By Ismael Duran

Entertainment Editor

Students say they noticed more rigorous enforcement of the school’s dress code when the school year began with girls reporting feeling particularly singled out.

The dress code seems to imply that “female bodies are just naturally unprofessional,” said junior Hannah Grimes.

Many girls concur with Grimes and feel that the dress code emphasizes an ideology where female bodies, by nature, are a problem that can only be resolved by covering them up.

Girls and boys face criticism over their outfits not being in compliance with the dress code which tells students anything revealing or offensive is a no-no.   

Junior Kevin Liceaga was told to put a jacket over his muscle shirt.

“(Rules about bare) Shoulders, tank tops, and thin straps are stupid,” he said. “Teachers are the only ones who are getting distracted by them.”  

Liceaga said he does not agree with the reason for the dress code in the first place: that specific clothing can be a distraction. Students aren’t like that, he adds.

Anatomy and physiology teacher Jameson Wall said that dress coding girls is awkward for him and likely for other teachers because it implies that teachers have to observe these students’ bodies and to students, it can feel like shaming them for what they’re wearing. 

“To a certain extent, the reason why dress codes are in place is because of the objectification of women,” Wall said. “Almost like victim shaming adjacent, where it’s like, if the girls don’t wear those kinds of clothes, then they wouldn’t get in trouble.”

Associate Principal Wendy Reyes said she has noticed more girls out of dress code because of the styles that are in fashion, not necessarily because of stricter enforcement. If anything, she said she feels the dress code “has become more lenient and less strict” in that it now allows students to wear shorts and have colored hair. 

Reyes credits this change to Northside’s Board of Trustees which built and modified the dress code and is responsible for where schools should be strict with the dress code. She said most students probably don’t realize their parents (and students once they turn 18) have input into dress code policies through their votes at the ballot box. She said administrators just try to enforce the rules they’ve been given. 

Even with the strict and enforced dress code, Reyes said “whenever the choice arises between being nitpicky over the dress code or stopping a potential outburst from occurring, admin will always choose the bigger, more serious problem” to monitor rather than the dress code. She said administrators and teachers pay closer attention to the dress code when they have the time to notice it, saying that they “can’t be monitoring it 24/7, but [they] do their best to address it.”

The purpose of dress code checks is to “get students back into dress code as quickly as possible” so that the learning environment is not disrupted for long, Reyes said, adding that  “students who are repeatedly caught out of dress code could be suspended because it’s considered insubordination.”