'Am I A Distraction?' - Students Stage Walk-Out In Order To Protest School's Dress Code

Jun 19, 2021 by apost team

A group of female high school students set up a demonstration to protest their school's dress code. The girls claimed that the dress code was sexist, as it mostly seemed to target the students who were wearing crop tops. Most of the time, female students are the ones sporting this style of clothing, so the female students at Natomas Charter School in Sacramento, California, found it offensive and sexist and wanted to make a change. They called on other students at their school to come together and make their voices heard.

While it's common for most places of work to have some required dress code, this can vary based on the establishment. Most of the time, these guides are set in place to help keep the workplace professional and productive. Schools also have dress codes set in place, but often more times than not, the requirements tend to be more geared toward the female students rather than the male. While male students are typically allowed to wear tank tops and shorts, female students have had to go through getting their shorts measured to make sure they aren't too short or make sure their shirts don't show too much skin.

The teenage students staged their walk-out on June 3, 2021, to protest their school's dress code as it was something they believed needed to be changed. Both male and female students participated to show solidarity against the sexist dress code, as they shared their message with their fellow students, teachers and faculty members to help make a difference.

Their Powerful Demonstration

A group of students at a Sacramento high school protested their school's dress code by staging a walk-out and wearing clothes that revealed their midriffs. Evita Frick-Hisaw, 16, posted a TikTok showcasing the protest that has garnered over 3 million views so far. "We as students feel like what we wear is not distracting toward others or affecting anyone's learning environment," she explained, according to the New York Post.

Evita rallied other students to join her, both male and female, to help criticize the dress code that prohibited students from wearing shirts that showed off their midriffs. Plenty of the students rebelled and showed up to school wearing crop tops with words painted across their stomachs, including "Am I a distraction?" and "It's not my fault."

Another student, Alexa MacMurry, 17, helped plan the walk-out. She told Inside Edition about how teachers were continuing to take students into the office to address their dress code violations, so the students started walking out of class to protest. The demonstrators also picketed with signs. Some said, "Teach boys to focus, not girls to cover up," and others said, "If children's midriffs distract you, you should not be working with children."

Faculty members spoke up as well, and disagreed with the students. "We don't call out students who have on a top that doesn't touch their pants," student services director Dr. Addie Ellis said. "If it's a sports bra, we're going to call it out because that wouldn't be appropriate for a work setting."

Although some of the students were sent home from school that day following the protest, TikTok users rallied behind Evita and the other students for their demonstration in their fight to change their school's dress code.

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What did you think about this demonstration by these high school students? Do you think school dress codes should change? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your friends and family to find out what they think, too.