Once again I am infuriated by the hypocritical, biased, over-sexualizing bullshit that is public schooling. Pictured here is my hella hot friend Ashlie, sent to the principal’s office for the first time in her life for wearing a skirt and headband. Now, the first thing you might ask yourself about this is, “wait, a headband? She got in trouble for wearing a headband?” YES. A HEADBAND. A FUCKING HEADBAND. A GOLD. SPARKLY. HEADBAND.

Ashlie was sent to the principal’s office for wearing a headband and was accused of being in a gang, because obviously since she was wearing a headband she is in a gang. In our student handbook it says that skirts have to be to the fingertips and there are no bandanas allowed. And clearly she was not disobeying the dress code. Although it is not pictured, I can assure you, the headband was tinted gold, and covered in sparkles. Not a bandana. And the skirt, clearly aligns with her fingertips.

So why did she get in trouble? I’ll tell you why. Teenage girls are being sexualized by adults. Someone in this school got “offended” by her outfit and her choice to show her legs. Ashlie chose to be proud of her body, be confident, and wear this beautiful skirt to school and she got in trouble for it. How is it that our society has been reduced to humiliating and punishing kids for expressing themselves and being confident in their bodies? A girl should be comfortable with her body no matter where she is, especially at school! Setting extreme dress codes like this is taking a step backwards, not forward.

These people who are choosing to look at a young woman’s legs and calling it “slutty” or “shameful” to show them are the reason that everything is so fucked up! By telling a girl she’s “asking for it” by wearing a dress is telling a rapist that she’s “asking for it!” The way things should be done is we should say “That girl is wearing a dress. She’s sexy, confident, and a force to be reckoned with! She’s powerful!” No one would dare bother her! But because of all these boundaries set, our world can’t be like that.

No woman should be scared to walk home alone in a dress, no woman should feel ashamed of her body, no woman should have to cover herself up in fear of others, no woman should be raped!

Schools have convinced themselves that they’re helping the cause by teaching kids to wear more “modest” clothing. This is not true! By telling the world that any skirt above the fingertips, or any bra straps showing, or any cleavage showing, or mid drift showing means that a girl is “asking for it” schools are giving rapists excuses! THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR VIOLATING ANOTHER HUMAN BEING.

And what makes matters worse is that boys are excused from these dress code penalties. No, most boys do not have cleavage or wear skirts, but they do have bodies, and that should make them just as guilty if they commit these “crimes.” At our school, boys can wear tanks that show nipple, tanks that do not leave room for “at least two fingers,” shorts, short shorts, even shorter shorts, dresses, sports bras, basically anything a girl cannot wear. The only time boys ever get into trouble is when they are wearing hats or hoodies. How are we treated equally here? How on Earth are we treated as equals here? I’ll tell you: we’re not.

I could go on forever about how public schools are flawed and how women are still not seen as equal and how beautiful the human body is and how it should not be covered, but alas there is not enough time and not enough people who will listen. So to bring this all to a finish, this girl is beautiful, and should never be punished for feeling confident in her body and never should any other girl.