Dress code policies in school are becoming less strict. Peoples’ arguments for self expressions make it continuously harder to box their sense of fashion however modest, artsy, or ‘skanky’ it may be.

While fashion is certainly a choice, an unending paradox occurs: “‘People shouldn’t be affected by what I’m wearing,’ countered by ‘why do you feel the need to dress like that if it’s not to attract people,’ followed by ‘I dress like this because this is who I am,’ concluded with ‘why does ‘who you are’ have to be so slutty.’”

The question being, should what someone wears affect their likelihood of being harassed or assaulted? Does it?

Freshman Audrey Flynn pointed out, “Although what you wear doesn’t necessarily define who you are, I believe that certain clothing can cause more attention. Lots of girls now are wearing little tank tops with no bra, which is great and an amazing feminist act, but can have the opposite effect from what they are looking for.”

Many would tend to agree with Flynn–while clothing like this shouldn’t necessarily be a problem, sometimes it is.

Little tank tops with no bra, however, are often the minor in the situation. A more extreme case would be those little denim shorts that are about the same size as underwear, with a ‘shirt’ that’s not really a shirt because it’s basically a bra.

Junior Diego Garcia commented, “That’s a definite call for attention, and there’s no way it’s all going to be positive. If you feel the need to dress like that, then you should expect some cat calls and maybe some bad reactions.”

The fact of the matter is, if you dress like that, one, it’s probably for attention, and two, you are going to get that attention no doubt.

While the little tank top situation makes sense–it’s the feeling of not being caged by social norms and not conforming to what women have been told to do for hundreds of years–there really is not much argument for the denim underwear one. Seriously, do you need to dress like that? It’s uncomfortable and unattractive, and that’s that.