Nothing like living in a misogynistic world, am I right ladies? A world in which  a boy who isn’t able to learn means we can blame a girl as a distraction rather than a boy as a pervert.  Yes, I’m talking about it.

So although there are way too many more clothing restrictions placed on female students over male students, I chose to focus on one simple piece of clothing for this article: shorts. Yes, shorts. Shorts. The word brings nothing sexual to my male mind — keep that information handy.

Shorts are just that. A shorter in length pair of pants that keeps your body at a more comfortable temperature in hotter temperatures. Shorts can be both for guys and girls and can be made for a plethora of different styles and materials, different lengths and cuts. I don’t really think it’s necessary for me to explain what shorts are but since the idea seems to be getting foreign to a few people, I thought that I may as well.

One thing to just keep in mind is that the only dress code for guys is that they aren’t allowed to wear tank tops, but I can promise you that on any given [hot] day you can see a large portion of guys wearing tank tops, and none of them are ever sent down to the office to cover up. Meanwhile if a girl wears shorts or– this is the real kicker– a tank top, they are forced to go to the office to change into something more “school appropriate.”

One funny story which managed to surface from all the other repressed memories from middle school is a perfect point. On the first day of eighth grade our team met together to discuss the  rules and expectations and everything. So finally the topic of short shorts came up, which was surprisingly the rule they talked the most about, and all seven teachers had the need to chime in and give an opinion on why girls shouldn’t wear shorts. Unfortunately that wasn’t the worst part of it all. The worst part, and also my favorite part of eighth grade due to just pure amazement, was when the English teacher was demonstrating how a girls fingertips shouldn’t pass her shorts, meanwhile when she was demonstrating her fingertips passed the skirt she was wearing, which just showed the hypocrisy of all this.

It’s just a little bit weird how you can walk around public places without a cop asking each female if her fingertips pass their shorts — oh, wait no it’s not. There is nothing in a public dress code about how you can’t wear short shorts, so what is the difference of a guy seeing them in school than it is for them seeing a pair out of school? This brings me to what sophomore Emily Zuccarelli told me which was, “There’s no dress code for college students and boys see girls in short shorts all the time and yet they still manage to graduate.”

Another good point was made by sophomore Daniela Denrich.  “I hate it because where am I going to find shorts that are past my fingertips? Every store basically sells just short shorts unless you go to like Old Navy.” How are school boards able to enforce this without considering the fact that this is what stores sell? Are girls suppose to go back to pre-woman’s rights where women had to sew all the clothes they wore?

Sophomore Meghan Ambrosia stated, “Honestly what are short shorts? Like, they’re just called shorts and if people pervert that into anything else then they need to change, not the person wearing the shorts.” Hmm…  another person talking about how girls are blamed and not the boy; this seems to be a common thought.

Similar to some of the points I made, sophomore Starr McKenna states, “Well, I understand if you were seeing a girl’s butt cheeks why the shorts are deemed inappropriate, but if a person is allowed to wear them in a public setting, they should not be punished in school. Maybe if the school invested in air conditioning girls wouldn’t have to wear such small clothing.”

Sophomore Kelly Anderson covered all the bases. “Our school gets really hot, and shorts are made specifically so that people will not be made uncomfortably overheated. As long as nothing extremely inappropriate is [showing], [we] should be allowed to wear shorts to school because after all, girls are just showing their legs, nothing else. Also, many stores do not sell shorts that are ‘fingertip length.’ Most girls wear shorts for comfort, not to embarrass themselves by revealing areas of their bodies that should not be shown off in a place such as school.”

I’m usually pretty happy about the generation I’m part of. Almost all teenagers stick up for something or help support a cause they agree with. (Albeit most the time it’s just a simple retweet, but that simple retweet can spread to everyone.) One topic that is often retweeted around this time of year is the topic of — you guessed it — girls dress codes. These tweets mainly include pictures of signs people post around their schools that say thing such as, “If my body makes you uncomfortable then YOU are the problem” and “We are 17 years old — stop sexualizing our bodies.”  This just shows how much of an issue this is becoming. Countless accounts and pictures and tweets all revolve around this subject because the idea of it is so ridiculous.

The main reason why girls wear shorts is because it gets hot. Although there are the girls who wear these clothes to look good, the main reason is because it’s hot out and they are trying to stay cool. Especially at FTHS where there is absolutely no air conditioning in the unbearable heat. The school gets sweltering and has no cooling system. What do you want, people passing out from heat stroke in the middle of learning about Manifest Destiny? A point to counteract that the shorts are a “distraction” is that the shorts are worn when it is too hot to focus on a lesson anyway. Instead of enforcing a the shorts rule maybe they should consider making it mandatory for all schools to get an air conditioning system because I am one hundred percent positive that the heat is a far greater distraction than a girl is.

It’s also important to remember that modesty is important. Yeah, it’s hot out, but I can assure you that people don’t want to see your butt hanging out from the bottom of your shorts. This seemed to be on the mind of sophomore Melody Deluca when she told me, “Okay. I feel that we gave a fair dress code when it comes to short length. Girls need to learn to respect their bodies. Short shorts are not classy and teenage girls need to stop dressing for attention. Yes, it is hot and yes, your shorts help keep you cool, but lets face it, you’re not wearing those daisy dukes because it’s hot. Think about the message you’re sending to boys wearing those shorts. I’ve worn short jean shorts before and they are the least comfortable things in the world. Just wear longer shorts and get some class.” Although her opinion differs from others doesn’t mean that it is invalid. She is right in saying that it is unnecessary to be walking around with body parts finding their way through and she’s right to say that girls shouldn’t dress for attention. But a girl should dress the way she wants to make herself feel good. A girl should be proud and feel good about how she dresses, which is important for keeping self-confidence.

There is one sad fact that I found out which is that all of the girls who are quoted in this article were simply asked, “What are your opinions on short shorts?” They weren’t asked about the dress code, they weren’t asked about the rules. All they were asked was about shorts. The fact that all of their responses were about the dress code just shows how much tension is around this subject and how that the first thing that comes to mind from the word “shorts” is a rule prohibiting their gender. I personally find that so sad. That a girl’s first thought has to be about protecting herself and providing reasoning to dress how she does. Really shows what our world has come to, hasn’t it?

All I’m going to say is that these are young women who obviously know how to think and know the consequences of any action they take. These are young women who are told how to dress just to make it a better environment for young men. It’s honestly disgusting how after so many years of women’s suffrage and women gaining equal rightsthat  because of one style-related difference that we still live in a society where women are made by ruling to have to make a place of learning better for men. And again, these are teenage girls; if someone is sexualizing a teenage girl then she is far from being the issue– the issue is the person sexualizing a teenager.

But then again, I’m a guy, so who am I to tell a girl what she should and shouldn’t wear?