Schools have several strict rules that students absolutely dislike, such as not being allowed to have our phones out, chew gum, or put our hoods up. The one rule that students really dislike is the dress code policy. The dress code restricts what we are allowed to wear at school. Wearing hats or wearing clothes that show even the smallest part of your body leads to you being dress-coded. When you get dress-coded, a teacher pulls you aside and calls you out for whatever you’re wearing. It’s awkward and gets you into trouble. Wearing clothes that show your belly, short shorts that show most of your legs, and spaghetti straps would all get you dress coded. I have never been dress-coded myself, but I think the dress code rules have been out of hand these past few years. I have been questioning why strict dress codes are important in schools, especially for girls. Are girls distractions? If so, how? If you are trying to figure out the answers, I recommend a book called Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone.
Molly Frost, an eighth-grader, and her friends are sick and tired of the extremely harsh dress code rules at school. They are not allowed to wear stuff that shows their shoulders, knees, or a bit of skin. Students are furious when the school cancels a school field trip because a student violated the dress code. Molly comes up with a plan to create a podcast to interview and talk with dress-coded victims. Molly and her friends think this will help stop the harsh clothing policies at her school. She later creates a social media account for the podcast, and several students from the school district follow the account. Molly reveals the harm caused by policing girls’ looks. People judge girls with curvy bodies for what they wear, which leads girls to feel insecure about their bodies and how they look. This is something several girls face today. The School District Admin continues to reject and not listen to Molly’s proposals to change the student handbook. The dress code issue has not only stressed Molly out, but the fact that Molly’s brother, Danny has been falling under the influence of a vaping addiction and selling vapes to young children at school which brings a lot of gossip towards the community. Molly’s life is an entire emotional wreck, and she has no idea what to do.
Will this dress code revolution work out? How can Molly pull her life back together?
If you like diverse books, this book is exactly for you. For me, a good book has diverse characters. This book did a good job with that. Also, this book did an excellent job covering real challenging adolescence situations such as growing up with unfair dress code policies, addiction, and family stress. This book also covers themes like speaking up against unfair rules and highlights activism.
Please read this book to understand the perspective and experiences of students about strict and unfair dress codes.