{"id":6445,"date":"2017-04-20T08:37:29","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T14:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=6445"},"modified":"2017-04-20T08:37:29","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T14:37:29","slug":"gender-theorying-school-uniforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/04\/gender-theorying-school-uniforms.html","title":{"rendered":"Gender-theorying school uniforms?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"IMG_0654\"<\/p>\n

The above picture is from our trip to London last summer, where it seemed like, at every tourist venue we visited, there were gaggles of schoolchildren on field trips. \u00a0This group\u00a0in particular was near Buckingham Palace.<\/p>\n

What surprised me about all these groups was not that they had uniforms, but that the uniforms were not, well, uniform \u2014 the boys wore mini-suits, and the girls wore light cotton dresses, which seemed, well, hardly appropriate for the chilly weather, though, to be sure, at least one girl seems to have chosen a suit-like skirt option. \u00a0(I also wondered what the thermostat settings in their classrooms were \u2014 relatively cooler, to accommodate the warmly-dressed boys? \u00a0Or warmer, for the lightly-dressed girls?)<\/p>\n

Now, to be sure, boys and girls at Catholic schools generally have different uniforms: \u00a0here, the boys wear light blue shirts and navy pants or shorts, and girls have the option of either a traditional plaid skirt and a navy or white shirt, or navy shorts or pants plus a white shirt. \u00a0And, interestingly, the girls tend to choose to wear the traditional plaid \u2014 at least, I have the understanding that it\u2019s the girls making this choice rather than their parents, though I could understand why the parents might favor the skirt, as that\u2019s, near as I can tell, well-nigh indestructible, made of polyester, and lasts for a couple years by adjusting the waist, vs. pants that get holes at the knees and become too short with a growth spurt. \u00a0(That is, many of the same reasons that historically boys wore shorts year-round rather than long pants.)<\/p>\n

But all that is context for an article in The Guardian<\/a> today, which reports that a school in New Zealand is making its uniforms \u201cgender-neutral,\u201d and which links to a report from last year on schools in the UK<\/a>, 80 of which have done the same thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year we\u2019ve gone from a girls\u2019 uniform and a boys\u2019 uniform to a skirt uniform and a trousers uniform,\u201d explains Liana Richards, deputy head teacher at Uplands Community College, a state secondary in East Sussex. \u201cIt\u2019s about recognising the rights of students who feel they might not fit into the binary genders. It\u2019s less of a big deal to the students than you might think. We haven\u2019t seen that much difference yet, although some girls have made the conscious decision to wear the trousers uniform, which has to be worn with a tie.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move is part of a government-funded drive to support LGBT+ children in schools and be more open to children questioning their gender or sexual identity. . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have more trouser-wearing across the board than boys wearing skirts. But that\u2019s about what\u2019s seen as acceptable in society and you know what? We need to work on that, too.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, in other words, what could be a simple change to provide more comfortable uniform choices is made into a political\/social justice action, in which girls aren\u2019t given the option to wear a traditionally-boys uniform for its greater comfort, but for gender identity reasons, and in which the whole project isn\u2019t working quite right unless some boys are willing to wear dresses as well.<\/p>\n

Image: \u00a0own photograph<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The above picture is from our trip to London last summer, where it seemed like, at every tourist venue we visited, there were gaggles of schoolchildren on field trips. \u00a0This group\u00a0in particular was near Buckingham Palace. 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