If you Google “dress code articles” thousands of stories come up. Girl suspended for having pink hair from running charity run, Student forced to wear ‘shame suit’ for dress code violation, does slut-shamming start with school dress code? Not one headline about a male.

What is the North High School dress code? For females at North High School it means females may not wear halter tops, or tops that do not cover their back, or tops that show cleavage. Female shorts, skirts, and dresses must be longer than thumb length when arms are down. And female tops must meet the waistband of the bottom clothing they are wearing and have shoulder straps; straps must be at least 3 fingers width wide.

“Males may not wear shirts without sleeves,” that is the only statement that is gender specific to males.

Even though it states in the NHS handbook that pants may not sag, it is not enforced. A male is allowed to sag his pants and not be sent home but if a female wears a spaghetti strap shirt or shorts that are defined as too short then she is sent home and a male’s decision to sexualize her bra strap showing is put above her education.

I wouldn’t be writing this if dress code at North were actually followed and enforced. If you look around North, you see multiple males sagging his jeans to his knees. When you ask them why they sag, they say they do it because it is uncomfortable for their “man parts” when his jeans are pulled all the way up. What if it’s more comfortable for a female to have thin straps and short shorts?

While females are sent home for showing a bra strap or showing “too much thigh” for the day and told not to wear that pair of shorts again, males are allowed to interpret it with their hormones. It is teaching females that what they wear and how males interpret it should effect their education.

I am in no way saying that it is okay for a girl to wear shorts that her butt cheeks hang out of or have her cleavage hanging out but there has to be a limit. If a male is sagging his pants then send him home too. It is in the NHS Student Handbook for the 2015 school year and it needs to be followed.

More than telling teenage girls to leave school because their bra strap is showing which is causing men to be distracted, we need to teach them how to love and respect their bodies and really own them. Therefore they wont feel the need to have their cleavage hanging out to get the attention of teenage boys. We need to teach them that what makes their bodies special and powerful is how they treat and think about themselves. Simply giving them a “Do Not Wear” list that is primarily based on lengths and measurements and degrees of reveal sends the message that parts of their bodies are somehow bad or unwanted.

Honestly, I’m all for dress codes. I’m just not a fan of enforcing them without including boys because while sending girls home for showing off the same amount of skin as a male isn’t right. Saying it’s because girls’ bodies are distracting is not acceptable. Drugs don’t belong in schools; vulgar words don’t belong in school; violence doesn’t belong in school. But girls’ bodies do belong in school, as well as everywhere else.