Hide your shoulders, ladies - it’s distracting the boys
By Sophia Lawrance
According to the school, showing even the slightest bit of shoulder skin calls for a dress code violation, but let's not dare mention the boys with sweatpants sagging below their buttocks.
You know I’ve hit rock bottom the moment I paste a wikiHow picture into my article. Can you imagine the look of sheer horror on my 5th grade English teacher’s face when she learns of this? But it all comes with valid reason. The terrible, life-threatening issue of a girl exposing her shoulders. Poor boys, how much they must be distracted by the smooth flesh that once came in contact with Victoria’s Secret body lotion, leaving the sweet fragrance of vanilla and strawberries behind. The difficulty and self-control they must endure is an achievement to be applauded. Let us recognise the bravery and courage it must take to fight through the battles that are thrown their way; the relentless determination to succeed despite the circumstances.
Forget bullying, homophobic comments, meat-free Mondays, even the very thought of walking up six flights of stairs on a humid morning - the shoulders are where the problem’s at. “Why?” you may inquire. Well here’s their answer: we are living in the 18th century, but whereas showing ankles then was a horrendous crime, the female shoulders have now taken this prestigious spot.
In the hypersexualised culture that we are living in, we are sending contradictory messages to adolescent girls. We claim to support the enablement of girls to feel comfortable and at ease in their own bodies, yet the minute a slight fraction of skin is shown, this moral is immediately reversed. The sinful act of defiance must be stopped in order to prevent boys’ sexual desires and needs, of course. In other words, its transferral of blame - a mechanism to control teen girls. A tactic which extends into potential future experiences of unfathomable normalisation.
The classroom is not about clothes, it’s about learning. Let that completely ludicrous and crazy statement sink in. Have you once in your life, heard the words “wow, I am so turned on by those shoulders,” come out of a boy’s mouth? It’s a sad reality where girls are told from a very young age that showing skin and wearing revealing clothing is a ‘negative and provocative’ act, yet it’s an accurate reflection of our current societal expectations.
Some would suggest that the next time Becky/Samantha/Lindsay from the office calls out your outfit as inappropriate, flip the bird. But I say screw that. We women are supposed to support each other and unite as a collective force. Just like the area 51 raid; if there’s too many of us they can’t catch us. So let’s be in control of our own fate for once. If they want to act as if we are some distant, exotic breeds, then so be it. But we have the right in choosing to be like the aliens we are treated as, and use our feminine powers to whip their spacy heads back to earth.
How can we call ourselves a progressive society when all we do is bash women for the clothing choices they make in their everyday lives - whether it be a conservative long dress called “prudish”, or a mini skirt that allegedly “is asking for it”? Asking for what? I'm sorry if my shoulders are too provocative for you, but are we really concerned about the approval of the old white men sitting at home eating dinner in front of their television with the only companion they’ve ever known their dog, watching countless hours of rubbish British reality tv or The Bachelor, wishing they could have lived a life of love and purpose when all they do is spread negativity and backwards values? Women! It’s time we stood up for ourselves and put an end to this blatant yet insidious form of discrimination.