Hyper-sexualizing Young Women

I started my 6th-grade year excited for the new school year and meeting new people but was soon severely disappointed by the environment I was in. After about a month of middle school, I soon figured out about “Ass Slap Friday” and “Scooping Girls Tuesday.” I was walking down the hall and a group of boys was in front of me, my heart started to beat faster and my hands started to sweat because I knew what was coming. They passed me and with surprise, nothing happened, but then I felt it and my heart dropped because I knew what day it was: “Ass Slap Friday.” Those occurrences made me feel undervalued as a woman, and I started to struggle with my body image. The worst part was the school’s way to fix it was to dress code the girls as if the boys sexually harassing us was our fault. The school was trying to make the dress codes more strict to protect the girls, but instead, it made us and many other girls feel hypersexualized and objectified. 

As a young woman, I have always had bigger breasts but never thought my body was inappropriate because I can’t control the way my body grows. Throughout middle school and 9th grade, I always thought it was okay to wear the same clothes as other girls did. I soon realized that I was wrong because I had bigger breasts and I couldn’t wear the same things as other girls did. I have been dress-coded over 100 times throughout my younger years for being hypersexualized for my body and my breasts. I felt comfortable in what I was wearing but an adult or a young boy was the one who made me feel uncomfortable and that it was wrong for feeling good in the clothes I was wearing. If a young woman has big or small breasts, and they are wearing something they feel comfortable in, then there is nothing wrong with that. If an adult is the one that feels uncomfortable, then it is the adult that needs to realize that they are hyper-sexualizing young women. They are looking at a women’s body or breasts as if they are appealing or distracting which is disgusting, so maybe adults need to change the way they think about young women and their bodies and let girls be comfortable with themselves.

The problem is breasts and women’s bodies are heavily sexualized everywhere you look from magazines to social media to even Tik Tok. Young girls should be able to look around and see strong women who are CEOs and playing sports without having to show their bodies off at the same time. The importance of being able to wear what you’re comfortable in and not having to be sexualized for simply wearing a tank top in 6th grade shows how the dress code needs to change. The problem of hypersexualization in school can also be seen in the school’s dress code as well, and adults need to realize it’s not a young girl’s fault if they have defined bodies at a young age. Older people need to change how they view breasts and bodies on younger girls because if they don’t, they are setting up a generation of women with body image issues and telling them they shouldn’t be comfortable in their own skin.