Gendered uniform- sun, skirts and why shorts aren't acceptable

Originally wirtten for https://genderandthecity.com/2017/08/11/sun-skirts-and-shorts-what-is-acceptable/

The issue of appropriate uniform in schools and in the workplace comes up as soon as the sun comes out. Shorts are too immature for males to wear, even boys, whereas it's fine to both infantilise and sexualise girls and women in skirts. Uniform should be based on practicality and comfort, not outdated practice.

A man tweeted himself wearing a bright pink dress having been sent home from work for wearing shorts; boys appeared on the news wearing skirts to school. In a previous workplace, working outdoors with no shade and no shorts, a male colleague asked for a skirt, only to be told he must then wear the full female uniform. As if wearing a skirt changed his gender.

Institutions have tolerated skirts over shorts because they think it is temporary and the status quo will return. Some schools are going gender neutral but with shorts not included. Males are making a point of wearing a skirt, but in order to get shorts. Why not just allow shorts?

Traditionally shorts were seen as clothing items for boys. From around puberty onwards trousers were given as a marker of becoming a man. The idea that trousers equal masculinity is pervasive, leading to one of the reasons why the clothing revolution has not happened for men. Clothing is the conformity of being 'a real man'.

Perhaps the refusal to allow shorts is also because tights cannot be worn. One of the school boys being interviewed said they were told they would need to wear tights as hairs were unsightly. Males think they are getting the raw deal but tights are also part of a uniform, so females rarely get more air flow on a hot day. Our ideas of what is professional take away from any practicality for those wearing uniforms.

Personally I would opt for shorts or a thobe like uniform, practical and comfortable. Female clothing is made with no pockets, thigh rub is painful, skirts are poorly designed for wind or sitting comfortably...and there is a sexualisation and vulnerability that comes with skirts and dresses. Why is it that skirts aren't also seen as too immature once puberty hits? I've always had concerns with pleats in skirts, short summer dresses and frilly stark white socks. Girls school uniforms are sexualised symbols in fancy dress and fantasies. Teenage girls feel the need to hitch up their skirts to feel more attractive. One school decided to ban skirts because the teenagers were making them so short that it was 'not pleasant for male members of staff and students either, the girls have to walk up stairs and sit down and it’s a complete distraction. After a while it stops being a uniform issue and starts becoming a safeguarding issue." Girls have to wear tiny tennis skirts for PE, but are told that length is wrong in other areas. Femininity is confirmed through cute little skirts, but somehow it is unfair to males when women continue this past puberty. They then go into adult work and the expectation is for tight skirts and heels. That the school was concerned for male teachers is a stark reminder of blame culture and is an insult to men that any female form cannot be resisted, even that of children placed under their care.

Uniforms overtly sexualise women, and disallowing shorts because of masculinity is archaic. Uniforms should be practical and comfortable for all. It being okay for males to wear traditionally female clothing would change gender expectations and perceptions. It is long overdue.

#clothing #masculinity #sexualisation #genderneutral