Winter is finally behind us and summer is just around the corner.
That means the heavy jackets and multiple layers can be replaced with t-shirts, shorts and jeans.
Samantha Sollitto is a typical 16-year-old attending Susan E. Wagner High School in Staten Island, NY. With the weather heating up, she recently wore jean shorts and plum-colored tank top to school. She was stopped by a school employee who determined that the dress code had been broken.
According to the employee, Ms. Sollitto was forced to change her shirt because her arms were not covered up.
This happens every year. As it gets warmer, suddenly schools are having a conniption because their female students want to be comfortable.
While I respect that a dress code is important, it also bothers me that only the girls were being stopped and force to change their clothes. There are countless stories of this ilk that appear in the media this time of year and it always the girls who are asked to change their clothing, never the boys.
It’s the same old story, that female flesh is a temptation to the male sex and must be hidden. It feels like not only is the boy’s education worth more than the girl’s education, but that she is a distraction in the classroom. It doesn’t help that the young lady in the story felt like she was being body shamed, which has been proven to lead to eating disorders.
I applaud Ms. Sollitto for stepping forward and speaking up. Perhaps if more us did, the double standard and body shaming would hopefully be a thing of the past.
Writergurlny 