Dress codes create a sexist platform for the objectification of the bodies of females and gender-nonconforming students.

School administrators around the country implement dress codes that enable the female body to be hypersexualized through clothing requirements, allowing others to objectify them unhindered.

According to the Huffington Post, schools issue 90 percent of dress code violations to students who identify as female.

In the Park student handbook, more dress codes concern females than males. For example, limitations on strap thickness, length of dresses, skirts and shorts apply much more heavily to the female demographic.

Recently, many social media platforms are abuzz with demands for fair dress codes. Story after story appear on timelines and feeds, depicting a young woman wearing an appropriate outfit followed by a story of outrage. This pattern of indignation stems from the fact school administrators continually deem the female body as more sexual than the male body.

According to the American Psychological Association, sexualization and objectification deteriorate the comfort people feel in their own body. This leads to negative emotional consequences such as shame, anxiety and self-disgust.

Dress codes send the harmful message that women are nothing more than sexual objects, distracting male students. By trying to desexualize what people choose to wear to school, schools have succeeded in making it all about sex.

By continuing these restrictive dress codes, society perpetuates the ‘boys will be boys’ mentality. Dress codes are not fair to males either — they are made out to be animalistic creatures who can’t control their impulses and are easily distracted by things as simplistic as partially-revealed bra straps.

The American Psychological Association finds the connection between self-objectification and anxiety about appearance and feelings of shame appear in adolescent girls as well as adult women.

Ultimately, as a society, it is necessary to realize the female body is not an object. Individuals deserve the right to express themselves through what they wear. Dress codes damage the psyche of females who face this biased, unjust systematic oppression.