and lacking in challenges or bigotry
For every asexual that wants a relationship, for every asexual that does not want a relationship, for every asexual who has not yet come to terms with their identity, for every asexual who was told we were abnormalities, for every asexual who was told we just weren’t doing sex right, that we needed a good fucking, that we needed to be drunk, that we needed to relax, that we needed to be raped
We need representation, and we need visibility
That is why the A needs to stand for Asexual, and never for Ally
(Image description: the rainbow, trans, lesbian, nonbinary, bisexual, asexual, intersex, pansexual, genderfluid, and aromantic pride flags with centered text. Together the text says: “There is nothing wrong with you. You are supposed to be here. It’s okay for you to love who you love. It’s okay for you to be who you are. You are exactly who you are meant to be. You are not broken. You were born perfect as you are. You belong in this community. You belong in this world. You are wonderful and worthy and enough.”)