I remember the first time I was pulled aside for dress code in school, 3rd grade. I had a fray in my jeans no skin could be seen above the knee but a fray had to be an invitation right? I leave the principals office with duck tape on my jeans like a homing signal to others as if to say "look what I did"
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Fast forward to junior high we are told "ladies, ladies, cover up its a distraction boys simply can't control their reaction."
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Skip a few years to High school I can't feel comfortable in my own skin because my skin isn't my skin. My skin has been used as an excuse as a weapon against me to defend the administrative choice to pull me out of class for wearing a crew neck T-shirt dress with sleeves that reaches past finger tip length to tell me its a distraction. When I asked "how?" they said "because it's tight."I said "so is the body armor shirts the boys wear why aren't they in here with me?"they said "because they aren't breaking the rules" I said "what rules did I break,
My collar bones aren't showing
My dress has sleeves so no one can see my shoulders
The length is past my finger tips
I've met all the requirements so what rules have I broken?"
My female principal looked at me and said "well it's just that kind of material"
"Just what kind of material, the material that t shirts are made of? The kind that if I was wearing pants you wouldn't have noticed? "
"It's distracting,"she said "to the boys it leaves nothing to the imagination, they can't focus how are they supposed to learn with that distraction?"
"How are they supposed to learn? How about how am I supposed to learn you pulled me out of class and yet you can't tell me a rule that I've broken why is their education more important than mine?" She couldn't give me an answer.
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Skip to senior year in the hall way I over hear a teacher tell my friend her shirts out of code because the back has a open top with a bow. I had talked to her earlier and never noticed because her hair was down so, obviously I could focus. My cousin walked by and stepped to my friends defense and made a scene saying he just couldn't handle seeing even just a fraction of her back, in hopes of showing the teacher how ridiculous she seemed. My friend laughed and remarked "careful don't pop a boner." And to that the teacher replied "Detention."
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Now a young adult when I'm out with friends I constantly watch those around me and say "text me when you make it home safely". Because well "boys will be boys" but she was wearing a skirt so "she was asking for it." "You should have seen how she was dancing she was practically shouting somebody take me!" "She didn't say no so she wanted it." How could she say no with your tongue down her throat? The skirt was to her ankles, what skin was she showing?How could you think that she wanted it, with tears streaming down her face mascara smearing only to dry and settle on her skin like a tattoo. She was dancing freely with joy in her heart but because you needed a reason you deemed her a slut.
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From a young age girls are taught to cover up, don't be a distraction boys can't help themselves. Later I come to find out nobody told the boys keep their hands to themselves because no means no and she wasn't asking for it, no matter the length of her skirt or if you can see her shoulder because girls aren't sexual objects for you to use when you feel like.
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We are people, we have feelings, we have value, we matter, we are not less than you.
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"If you are silent about your pain, they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it"
-Zora Neale Hurston
YOU ARE READING
Skirt Length and A Fray
PoetryThis is a short story/ poem(?) that I wrote based on my personal experiences with growing up with the adults in my life saying that my body is a distraction and that boys aren't accountable for their actions.