My Thoughts Dress Codes in College

Our intern Nirva Vira shares her thoughts on the hypocritical codes of dressing in colleges

NO SHORTS, NO SLEEVELESS
The temperature is probably over fifty degrees and the old, slow fans of our college are really not helping. As if the exhausting lectures in college aren’t enough, we girls are forced to push our save-usfrom- the heat shorts into the back of the wardrobe and instead, wear full pants that feel as if they are conspiring to kill us. And why can’t we wear sleeveless? Why can’t we wear something comfortable? In the summer it is nothing less than a punishment.

DRESS CODES ROB YOU OF YOUR INDIVIDUALITY AND THE RIGHT TO DECIDE FOR YOURSELF
Dress codes encourage us to fit in, and push us into the background. Clothes that a person
wears should be a reflection of their own personal thoughts, aspirations and beliefs, not a mandate that the society has passed. The clothes that you wear should scream YOU from every angle; they should make you happy from the inside. You don’t dress a certain way so society can forever judge you.

WHAT ABOUT OUR PERSONAL STYLES?
Everybody has their own individual style that is an extension of their personality. Just because a handful of opinionated people in the management panel of a college feel that students should be barred from wearing certain clothes, especially clothes they like most, doesn’t mean that we should be stripped of all our rights and not be allowed to wear the clothing in question.

YOU HAVE TO SPEAK, ACT AND DRESS APPROPRIATELY
Whatever does one mean by ‘appropriate’? Arre, didn’t you know that appropriate is anything that is acceptable to society? And dress codes are really important to appear appropriate and be accepted by the society. After all, our purpose in life is to please society and to follow rules, both irrational and rational, that it sets. It doesn’t matter if we have to suppress our individuality in the bargain.

‘SORRY GIRLS, WE ARE FOR WOMAN POWER AND ALL BUT WE CAN’T CONTROL OUR BOYS’
Most colleges and universities practice this hypocrisy. Guys can wear whatever they want because the bashful glances of girls aren’t really going to hurt, right? Girls, on the other hand are prohibited from being comfortable at all. There are colleges where wearing kurtis is mandatory, where any leg or shoulder show is offensive and experimenting with new clothes and styles is forbidden.

Volume 3 Issue 12