The weaker sex, the war on yoga pants and what it really means.

While waiting for the bus this morning and listening to WGAN I hear Mike Violette discuss the ban on "war on yoga pants" my head was ready to explode. Now you have to understand we have been having this war with the school for a couple of years now but for my daughter is it not just yoga pants it is her whole wardrobe. If you are not familiar with the "war on yoga pants" here is a quick breakdown (my version): apparently boys cannot control themselves when girls wear yoga pants and become extremely distracted and therefore we have to ban yoga pants so that boys will not be distracted.

There are SOOOOOO many problems with this way of thinking. First and foremost you place the blame for the male behavior on the female. I guess boys are so weak that they cannot control themselves and therefore the girl must be punished. This is what leads the "well the girl deserved it" type of thinking when she is a victim of sexual violence. Banning a piece of clothing because it distracts boys only reinforces this paradigm.

The second problem is that you are reinforcing a negative body image to girls. The bans seem to start during the Middle School/High School years. This is the time when girls are starting to be very self conscious and now they have the added pressure of the adults in the community telling them that their changing bodies are a "distraction". My daughter was told by a teacher that she needed to change her whole wardrobe (she was wearing a A&F t-shirt and jeans nothing revealing but she is curvy) because she was "too attractive" and a "distraction".  My daughter does not have body image issues and is strong willed so this only made her angry at the teacher  but if this was a girl already dealing with self-esteem issues this could have been problematic.

Instead of banning yoga pants and punishing the girls we should be teaching boys about learning to control themselves and their urges. I am sick and tired of anyone (male or female) having to change acceptable behavior because of someone else's unacceptable behavior. In our society we always cater to the least common denominator because it is easier. Instead we should be teaching respect and self-control.