In Which @AmandaMarcotte Gets Crazy About High School Dress Codes

Posted on | June 6, 2014 | 94 Comments

Maybe you missed the story about a Utah high school that Photoshopped yearbook photos of girls to make them more “appropriate.” Most people who even noticed the story just shrugged: Whatever.

Yet this story inspired Everybody’s Favorite Feminist™ Amanda Marcotte to go off on a tangent about “modesty” as a weapon of patriarchal social control of women’s bodies:

It’s a belief that because women, especially young women, have bodies that represent “sex” in a straight male-dominated society, then those bodies are eligible for more social control than the bodies of men.
While this school is extreme, anyone who went to a high school with a dress code knows that girls get policed more than boys, often in ways that are sexually humiliating. . . . Hand-wringing articles bemoaning the supposed emergence of “hook-up culture” focus mostly, or exclusively, on scolding and feigning concern in the direction of girls, with boys being left to make their own choices without much concern or judgment.
Because of all this, young women are subject to way more punishment and control from legal and other authorities for their sexuality, starting with the popularity of laws requiring minor girls to notify parents if they want an abortion. . . .

This is a typical feminist non sequitur — from a discussion of school dress codes, suddenly Marcotte leaps to the topic of abortion and specifically parental notification laws. But these are minors, and as parental authorization is generally required for all medical treatment of minors, the onus must be on abortion advocates to demonstrate why abortion should be an exception to the general rule.

As for Marcotte’s rantings about “social control”: Shouldn’t we assume that the community supports the school’s attempt to enforce standards of appropriate clothing? Wouldn’t parents be upset if the school permitted girls to parade through the hallways wearing miniskirts, short-shorts, halter tops, et cetera? Isn’t it likely — doesn’t common sense suggest — that provocative clothing would be a distraction from the learning process? Common sense, however, is impermissible in feminist discourse, and logic is viewed with suspicion by feminists as a weapon of “straight male-dominated society.”

Logic: Children exist because of parents. Children are dependent and are under the supervisory authority of their parents. Therefore, if the parents in a community support the school system’s dress code, it’s not a problem. On the other hand, if parents don’t like the school system’s policies — about dress code or anything else — they are free to send their kids to private school or home-school them. And thus we return to Amanda Marcotte’s mystification about the Utah school:

The school appears to be so out of step with standard American social norms that it’s hard to escape wondering if there wasn’t an attempt to impose a fundamentalist standard of modesty on the girls, regardless of their own religious beliefs.

In a community where most parents are religious, if the school system doesn’t “impose a fundamentalist standard of modesty on the girls,” guess what happens? Religious parents will pull their kids out of public school. What kind of education does Amanda Marcotte think those kids would get if they were home-schooled or sent to private religious schools? Also, who is “out of step with standard American social norms”?

“I don’t want a baby. . . . Nothing will make me want a baby. . . .
“This is why, if my birth control fails, I am totally having an abortion.”
— Amanda Marcotte, March 14

Is this fanatical hatred of babies what she means by “standard American social norms”? And how does the baby-killer Amanda Marcotte, who so deliberately substracts herself from the category of “parent,” presume to tell parents how to raise their kids?

Oh, there I go with logic again . . .

Category: Feminism

Comments

94 Responses to “In Which @AmandaMarcotte Gets Crazy About High School Dress Codes”

Adjoran
June 6th, 2014 @ 5:10 pm

I can only assume it is because the topic is high school pictures that you chose to use Mandy’s yearbook picture. She’s going on 38 now, with high mileage of the sort a lifetime of screeching and hectoring always brings.

As usual, Marcotte ignores the facts. Her premise that girls are singled out is only true if boys were allowed to wear tank tops, etc., in their photos. I’ve seen no evidence of that and suspect none exists.

Therefore, also per usual, Mandy is making up a problem that does not exist and then shrieking about patriarchy in her usual annoying tone. A cunning stunt, indeed.
tjhawk
June 6th, 2014 @ 5:20 pm

Oh wow. Amanda Maricotte is whining about something. Must be a man’s fault.
Steve Skubinna
June 6th, 2014 @ 5:53 pm

What’s the difference between a tribe a pygmies and a girl’s track and field team?

The first is a bunch of cunning runts…

Thank you, thank you, you’ve been great, and don’t forget to tip your waitress!
Steve Skubinna
June 6th, 2014 @ 5:54 pm

Not entirely. If Amanda’s mother had kept her legs together we wouldn’t be troubled with this problem.

That is what you meant, right?
Dana
June 6th, 2014 @ 6:18 pm

I denounce you, sir, I totally denounce you!
Mike G.
June 6th, 2014 @ 7:12 pm

Well, at least you didn’t call her a stunning… Because you know that would be so wrong.
Patrick Carroll
June 6th, 2014 @ 7:15 pm

Amanda Maricotte is an existence proof of Rush Limbaugh’s remark that feminism exists only to give ugly chicks a leg up.
John_LC_Silvoney
June 6th, 2014 @ 7:54 pm

I’ve noticed that so many of these hard core lefty activists, politicians and radical feminist scolds have cold,dead eyes that reflect an innate emptiness and ugliness.
Steve Skubinna
June 6th, 2014 @ 7:55 pm

What took you so long? Had to think about it, didn’t you?

I denounce YOU, sir!
K-Bob
June 6th, 2014 @ 7:59 pm

“…the supposed emergence of “hook-up culture”…”

I didn’t know she was such a denier.
Quartermaster
June 6th, 2014 @ 8:23 pm

Physically, she ain’t bad. But add in the girl inside, and she’s ugly as original sin.
Quartermaster
June 6th, 2014 @ 8:26 pm

I denounce you for placing such, what ever it is, on this fine blog’s comment area.I denounce you again, just to make sure it takes.
Quartermaster
June 6th, 2014 @ 8:29 pm

Carthage must still be destroyed. It’s now on the Potomac rather than Tunisia, however.
Steve Skubinna
June 6th, 2014 @ 9:04 pm

Put him on Double Secret Probation!
Steve Skubinna
June 6th, 2014 @ 9:05 pm

“…lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eye.”

– Quint
Adjoran
June 7th, 2014 @ 12:29 am

I saw a picture of him once. But it was just a still, I couldn’t tell if he was blinking “H-E-L-P–M-E” in Morse Code.
Adjoran
June 7th, 2014 @ 12:30 am

Quite right. Under 40, it’s not going to be easy to find a doctor to do it.
M. Thompson
June 7th, 2014 @ 10:00 am

She could try filthy lucre to get them to do it. How well does Slate pay?
CiceroTheLatest
June 7th, 2014 @ 10:17 am

There are enough pictures of and enough writing from of Amanda Marcotte out there to make me confident of a few things:

1. No healthy male will ever say of her: “But she has a great personality.”

2. The only way she’s ever likely to become pregnant involves a turkey baster. (Maybe a beta male, but it would have to be a severely desperate beta.)

3. She is insane enough to use artificial means to get herself pregnant for the specific purpose of killing the baby.

4. Feral humans do not understand civilization and have no capacity for moral reasoning. Amanda Marcotte is a feral human.

5. Could we please stop [pretending that “Feminism” is anything more than a degenerative mental health problem?
CiceroTheLatest
June 7th, 2014 @ 10:21 am

She is better looking, but that’s not much of an accomplishment. On the other hand,

“Ball was quoted as saying that the George Orwell cautionary novel Animal Farm was “a tale of Capitalism greed” …”

So, yeah, she’s pretty much as bats–t crazy as Marcotte.
CiceroTheLatest
June 7th, 2014 @ 10:27 am

It took awhile to dig up, but I found some pictures and “writing.” See my post above. Deep, DEEP in the beta end.
CiceroTheLatest
June 7th, 2014 @ 10:29 am

OK. THAT is something I’ll subsidize Planned Parenthood for.
Gereng
June 7th, 2014 @ 12:36 pm

Once upon a better time schools didn’t need to impose a dress code over and above the common sense and the generally accepted ideas on what constituted decent attire for teenagers. That was before the media barons decided to turn the nation’s children into sluts and thugs and parents appear to now agree with the transformation..
Dana
June 7th, 2014 @ 2:27 pm

Yeah, but I had totally denounced you, so I am still ahead. And I superlatively denounce you as well.
Quartermaster
June 7th, 2014 @ 3:27 pm

Like the eyes of a prostitute. Prolly not coincidental.
Quartermaster
June 7th, 2014 @ 3:28 pm

They teach words that big at UK?
Quartermaster
June 7th, 2014 @ 3:29 pm

His probation is so secret there isn’t even a name for it.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
June 7th, 2014 @ 3:50 pm

Molly Ball did not say that. That was Krystal Ball. Krystal is attractive at first glance but then once you get to know her a little you realize she is a Casey Jones on a runaway Crazy Train.
Patrick Carroll
June 7th, 2014 @ 6:20 pm

I’m afraid I have to disagree.

I grew up in Galway in the 1970’s and 1980’s, and the girl schools (e.g., the Mercy Convent, Taylor’s Hill Convent) all had uniforms.

The rationale was that without some controls, the girls who could slut up would, the girls who could wear better clothes would. Better to impose a uniform, to maintain a focus on learning.

Women compete, viciously. Without some control on their hypergamy in secondary schools, those schools would be unmanageable.

That’s just the way it is.
Patrick Carroll
June 7th, 2014 @ 6:23 pm

I mean no insult, but please check your glasses.
Patrick Carroll
June 7th, 2014 @ 6:25 pm

I thought that was a sort of peplum.
Patrick Carroll
June 7th, 2014 @ 6:26 pm

Hello, sailor.
Patrick Carroll
June 7th, 2014 @ 6:30 pm

This is the sort of dress code that’s applied to getting into the Vatican. Been there. Done that.

Which, well, doesn’t that just throw a dilly of a pickle into the US legacy media narrative.
Steve Skubinna
June 7th, 2014 @ 7:17 pm

New in town?
Jason Lee
June 7th, 2014 @ 7:43 pm

“…it’s hard to escape wondering if there wasn’t an attempt to impose a fundamentalist standard of modesty on the girls, regardless of their own religious beliefs.”

It’s hard to escape wondering what the dress codes are in the public schools of Dearborn MI…and what Amanda would have to say about them.
Jason Lee
June 7th, 2014 @ 7:51 pm

“If you purchase a sundress with thin straps, you will be expected to have a cardigan sweater, shrug or shawl.”
Jason Lee
June 7th, 2014 @ 7:52 pm

“Necklines will be modest”
Jason Lee
June 7th, 2014 @ 8:03 pm

“In a thirty year period the district and Detroit Public Schools both developed policies to accommodate Arab and Muslim students in collaboration with administrators, parents, teachers, and students. Policies adopted by the districts included observances of Muslim holidays, Arabic-language programs, policies concerning prayer, and rules regarding modesty of females in physical education and sports.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dearborn_Public_Schools
Jason Lee
June 7th, 2014 @ 8:05 pm

http://books.google.com/books?id=QdamRHJ3dxUC&pg=PA220&lpg=PA220&dq=Hamtramck+Public+Schools+Arabic&source=bl&ots=3nG0gLPBR4&sig=p3t69g8Y0EBlfcio2ZWtjMFsG18&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h60zUq_fBY3o8QSU_4GYBA&ved=0CE8Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Hamtramck%20Public%20Schools%20Arabic&f=false
Steve Skubinna
June 7th, 2014 @ 8:19 pm

So I have to be content to penultimately denounce you. And to steal a march, antepenultimately denounce.

I also post-prandially denounce you.
Quartermaster
June 7th, 2014 @ 8:48 pm

The girl in the pic above is sorry looking? I have seen better, but she’s OK. Perhaps the caffeine has rendered your eyesight jittery.
Gereng
June 7th, 2014 @ 8:52 pm

I would prefer to see our kids in uniforms for all the reasons you list. In fact, I’ll go you one further and have separate high schools for girls and boys. But, neither one is going to happen in US public schools. Thus for these and other equally obvious reasons we spiral downward.
David Gillies
June 8th, 2014 @ 3:24 am

It’s hard to think of a more sure-fire method of contraception than being Amanda Marcotte.
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