High school boy wears crop top to point out sexism
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A high school teen wore a crop top all day to see if he would get dress coded like his female peers. (iStock)
A high school senior protested his school’s dress code double standard by wearing an off-the-shoulder crop top for an entire day.
Phil Rodriguez, a 17-year-old senior at Hueneme High in California, chose the top because it violates two rules at his school – showing stomach and shoulders.
Rodriguez tweeted a picture of himself in the tiny top, showing off his shoulders, midriff and underwear.
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OFF-THE-SHOULDER TOPS WORN BY MALE STUDENTS TO PROTEST HIGH SCHOOL DRESS CODE
“Told y’all I would do it, catch me tomorrow wearing this to see if I get dress coded,” he wrote on his Twitter.
He decided on the experiment because of “the fact that women in my school get dress-coded so often for showing a little shoulder or some stomach area — I feel that they are sexualizing women’s bodies,” Rodriguez tells Yahoo Style. “In the school’s defense, they say it’s ‘distracting’ and we students can’t learn because of the way these women dress. [But] I’ve never been asked if how women dressed affected my education.”
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While he was wearing the outfit, the teen kept his followers updated throughout the day.
“UPDATE: I’m in 6th period water polo and I have not gotten dress coded. The day is practically over now. I think we all have our answer.”
During the school day, he said he received a couple of warnings, but “nothing serious” from the faculty or administration.
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“I felt like something needed to be done, and the majority wanted me to keep it going. So I went the whole day wearing it. I did not get dress-coded,” he says.
He told Yahoo that many of his female classmates were pleased about what he was doing.
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“Most of the women encouraged me to keep it going, and they admired that I would ever do such a thing,” he says. “I walked in front of administration and nothing happened. I am a very talkative person, I make great connections with staff, so I didn’t hide myself from them. I talked with a lot of them to see if I would get dress-coded, and I feel they took my outfit as a joke.”
Though he didn’t get dress coded, Rodriguez doesn’t feel he accomplished what he set out to do.
“I might do it again,” he said. “I don’t think my full message has gone through. And I might get some more guys to do it with me. They would love to do it.”