Androgyny in the workplace | Teen Ink

Androgyny in the workplace

July 14, 2012
By icingonthecake BRONZE, Riverside, California
icingonthecake BRONZE, Riverside, California
3 articles 3 photos 82 comments

You may argue that the workplace isn’t a fashion show, but I have a better argument. Women typically didn’t wear pants on the Titanic. They wore dresses. They didn’t wear pants during the Civil War, either. They wore dresses! So why are women in the workplace subjected to androgyny? It’s arbitrary and it’s unfair to those who don’t display characteristics of a tomboy. Not every girl wants to be a boy, and not every girl wants to wear black. Leave that to Marilyn Manson! Girls don’t need to look like Johnny Cash. Yeah, that’s right. I’m challenging the dress code!

Black shirt, black jeans, black work shoes. Ew, ew, and ew! Oh, and another thing many girls and I find revolting is that nail polish is forbidden. Excuse me, but if I were to find a part time job I would never be allowed to paint my nails! So I would have to go to college and everywhere with bare, plain and ridiculously boring nails because my boss is totally cramping my style. And those sorority girls? They judge. No, I just can’t. I can’t do that. I’m a GIRL and I like colors. I like pink, pastel orange, baby blue, pale yellow and mint green. I like my gold sandals and Juicy Couture jewelry. And I will not go anywhere without my baby pink, sparkly, glow-in-the-dark nails! The Big Boss is gonna have to make some exceptions in my case, because I am a girl and I’m proud to be a girl. Why shouldn’t I be? I don’t want to put my hair up! My hair is long and beautiful. Why should I visually imply that I’m ashamed of my gender? I am in no way uncomfortable with who I am and I’m definitely not going to give the opposite impression by dressing the part! Why can’t we wear a shift dress and those ruffled aprons like the waitresses do in movies? Girls don’t wear pants. This is why men don’t wear dresses! While men are free to dress like men, women should also be free to dress like women. It is unfair to enforce androgyny in the workplace. I’m going to paint my nails pink whether the boss likes it or not and I’m going to do my hair in a Katniss braid and wear my mockingjay pin. And if I absolutely must wear black, I’ll happily pretend I’m Katniss Everdeen in the chariot parading through the Capitol. But the general dress code is arbitrary, and even degrading. Cinna, Portia, Effie Trinket and the prep team would not approve!


The author's comments:
I feel that as men dress like men in the workplace, women should also look like women and express themselves.

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