Sunday, November 23, 2014

Is it really 'Just a Dress'?

Faulkner presents an intricate understanding of how race "works" in his widely-acclaimed novel, Light in August. Recently, we've seen the way he manipulates the characters in the story to elicit a greater meaning and/or truth about the world after Brown reports Christmas as a "half nigger" to support his claim that Christmas was the murderer rather than himself. The sheriff's response brings up the argument of "How could that happen? Why might something as insignificant as race matter more than something as gruesome as murder?" The answer lies in the power of social binaries, Benjamin would agree.

In the same way that race functions as a defining characteristic for many in the world today, gender often dictates an individual's actions as well as the expectations for that individual. In fact, gender dictates that in six months, I must walk through an arbor in a white dress with a bouquet of roses in my hand. What's that you ask? Who's the lucky man? Well, don't get your hopes up because...

Plot Twist: That'll be when I graduate from Oak Park and River Forest High School.

In our school, the graduating seniors uniformly sport white, floor-length dresses for women, while men dress in black suits with a red tie to match the women's bouquet of roses. For the past 101 years, this tradition has prevailed as a tribute to the school's history and as many have told me, "just looks so good in pictures." To both, I agree. However, my desire to honor tradition is clouded by my understanding of the origin of OPRFHS graduation attire.

Again, I remind you of the image of an 18-year old woman in a white dress holding a bouquet of roses walking under an arbor. Following her is a line of 18-year old men dressed in black suits with a red tie. As I sat and watched my siblings' graduation ceremonies at OPRF, I couldn't help but think that it looked as if they were all getting married. As a unit. Imagine that. Definitely would save a lot of money. But besides the point, it is 2014. Women and men today are, generally, not focused on marriage at eighteen years old anymore. Times have changed. Oak Park has changed.

I understand that some may read this in annoyance because to them, the idea that a white dress symbolizes purity, virginity, or marriage is outdated. To them, graduation would be nothing without the traditional OPRF graduation attire. After all, it's 'just a dress'. I also want to make clear that the point of this is not to shame others for wanting to wear white dresses because each student should wear whatever they choose. That's exactly my point. I am angry I am forced to wear white on a day completely unrelated to my wedding. I am angry that I cannot appreciate the tradition as others do. But I'm mostly angry because I am forced to wear an outfit based on my gender. The varying attire splits the sea of graduates in a completely unnecessary way. We are no longer "graduates", but rather "male graduates" and "female graduates": an arbitrary divide within the class. The issue now becomes, is it really 'just a dress'?

6 comments:

  1. Great post Sammy you really articulated your point well and I see where you are coming from. Well said.

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  2. I totally agree with you. Although I look forward to wearing my white dress that my sisters and family friend also wore during their graduation and continue the tradition, I don't think it's fair to force everyone into gendered outfits. It forces students to choose male or female and does not take into account the spectrum that is gender. I'm sure there were many students in the past and many students in our graduating class who are uncomfortable in the outfit they are assigned. Robes would be much safer and all inclusive.

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  3. I agree completely. I think in addition to that, the tradition is hetero-normative, incourages gender roles, and ignores genderqueer students. I agree with Annie that robes would be a better choice for a school with an administration that prides itself on being "inclusive."

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  4. Miles I agree with you that it seems contradictory that a school like OPRF that prides itself on being "progressive" might choose a tradition that uses gender as a basis to divide the graduating class when gender is not clear black and white. To both you and Annie, I agree that robes would be a better option; however, i am often met with resistance to that idea. Despite a good point being made, the tradition lives on year after year. Frustrating.

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  5. Wow, your insight here is very interesting. I agree that it's a bit odd to force young adults into gendered outfits in 2014 in such a progressive town as Oak Park (or anywhere for that matter). I personally like the dresses because they look nice, but not everybody likes them, which is totally understandable and should be recognized by the school board.

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