Does your skirt go past mid-thigh? Are the straps on your shirt more than one inch wide? Are your pants too tight? These are the questions girls have to ask themselves while getting ready for school because of strict dress codes.

School dress code has been always been a controversial topic, but with the growing impact of social media, the issue has been gaining more attention recently. People are posting about their experiences with what many regard as discriminatory, sexist rules.

There have been multiple incidents across the country of dress code infractions. For example, at Vista Murrieta High School in Murrieta, Calif., more than 50 girls were sent home on a 90-degree day for wearing tank tops and shorts, says regional school board spokesperson Karen Harris. On another occasion, two girls were pulled out of class at an Alamogordo high school for having torn jeans, according to KRQE. Others have had to miss prom or homecoming because the dress code was changed within days of the event.

At an Illinois high school, female students protested a new policy banning leggings, holding signs that read, “Are my pants lowering your test scores?” In a CNN article, an Oklahoma student wrote, “So once again, society has failed to advocate for young ladies by confining them in a box, where they are stripped from their sense of self-respect and self-expression, rather than teaching young men to respect the boundaries of young ladies.”

Dress code restrictions tend to be mostly directed toward girls. Santa Fe Public Schools’ “Dress Code Directives” is a list of prohibited clothing that disallows the following: midriff tops; spaghetti straps; off-the-shoulder, low-cut, see-through, or minimal clothing; shorts or pants that fit too tightly; and “attire shorter than the point where extended fingers end when the student is standing up straight.” All eight of these restrictions are directed at girls while only two are directed at boys, those prohibiting muscle shirts and baggy pants worn below the waist. (Some rules, such as those against “shredded clothing,” tattoos and accessories probably apply evenly to both sexes.)

Adam Apodaca, a Santa Fe High junior, speaks on the topic saying he has never seen a male be “dress-coded”: “Girls are probably more likely to get dress-coded because what they wear might be deemed as inappropriate and too revealing while a boy has little to no dress code at all,” he said.

When the dress code is violated, consequences usually range from being forced to wear alternative clothing and being sent home or suspended, which takes students out of the classroom.

Although Santa Fe High School’s dress-code policy is fairly lenient (most of the time teachers and administrators will give a warning rather than make a big deal about it), Katrina Sandoval, a sophomore, recalls the time she was dress-coded. “I was wearing a crop top where I was showing my belly and a teacher came up to me and told me it was inappropriate and distracting,” she said, explaining that she was told to change or put on a jacket to cover up.

“Many people say girls cannot wear certain things in the classroom because their bodies are distracting males,” said junior Sonam Rabgay. “By sending a girl home because too much of her thighs or shoulders are showing, she is being taught that a boy’s education is more valued than her own.”

Mr. Forester, who teaches engineering classes that have mostly male students, said, “I have never sent a student to the office for what they were wearing.” He, like many other teachers, doesn’t understand why girls or boys need to be restricted in what they wear in order to learn. He believes it should not make a difference.

Although dress codes are not highly enforced at Santa Fe High, they are still a persistent issue nationwide.