Dress code is one of the earliest versions of rape culture in America. Rape culture is pretty much victim blaming a woman for an assault that happened to them. Dress code at the core is full grown adults sexualizing children (ages 7-18) years old and blaming them for distracting classmates. It demonstrates to younger girls from elementary school to high school that their bodies are property and if other people want to sexualize them, that’s their own fault. Not the people around them sexualizing them. This basically sets down the fact that if she ever gets sexualized in her life then she’s the one to blame. This instills a victim blaming mindset which not only teaches that little girl, but everyone growing up in the education system that this is the social norm.

Misogyny seeps into how survivors are treated today in America. If grown people are so distracted by dress code that’s really weird. Everyone should feel comfortable in what they dress in. Why are body parts that aren’t even remotely sexual, being sexualized? Why is it so easy to point out skin? Why is skin unacceptable, but the sexualization of children normalized? If their shoulders are a problem, you’re the problem. Stomach, shoulders, and chest shouldn’t be sexualized; they are normal parts of the human body, not sexual organs. If you’re going to school where the length of your shorts is more important than your education then you’re not the problem. The education system is normalizing rape culture and it needs to stop.

The male gaze is not interchangeable with the term “male perspective.” In art and in life the usage of the term male gaze is not about whether a man is watching, but about whether the person being watched is aware that there’s a possibility they’re being watched. The male gaze does not strictly come from the perspective of men. Even when a woman is alone and has the weird urge (even though you know no one is watching her) to look pretty for no one. That’s the male gaze. It’s great if you want to look pretty for yourself but feeling as if you have to is internalized male gaze. It’s not just dressing for a guy's attention, it's feeling the need to always look pretty for other people. This is when a dress code comes into play. Dressing, acting, basically living under the male gaze can set off a reaction of a need for male validation. A girl feeling like she needs to dress a certain way (whether it’s for a guy or a dress code) can be super damaging. 

The gaze influences how women dress, act, and how women are expected to be treated by men. This is very harmful to younger girls because we can lose our own identities. The bar is so low for men. Men do the bare minimum to catch a girl's attention when some girls are constantly feeling the need to better themselves for random guys.

It’s interesting for me to see people start to sympathize with things when it starts to benefit them. I keep seeing more men talk about women's issues than I’ve seen in a long time. It’s basically become a trend on social media. It’s sort of like a rude awakening like, “Oh, they all knew about these things but didn’t care enough to actually acknowledge.” And honestly, I didn’t even know if they knew about these issues because they don’t talk about them ever, unless it benefits them, which is now used to pick up women. And so, that’s been very interesting but it makes me think about how men get so upset when people generalize and say “men do this,” and “men do that” but that understanding of a system creating a certain type of complex is understood. When it benefits them. But when we apply this to men we get “oh my god what are you talking about we’re all individual,” or “not all men.” That’s actually quite an interesting phrase. It's interesting how the hat of understanding can be taken on and off for mens convenience. I don’t hate men. That would be sexist of me. You can’t just straight up hate one gender and consider yourself not sexist. The whole point of feminism is fighting for rights and gender equality. 

Feminism fights for a lot of things but it mostly wants everyone to decide what to do with their own lives and bodies regardless of gender. The patriarchy is something that negatively affects everyone. It needs to be dismantled.