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No One Will Protect You: The Suffolk County “Cross-Dressing” Ban
No One Will Protect You: The Suffolk County “Cross-Dressing” Ban
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Students in Suffolk County, VA may not be so lucky after next month. That school district will be taking a vote in March to determine whether they’ll be implementing a new dress code, one which bans clothing “not in keeping with a student’s gender” to the extent that it “causes a disruption and/or distracts others from the education process or poses a health or safety concern,” according to this article. To be clear, they don’t mean “safety concern” in the sense that the clothing is covered in spikes, or made of asbestos, and thus could be hazardous to the student wearing it or to passersby. They mean that, if a student gets beaten up for dressing weird, the clothing—not, say, the bully—is to blame.
I have so, so many concerns about this proposal, but let’s just get the obvious one out of the way first: This new dress code is horribly transphobic. A student who is biologically male but identifies as a girl would be risking punishment for wearing girl clothes, even though she is dressed in a manner “in keeping with her gender.” Trans students will therefore have to choose between conforming to a gendered manner of dress that doesn’t fit their self-image—essentially, going to school in a costume every day—or facing whatever consequences the schools deem appropriate for violating the dress code.
The fact that this new rule would almost certainly be enforced in a way that conflates sex with gender and reifies cissexism is the most immediately troubling thing about it, to be sure. But you know what, when you’re given a cornucopia of fuckery this abundant, why stop there? Let’s dig deeper!
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So this new dress code will punish trans kids, and specifically transfeminine kids, and in so doing will perpetuate a culture of sexism and cissexism, but if it keeps our children safe from the horrors of teen bullying, won’t it all be worth it? The proponents of the new dress code are trying to spin it as a move to protect queer and trans kids from being picked on by their peers, which sounds like a noble goal is really just so much victim-blaming with a slightly spiffier hairdo. Wait, let’s do this in pop quiz form:
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Read the rest: http://tigerbeatdown.com/2012/02/27/no-one-will-protect-you-the-suffolk-county-cross-dressing-ban/#more-4463
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Students in Suffolk County, VA may not be so lucky after next month. That school district will be taking a vote in March to determine whether they’ll be implementing a new dress code, one which bans clothing “not in keeping with a student’s gender” to the extent that it “causes a disruption and/or distracts others from the education process or poses a health or safety concern,” according to this article. To be clear, they don’t mean “safety concern” in the sense that the clothing is covered in spikes, or made of asbestos, and thus could be hazardous to the student wearing it or to passersby. They mean that, if a student gets beaten up for dressing weird, the clothing—not, say, the bully—is to blame.
I have so, so many concerns about this proposal, but let’s just get the obvious one out of the way first: This new dress code is horribly transphobic. A student who is biologically male but identifies as a girl would be risking punishment for wearing girl clothes, even though she is dressed in a manner “in keeping with her gender.” Trans students will therefore have to choose between conforming to a gendered manner of dress that doesn’t fit their self-image—essentially, going to school in a costume every day—or facing whatever consequences the schools deem appropriate for violating the dress code.
The fact that this new rule would almost certainly be enforced in a way that conflates sex with gender and reifies cissexism is the most immediately troubling thing about it, to be sure. But you know what, when you’re given a cornucopia of fuckery this abundant, why stop there? Let’s dig deeper!
...
So this new dress code will punish trans kids, and specifically transfeminine kids, and in so doing will perpetuate a culture of sexism and cissexism, but if it keeps our children safe from the horrors of teen bullying, won’t it all be worth it? The proponents of the new dress code are trying to spin it as a move to protect queer and trans kids from being picked on by their peers, which sounds like a noble goal is really just so much victim-blaming with a slightly spiffier hairdo. Wait, let’s do this in pop quiz form:
Q: Whose job is it to protect children from bullying?
A. Teachers and administrators, by making it clear that bullying is never acceptable and will result in punishment.
B. Bullies, by showing self-control and choosing more positive ways of expressing themselves.
C. Victims, by not being so weird, gross, and/or freaky.
...
Read the rest: http://tigerbeatdown.com/2012/02/27/no-one-will-protect-you-the-suffolk-county-cross-dressing-ban/#more-4463
Disgusted.
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