“Male Hair Cannot Extend Below Plane of the Shoulder” and “No Cross Dressing”: Critical Queer Analysis of High School Dress Codes in the United States

ABSTRACT

In this study, we questioned how high school dress codes outlined in official handbooks were written or presented in regard to the gender binary, either/or perspective. We critically analyzed how or if they allowed for flexibility in expression of gender and sexual identity and if they supported, encouraged, or affirmed a variety of expressions, in particular transgender and gender non-conforming expressions, throughout the text or images. The content analysis method was used to analyze 735 handbooks from the 2016 to 2017 school year. Three themes emerged from the data: (1) support of fluid gender expression, yet not overt support; (2) passive marginalization of gender non-conforming or transgender identities or expressions; and (3) active marginalization of gender non-conforming or transgender identities or expressions. The “LGBTQ+ Dress Code Analysis Tool” was developed for policy makers to use to analyze their dress codes.

KEYWORDS:

• Dress code
• gender
• high school
• LGBTQ+
• queer
• sexuality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Adolescents are generally considered individuals between the ages of 10 and 19; the Office of Adolescent Health has defined younger adolescents as those between the ages of 10 and 14 and older adolescents as those between the ages of 15 and 19 (Office of Adolescent Health, n.d.).

2. Throughout the article, we use the acronym LGBTQ+ except when referring to a specific scholar’s work, we use the acronym they have chosen. We recognize there are many other iterations of this acronym, such as LGBT, LGBTQIA+, LGBTQIAA+, and queer, that are used within different communities, by different community centers, and within academic literature (Iowa State University Center for LGBTQIA+ Student Success, 2018; NYU LGBTQ Student Center, n.d.). We use LGBTQ+ as an umbrella term to those who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. We use the plus sign to indicate that there are many other terms people may use within this community and also that people may shift between terms or use multiple terms to self-identify.

3. They analyzed handbooks from 155 high schools in an unidentified Midwestern state for the 1997–1998 school year.

4. They analyzed 300 handbooks from an unidentified Midwestern state for the 1994–1995 school year.

5. They examined handbooks from 29 different states in the U.S.

6. 254 handbooks in one unidentified Midwestern state were analyzed from the 1997–1998 school year.

7. They analyzed 80 handbooks from Illinois.

8. We followed the four regions, South, Northeast, West, and Midwest, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.

9. Here we use the phrase “binary gender” as all of the handbooks positioned gender as a binary and did not include any terminology or definitions that indicated they understood otherwise.