On May 15, 1836, Francis Baily observed (what would later be called) “Baily’s beads” around the moon during a solar eclipse.
- Call for Papers: Women of Color Beyond Faith Anthology – The abstract submission date is September 30, but don’t wait until the last minute! From Heina.
- Taliban renounces war on anti-polio workers – Wow, the Taliban is more reasonable than Jenny McCarthy (in this one aspect). From Paul.
- Another Men’s Rights Activist Suicide Exploited by Ideologues – From CriticalDragon1177.
- Canada Sells Out Science – Phil Plait’s article about the Canadian government’s effort to muzzle scientific research (oh Canada, noooo!). From Madfishmonger.
- How ‘Slut Shaming’ Has Been Written Into School Dress Codes Across The Country – What experience did you have with this in your school? (We had something known as the “three-finger rule” for tanktop straps and shorts had to go below the fingertips.) From Arturo.
- Grub’s up: Why eating more insects might be good for the planet and good for you.
BONUS: I am so sad that Bill Hader is leaving SNL–Stefan is my favorite. Here’s a collection of his greatest moments.
Tanktop straps had to be an inch wide, but this was at least enforced regardless of gender and not at dances. Senior year, my then-boyfriend wore my prom dress from the previous year (it fit him better than it fit me; I was tiny and it was too big). He was sent to the costume room in the theatre department to retrieve a cardigan to wear over it, because the straps were too thin.
There might have been a skirt-length rule but hems were on their way back down in the early 2000s so I don’t remember if it was ever enforced. Shorts weren’t ever measured. Aside from the tank top rule, actually, most of our stupid dress code rules (no jeans, no graphics on your shirts, no hoods, no backless shoes or flip-flops) were just kind of arbitrary and not gendered.
In my school I think the tanktop strap width would have made more sense as a rule. Instead we couldn’t wear a shirt that showed our bra straps… which is a very gendered rule, and would also allow for you to wear thin straps if you just didn’t wear a bra. I thought the rule and reasoning was pretty ridiculous.
My high school (’86) didn’t have a dress code, at least not one I ever knew about. There was the usual “no profanity on t-shirts” stuff, but I never heard about any of the girls getting in trouble for off the shoulder “Flashdance” style cut up sweatshirts, exposed bra straps, or those short-shorts that you wrap around your waist; and this was back when exposed bra straps were still kind of edgy. We didn’t have dances except for the prom but nobody wore plunging necklines or bare midriffs there. However, strapless gowns were worn without incident. I guess I missed out on all the sexy prom dresses :(. Considering the dress code is pretty much a more detailed version of “nothing too sexualized” it’s no surprising that us guys get off easy. There really isn’t any sexualized men’s formal wear. In fact, a suit (or tux) is the most modest outfit a guy can wear. I do find the “too distracting” thing pretty interesting. Once you set aside the underlying attitude that men can’t control their sexual urges (because of course, we’re all slaves to our hormones and therefore not responsible for our own behavior), what exactly are guys being distracted from at a dance? We didn’t have any, so I’m not sure what sort of dance related task would require their attention. I’d also like point out a couple of comments to the original story that caught my eye. One pointed out that cheerleader outfits always seem to be exempted from skirt length codes, the other surmised that it’s the male teachers who are worried about being “distracted”.
I always found this one teacher’s haircut combined with his stage of male pattern baldness creating an illision of a duck sitting on his shoulders to be the most distracting thing in class. And even when I complained no one wrote a memo about it.
One of the codes expressed the concern that a certain type of dress would “distract boys”–at a prom. Distract them from what, exactly? No academic activity should be taking place at a prom. I suppose things could get vicious if the girls got into a sort of arms race, each trying to make their dress more distracting that everyone else’s, so their dates wouldn’t be looking at someone else.
At my high school uniform skirts couldn’t be more that 3 finger widths above the knee.