It’s summertime! The weather is clear, sunny, and HOT. Boys, you can usually wear whatever makes you comfortable, but girls, you may not wear: shorts, tanks, “revealing clothes,” dresses, skirts, or anything else that is “distracting to the learning environment.”

Let’s be real, the learning environment is another word for boys. “Hey Shawn, can I use a pencil?” “Sure Lily, here you go- OH GOD, YOUR SHOULDERS ARE SHOWING, I CAN’T CONCENTRATE, PLEASE HELP, MY HEART IS HAVING PALPITATIONS.” Do you really think this happens? Well, if you do, you’re terribly wrong, it doesn’t.

It could be very possible that the reason we as girls cannot wear certain clothing is because it’s considered offensive to the faculty and staff. That’s understood, but it doesn’t mean boys should be given more leeway than girls, because guys are distracting to girls as well. Now I’m not saying to make dress code more strict, because that would mean we’d all have to wear turtlenecks and jeans every day. There’s nothing wrong with dressing to the weather as long as your butt or upper chest is not showing.

Girls have always been taught to please others before themselves. We’re expected to marry, cook, have children, and let the men do the “hard work.” If we dress like it’s warm outside, we’re labeled as promiscuous. If we dress with a sweater and some leggings or jeans, we’re labeled as too conservative. If we want to do something with a boy, we’re labeled as easy. If we don’t want to do something with a guy, we’re labeled as boring. Girls are instantly labeled for everything. We can’t even hang out with our best friend all of the time without people thinking we’re gay for each other.

Girls can do many things that a guy can, if not better. Sure we might not be as strong, but we can handle ourselves just fine. Take it from me, I’ve been doing it my entire life, and never, not once, have I depended on a man other than my father, for anything. Sure, sometimes we want someone to do something for us, plan something for us, or just take something off of our hands for us, but we don’t NEED it.

Women also get paid 77 cents to every dollar a man makes, even though some of us work longer and HARDER than men do. And let’s not forget about the whole “well she was asking for it” comment about rape. Let’s get one thing straight right now, NO ONE asks to have their body and privacy violated. We don’t dress up for you, we dress up for ourselves, maybe for our significant others, but definitely not to be taken by some stranger who feels that he has the right to do with you what he wants. THAT’S NOT OK. People say, “Oh, well she was wearing tight clothing” or “She was wearing shorts I mean she was basically asking for it.” No she wasn’t. Get your head out of the gutter and realize that we don’t do everything for a man, we don’t do it for attention, we do it to make ourselves feel good.

Girls have low self confidence because of the degrading marks made by society towards our bodies, face, hair, clothing, makeup, etc. Whether you like it or not, we have it hard. Some people even believe that with equal rights, the right that a man can hit a woman is provided. That’s not true either.

Moral of the story: Girls and women are very capable people who deserve to be treated with the same respect that others (men and boys) have. And to all you girls struggling out there, just know someone is proud of you for continuing to get up and fight throughout the day. I’m proud of you. Good job, and continue being amazing.