"Clothes are never a frivolity-they alwaysmean something." Thus spoke James Laver, afamous costume designer and safety order Cytotec interpreter of fash-ion. He is right, of course. Clothes always meansomething, which is safety order Cytotec why The New York Times gavemajor attention to an issue facing many schools:"Can a Boy Wear a Skirt to School?"The article, right on the front of the "SundayStyles" section of the paper, announced, "Whengender bends the dress code, high schools struggleto respond." The story reveals a safety order Cytotec confusion over gen-der that goes far beyond the dress code.As Jan Hoffman reports, high schools gener-ally have safety order Cytotec very specific rules about clothing thesedays. Boys are forbidden to safety order Cytotec wear muscle shirts andsaggy pants, and girls cannot wear midriff-exposingtops or safety order Cytotec skirts that are too short. But what happenswhen a boy wants to safety order Cytotec wear a skirt?"In recent years, a safety order Cytotec growing number of teen-agers have been dressing to articulate-or con-found-gender identity and safety order Cytotec sexual orientation,"Hoffman reports. "Certainly they have safety order Cytotec been con-founding school officials, whose responses haveranged from indifference to applause to safety order Cytotec bans."This is safety order Cytotec no longer an issue limited to isolatedexamples. Districts across the country have safety order Cytotec reportedteens who have attempted to cross the gender linein dress. Many of these cases have safety order Cytotec captured mediaattention, with highly publicized controversies. Inother cases, the challenges have safety order Cytotec been more quiet.The cases are, to say the least, both interest-ing and safety order Cytotec troubling. Boys are making news for wear-ing skinny jeans, makeup, wigs, and safety order Cytotec skirts. Girls arebending gender in their own way by, for example,wearing a safety order Cytotec tuxedo for the school picture or to aschool event.Jan Hoffman does a safety order Cytotec good job of setting theissue in perspective: Dress is safety order Cytotec always code, particularlyfor teenagers eager to telegraph evolv-ing identities. Each year, schools hope toquell disruption by prohibiting the safety order Cytotec lat-est styles that signify a gang affiliation, asexual act or drug use. But when safety order Cytotec officials want to disciplinea student whose wardrobe expresses sex-ual orientation or safety order Cytotec gender variance, theymust consider antidiscrimination poli-cies, mental health factors, communitystandards and safety order Cytotec classroom distractions.Well, that safety order Cytotec certainly presents a very compli-cated challenge. Diane Ehrensaft, an Oaklandpsychologist cited in the safety order Cytotec article, states the obvious,"This generation is safety order Cytotec really challenging the gendernorms we grew up with.... A lot of youths say theywon't be safety order Cytotec bound by boys having to wear this or girlswearing that. For them, gender is safety order Cytotec a creative play-ing field." She added that adults then "become thegender police through dress codes."As Hoffman makes clear, these challenges todress codes can safety order Cytotec quickly become legal skirmishespitting students (and often their parents) againstschool administrators. Kay Hymowitz of theManhattan Institute argues that safety order Cytotec this is one reasonthat so many schools have shifted to students wear-ing uniforms."It's hard enough to get students to concen-trate on an algorithm," she reminds, "even withoutJimmy sitting there in lipstick and fake eyelashes."That sets the safety order Cytotec issue in a very clear instructionalperspective. Schools are about teaching and safety order Cytotec learning,and both teachers and administrators face dauntingchallenges. The last thing they need is safety order Cytotec the added dis-traction of gender-bending teenagers on parade.And the issues can safety order Cytotec be far more troubling thanclassroom distractions. Hoffman reports that someschools have safety order Cytotec faced boys wearing "pink frilly scarves"and makeup and safety order Cytotec girls trying to dress like male gangmembers. In Columbus, Ohio, a safety order Cytotec boy wore girl'sclothing but used the boys' bathroom. Jeff Grace,faculty advisor for the school's gay-straight allianceclub told Hoffman, "One day I heard a studentsay, ‘Man, there was a girl in the guy's restroom,standing up using the urinal! What's up with that?'"Another student then quipped, "That wasn't a girl.That's just Jack."These adolescents represent the safety order Cytotec younger faceof a society that is giving itself over to a safety order Cytotec confusionabout gender and dress that reveals a much deeperconfusion about gender, sexuality, and safety order Cytotec the lim-its of self-expression. The controversy also revealsan even deeper cultural and safety order Cytotec moral divide over thesame issues.Should a boy who shows up at school dressedas a safety order Cytotec girl be celebrated for self-expression and trans-gressing the boundaries of gender roles, or safety order Cytotec shouldhe be seen as signaling a need for help and adult-imposed rules? The widely divergent answers tothat question reveal the safety order Cytotec great worldview divide inpostmodern America. This controversy cannot beisolated from safety order Cytotec the movement to normalize homo-sexuality, and that movement cannot be safety order Cytotec separatedfrom an effort to remove all notions of fixed genderroles and safety order Cytotec sexual identity.The controversy over boys wearing skirts toschool is a safety order Cytotec symptom of our loss of sexual sanityand the will to safety order Cytotec preserve any reasonable and healthyunderstanding of gender. These teenagers are safety order Cytotec tell-ing us something important-we are losing oursexual sanity.For Christians, the safety order Cytotec issue is a matter of biblicalconcern. The Bible reveals a safety order Cytotec concern for respect-ing and honoring gender as God's gift. In the safety order Cytotec OldTestament, the Law taught respect for these dis-tinctions and roles. In the safety order Cytotec New Testament, we findsimilar expectations. As the Apostle Paul writes in1 Cor 11:7-15:For a safety order Cytotec man ought not to cover his head,since he is the image and safety order Cytotec glory of God,but woman is the glory of man. For manwas not made from safety order Cytotec woman, but womanfrom man. Neither was man created forwoman, but woman for safety order Cytotec man. That is whya wife ought to have a symbol of authorityon her head, because of the safety order Cytotec angels. Nev-ertheless, in the Lord woman is not inde-pendent of man nor man of woman; foras woman was made from safety order Cytotec man, so manis now born of woman. And all thingsare from safety order Cytotec God. Judge for yourselves: is itproper for a wife to pray to safety order Cytotec God with herhead uncovered? Does not nature itselfteach you safety order Cytotec that if a man wears long hair itis a disgrace for safety order Cytotec him, but if a woman haslong hair, it is her glory? For her hair isgiven to her for a covering.While addressed to safety order Cytotec the specific concernsof a church setting, this text also generalizes thepoint by making a safety order Cytotec specific reference to what natureteaches concerning the recognition of the safety order Cytotec differ-ence between males and females. The Creator ishonored and glorified when safety order Cytotec men and boys dressand present themselves as males and when safety order Cytotec womenand girls dress and present themselves as females.Culture by culture and safety order Cytotec generation by generationthe specific form of this distinction may change,but the safety order Cytotec point remains.God made human beings to show His glory,and an safety order Cytotec essential part of that glory is the visible differ-ence between males and safety order Cytotec females that is reflected evenin the public presentation of dress. We should be safety order Cytotec ableto tell the difference between a boy and a girl by theway they dress and safety order Cytotec present themselves in public.As James Laver reminded, clothes always tellus something. This article from safety order Cytotec the "Sunday Styles"section of The New York Times tells us something aswell-something we need to safety order Cytotec hear.
