I went to a very small Christian high school in the heart of middle Tennessee. I had an incredible experience there that I wouldn’t trade for the world, I met people who are still my closest friends and I had small adventures during that time that I love to reminisce about. I am very thankful to have had the chance to spend my high school years there, but I will not say that the school was perfect or that my experience was perfect.

One of the biggest problems with high schools today is the vague yet strict dress code derived from years of sexism and especially the mindset that follows it. Obviously, it is important for students to not be coming to class wearing next-to-nothing, but when rules like “Shorts must be only a dollar bill’s width above the knee” are of greater importance than girls sitting in class then there is a very obvious problem. I understand needing to have rules in place and needing to enforce those rules, but it becomes problematic when the collective mindset of the students changes.

I don’t know how it works at all high schools, but mine had a closet in the office that held the “Skirts of Shame,” as the students called them, ready for girls to wear if their skirts were too short or their pants were too tight, etc. I remember days of girls standing in homeroom, lined up around the walls of the rooms while the boys sat chatting in their chairs. I remember standing by my friends on these days and waiting for the teacher to come and tug on the outer seam of my pants and crossing my fingers hoping that my pants would pass the test and I would not be sent to the office to change. I remember kneeling on the floor of classrooms, the office, the sanctuary, as an adult would pull out a ruler and measure the length of my skirt. I remember all of this very vividly because it was very embarrassing and I felt ashamed of myself, my clothes, my body and I grew angry.

This form of combatting immodesty cultivated two mindsets: one frightened by the threat of embarrassment and one pushed to extreme forms of frustration. I remember seeing a seventh grade girl walking down the hallway on a Wednesday, our chapel day, and it was easy to see how confident she was feeling that day in a skirt, a cute blouse, even high heels. I watched as her face fell as the school administrator asked the girl to follow her to the office and later the girl was wearing one of The Skirts and an incredibly embarrassed look on her face. High school is already a very weird time for young people and they do not need to be made to feel afraid every time they wear more than huge pants to school.

I was very much apart of the second mindset. Anyone who knew me in high school knows that I was angry and I was especially angry about dress code. I look back now and know that my raging was not the best way to combat the injustice that I saw there, but I did rage and I was forced to change on an almost daily basis. I stopped caring about whether or not I had to wear one of the Skirts of Shame until eventually I was not allowed to wear pants to school for a few weeks.

I left that school bitter and relieved to never have to deal with those rules again. I had the opportunity to voice my opinion in peace just before I left, but it is not a problem that exists only in that space. I am no longer bitter and I am no longer angry, but I will continue to speak against the heavily enforced dress codes in hopes that they will no longer be the source of preteen embarrassment and teenage anger.