NWR - Thoughts?

lyndausvi

http://www.thegrio.com/2009/10/morehouse-college-that-legendary-institution.phpCliff notes:  Morehouse college puts in a dress code. Including no men can not wear woman's clothes, no mouth grills, pajamas in pubilc areas, etc.On one hand I understand wanting to set an example that dressing in your pajamas for class is not appropriate dress.  But the crossdressing part seems to lean towards homophobia.What do you think?

lyndausvi

oops.. sorry for the errors. That should say * Including men.... not no men

aMrsin09

I don't really see where it's homophobic.  It doesn't say anything about being homosexual.  It talks about cross-dressing and in some wierd way I can see how, at an all male institution, dressing as a women would be disruptive in class.

lyndausvi

apparently enough to make into the policy.

bel138

I don't really understand why they specified that. Is it a huge problem on their campus? Probably only on Halloween.Most cross dressing men are not homosexual. It's most frequently a fetish in heterosexual men. Just saying.

ndzenowski

Firstly, morehead always makes me giggle. Secondly I think it's ridiculous to begin with having a dress code in college but if you're going to, i think they should require a uniform so you aren't discriminating against group more than another. It's ridiculous that men cannot wear women's clothes b/c that's such a touchy subject. I don't see it as homophobic so much. Typically people who are transgender see themselves as being born in the wrong body (not saying all crossdressers are transgender) but that is discrimination against who they are- you cannot help what sex you were born. It's already difficult enough im sure being trapped in the wrong body.

[Deleted User]

I would imagine that they are coming from a "this is a distraction" type of place instead of being  truly homophobic. It's unfortunate that the policy will have an affect on the cross dressing population, but I don't think the policy itself was meant to be discriminatory. Do I agree with it? Eh. Not really. I think it's all in what we get used to. As long as they are dressed within the bounds of the dress code, I wouldn't see it as a problem.

calle28

It probably is somewhat of a problem if they have to specifically say it's forbidden in the rules.

ndzenowski

a heterosexual fetish? I find that seriously hard to believe, I'm trying to look that up but everything I find on crossdressing is religious or conservative propaganda.

lyndausvi

I agree the cross dressing does not mean gay.  But there is a perception that it does.  I'm just wondering if that is the underlying reason to add that to the policy.

ndzenowski

I tend to think that it's not even the whole gay issue. I believe it's the whole "different" issue. I wholeheartedly believe it makes them "uncomfortable" to see a man dressed up as a woman. Did the article say anything about women dressed up in men's clothing?

bel138

That is definitely what I've always been taught in my psychiatry classes. That most cross dressers are not transgendered. They simply have a fetish with wearing the clothing of the other sex. Even wearing women's underwear under their men's clothing. Seriously.

aMrsin09

ndzen, while I agree with you about the transgender bit, that would then beg the question: If they see themselves as women trapped in a mans body, why did they chose to go to an all male school?

ndzenowski

Yes, and I'm saying that while it may be possible I am unable to find any actual studies or proof stating that. All I'm finding are articles about how it's mostly heterosexual men and they are all super religious or super conservitive or both.

lyndausvi

Moreshouse is an all-male college.

ndzenowski

aMrs, why should that even be an issue? Perhaps it's a good school for whatever they want to study. Perhaps it's a family tradition. Perhaps they didn't expect to be singled out and discriminated against? Maybe they wanted to stay close to the family? There are so many reasons people go to the schools they go to. I went to a catholic school for many years. My family is no where near religious and I'm actually athiest, but the school had ridiculously good teachers and provided one of the best educations in the area.

ndzenowski

Yeah, I didn't realize when I said that. =P

LesPaul

Have we really reached a point where we need to tell young adults - college students - how to dress appropriately in public?

lyndausvi

apparently yes.  Which is so sad.

ndzenowski

[img]http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6092/britneyspearsgrill5rw.gif[/img]

sarah0725

I read about this on CNN a few days ago. I can kind of see both sides. While I think it is definitely a discriminatory policy, I also think that a tiny all-male college with a student population the size of a large high school is probably not the most comfortable environment for a transgendered person. As for the rest of the dress code, it is certainly a little weird to have a dress code in college, but it seems like Morehouse is a college that stresses teaching leadership skills and respect. Didn't MLK go there?

lyndausvi

yes Sarah MLK did go there. I'm sure he would not be happy with students attending classes in their pjs wearing mouth grills.

SassyPantsMcGee

ndzen, while I agree with you about the transgender bit, that would then beg the question: If they see themselves as women trapped in a mans body, why did they chose to go to an all male school? Crossdressers are not necessarily transgendered, just like crossdressers are not necessarily gay.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

I agree that it's discriminatory. My friend had an incident at her high school where a guy wore hot pink tights and got suspended. They claimed it was a "distracting color." I will bet anyone that if a girl had worn hot pink tights, no one would have batted an eye. And this was in a pretty liberal area. My friend was adamant that someone should have contacted the ACLU. I also haven't read many of the other responses, but what constitutes "female" clothes anyway? As a female, I'd be offended just by that.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

I went to a catholic school for many years. My family is no where near religious and I'm actually athiest, but the school had ridiculously good teachers and provided one of the best educations in the area.I went to a Catholic high school and I'm not even Catholic. It was just a really good school. Morehouse is supposed to be a very good college.As far as dressing appropriately in public... I don't know, but I (and many college students) see a difference between dressing for an 8am class on a small college campus a few yards from your dorm room and dressing appropriately for a job, or a meal out, or even going to the grocery store. But to see the way some people dress in the grocery store, maybe not. At least pajama pants cover everything... It's almost a college expectation that on some days you're just too tired/hung over to shower and dress well before class. Or maybe you have a class at 8 and then you're free until 11, and you chose those extra minutes of sleep at 7am.