Positive body image. Almost every girl and woman I know has problems with it. We've been faced with a society that not only publishes, but unknowingly promotes photoshopping images in order to make a model look more "picturesque." Has it been amazing to see many celebrities come out and speak against edited images? Absolutely. It's a step in the right direction. However, for many young girls, there's a bigger problem at hand.

I saw a video this past week about how difficult and humiliating it can be for female middle and high school students when being faced with a dress code. Many schools do not permit tank tops with straps thinner than two or three fingers and skirts/shorts that come above your fingertips (my middle and high schools included). To many parents, this seems fair. With the dress codes in place, their children won't have to worry about being faced with distractions brought on by their raging and apparently uncontrollable hormones. Instead, it seems that many young women are facing a crushing blow to their self-esteem.

A huge part of middle and high school is having the ability to try out different styles in order to discover which one fits you best. Maybe you prefer to wear darker clothing or stray towards the more chic layered look. Now, I'm not saying that wearing daisy dukes and a crop top to school is anywhere near appropriate. School is considered to be the workplace. If you wouldn't wear it to a job, don't wear it to school. But, some school administrations, as seen in the previously mentioned video, seem to be taking dress codes much too far.

By limiting what young women, and occasionally even young men, can wear, a wall is created between them, their creativity, and their self-esteem. Clothing provides an outlet for people to express who they are and what they feel. By imposing such strict limits on that creativity, young adults are being faced with restrictions throughout their journey of self-discovery. And that's just downright not fair.

Similarly, the administrations appear to be fighting the norm that society is presenting these young women. Normally, that would be considered admirable. However, the fact of the matter is that telling young women to dress a certain way and then continuing to criticize them and force them to change into an outfit that fits the dress code, while also invoking a sense of shame, is not.

Throughout my college experience, it has been amazing for me to not be faced with a strict dress code. It has presented me with the opportunity to discover my own personal sense of style and how I can portray my personality likewise. However, that being said, it really took until college for me to feel that way. We should be encouraging young girls to express themselves in an appropriate way, while still allowing them to discover who they are. Schools need to start taking that into consideration.