Standing for what you believe
By: Nicole Martínez 10B
During these last few years, the number of people who have decided to show their true selves and identities to the whole world has increased considerably. As time passes, there is more freedom of being who one truly feels comfortable with, and society has learnt to respect how others showcase themselves. However, there is still a long path before humanity and its rules fully comprehend and tolerate each decision to show themselves as they want to.
One clear example of this occurred in Canada when male students made a stand against sexism and homophobia by wearing skirts to school instead of pants to break the idea of gender norm school uniforms. The idea of standing in solidarity in skirts began with student Zach Paulin; he was inspired by a group of students from Montreal who protested against the double standards of dress code between male and female students.
From the Montreal students, Paulin saw an opportunity to raise awareness about the stifling oppression in the dress code that only serves the binary concepts of gender and sexuality. Although the initiative was conceived to get to a small number of male students, he was pleasantly surprised by the amount of positive support he received not only at his school, where approximately 100 students showed up in a skirt to protest, but also from other Canadian schools that supported his plea against the dress code.
He shared photos of the protest and quoted, “the fact that a boy wears the skirt is a sign of resilience, solidarity and support for the intersectional battle for gender equality. The double standard of how a woman and a man should present themselves in the eyes of society is glaring; if a woman wears a suit and pants, clothes associated with masculinity, you don’t think about it more than that. But because of toxic masculinity, the moment a boy is going to do anything feminine, be it nail polish, makeup, or in our case, a skirt, he gets fingers pointed and bombarded with insults. We’re going to say he’s not a real man and we’re going to immediately assume his sexual orientation.”
Besides standing in solidarity with queer and non-binary students, they also stood for women who are sexualized from a young age and are told how to dress as well as how they should present themselves to society. Regarding that topic, Paulin said the following “…perpetrators will excuse their act by sexualizing women unnecessarily and crudely. So, by wearing the skirt, we stand in solidarity with the women in society who are constantly being sexualized and told to hide their body, and we send out a message against the toxic masculinity that prevents boys from being who they are.”
After the massive protest, the school Paulin attends supported the movement and allowed students to wear a skirt regardless of gender. Furthermore, many Canadian schools have gotten in touch with this initiative and plan to discuss the idea of changing dress code regulations to suit all students.
I just wanted to end this article by saying that it is one's decision to decide how we want to showcase ourselves. It is not about compelling to the stereotypes we all have helped to create, but to stand for what you believe is right for yourself. Don't fool yourself by believing that if you are a woman, you must wear a dress to be feminine or that if you are a man, you can't paint your nails as they do not "portray" masculinity.
