So let’s talk about feminism and leggings. The two now seem to be inextricably linked nowadays.
Recently, a small public high school in Massachusetts banned leggings on girls, and then promptly had to revoke this ban due to the outrage it incurred. Girls came together, furious, over the sexism of the no-leggings law. The rationale for having the rule was that any sort of skin-tight pant was “too distracting” for the boys.
Unlike teenage boys, seventeen year-old girls don’t all have hips with the circumference of a coffee mug. If a girl has a day when she’s feeling particularly tired, or maybe a little sloppy, leggings are like God’s gift to her on a Monday. They’re the fancy sweatpants of all sweatpants. They’re easy to pull on at the last minute, and they can be worn with a slightly oversized sweater and still look like a completed outfit. To take away leggings would mean taking away the latest, and some would say, vital resource for a lazy or rainy day. They’re not for looking sexy, instead they’re perfect for staying warm and comfortable, and anyone who said leggings were “too sexy” for school obviously has a strange idea of what sexy means.
Returning to the school’s comment on the boys being distracted by leggings, some think that the school in question should reconsider the priorities of its male population. The guys shouldn’t be looking! A major issue women are facing with the leggings controversy is that the girls’ bodies are still being viewed as purely sexual objects. To assume that females are trying to reveal more of their body shape with what they choose to wear is transforming half the population into brainless humans with curves.
Schools need to be more aware of these micro-aggressions, and how the girls perceive the comments and rules. How are females supposed to educate young women to be strong and confident if they continue to propagate an objectified version of them?
