Here’s why these students are vowing to disobey their new dress code in protest

During the school year, it seems like every day we hear reports of dress-code-gone-wrong, or someone being unfairly punished for expressing themselves. Unfortunately, other than calling attention to the problem of double standards and treating girls as distractions, there’s not much that can be done…right? Well, maybe not. Students at Natrona County School District are rallying to disobey their dress code all together on September 2, their first day back to school, as a form of protest.

This comes after the announcement of a much stricter dress code coming into effect in the new school year. These harsher measures affect both teachers and students, and eliminate clothing such as halter-tops, spaghetti straps, low cut tops and undergarments; short shorts; sagging pants; hats, caps, bandannas, sweatbands, sunglasses, chains, dog collars, sharp objects, slippers, sleepwear, clothing and other items with racist, sexist, or vulgar language, or promote drugs and alcohol. Here’s the video the district released explaining the dress code policies in full:

Now, I think it’s important to point out that the students aren’t against all of these restrictions. Respectful and safe clothing is a no brainer — it’s the more nitpicky restrictions (ones that mostly target women) that they take issue with.

Notrona County student Tricity Guerra created a Facebook page on Tuesday, and almost overnight it gained thousands of members. It’s sparking a really good discussion. Here are some of the best points being made:

But then of course, there are those who think the students are overreacting:

And:

It’s hard to strike a balance between allowing students to express themselves, which is such an important part of growing up, and keeping attire appropriate for school. The next step seems to be figuring out what “appropriate for school” means without targeting and sexualizing female students for having shoulders. Here’s hoping these amazing teens get the change they’re working towards!

(Image via YouTube.)