Contemporary society has a vast amount of norms that are associated with gender roles and gender identity, many of which dictate the way we dress and the way we choose to express our physical appearance. I, personally, have a considerable amount of experience with traditionally feminine standards for women’s clothing, primarily because of the way I was raised at home but also because of the schools I attended. Much like a large percentage of people in my community, I was raised Catholic; however, unlike the majority of my Catholic peers, I was sent to private Catholic schools from Pre-K to eighth grade– all of which enforced a very strict dress code. They were specific and restrictive for both the boys and the girls, while boys were instructed to wear pants and shorts only, girls were instructed to wear skirts only. These dress code regulations were non-negotiable, even on cold days girls were not allowed to wear pants, even if it caused them discomfort. The rigid and specific nature of this dress code, while seemingly harmless, became one of the first things that cultivated the ideology of a binary gendered society in my young mind. Reflecting as an an adult, I realize not only how wrong this ideology is but also how harmful it is, especially for members from an age group that are barely developing their personality and identity.
In addition to being counterproductive to a child’s growth and development, this enforcement of specific clothing perpetuates an idea of female modesty. Girls, by wearing skirts, are being modest and are avoiding dressing provocatively, which is distinctly frowned upon. For many years in the Catholic church women were only allowed to wear skirts to avoid being overly sexual. In Professor Block’s lectures she addresses the idea of false repression which is the restraint of thinking or talking about a specific thing because it is seen as something sinful or immoral but it really creates an obsession with what is supposed to be repressed. This phenomenon is prominent in Catholicism because the lack of discussion of sexual topics creates something near obsessive behavior because people are intrigued and curious. The over-sexualization of girls in the church by making them wear skirts to avoid being promiscuous stems from the ideas of false repression and strict dual-gendered societal norms that they are pressured to follow.
"Ligaya" of Life 