Studies show that 88% of women ages 18 to 24 experienced sexual harassment at least once. It could have happened to your female friend from Psych 101, your apartment neighbor in 305 and your mom and sister when they went shopping last weekend.

When you search up the word “objectify,” the first thing that pops up is its description stating to objectify means to “degrade the status of a mere object, seeing somebody (mostly women) as objects.” Objectification has been with us for a prolonged time now, but it’s taking the wrong turn: Instead of disappearing, it’s getting stronger. This phenomenon is dehumanizing and degrading.

A prime example of how society objectifies women are the dress codes in every school. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 48.8% of public schools nationwide enforced a strict dress code during the 2017-18 school year. This includes my high school’s policy on clothes. Its code read, “The following items (although not limited to) will not be permitted while in attendance during the school day or at school-related activities (…) clothing such as halter tops, tube tops, sleeveless undershirts, strapless tops, spaghetti strap tops, low cut tops (…) short shorts, short skirts, sweatpants.”

All of this applies to girls. The language discussing “low cut tops,” “short shorts” and “short skirts” specifically target women’s bodies.

You may wonder “what about boys?” Their dress code is fixated on hats and bandanas. Hats and bandanas. It’s 90 degrees and you’re wearing shorts? Aw, too bad — we can’t have boys looking at your legs. But you also have to be careful with male teachers. God forbid you wear a tank top, they’ll get too distracted looking at your bare arms.

But why is it we’re told we can’t wear certain pieces of clothing? Why aren’t boys educated on sexual harassment and what consent means? Women are being sexualized and objectified everywhere you look these days.

The college phenomenon at frat parties “hot girls get in for free, ugly girls have to pay” is another prominent example of how disgusting our society has become. It’s dehumanizing being treated as an object — something shiny, something pretty, something that can’t talk and doesn’t have a mind of its own.

In a study conducted at Wesleyan University across 58 different magazines, it was found that 51.8% of advertisements featuring women portrayed them as sex objects. Repeating the same study across advertisements in men’s magazines, the women were objectified 76% of the time.

We can’t be doctors, we can be nurses. We can’t be CEOs, we can be assistants. We can’t be smart, we can’t be lawyers, we can’t wear glasses because we look like porn stars — it’s our fault we’re blind. We can’t wear short skirts or tight dresses because “we’re asking for it.” You say we’re just toys, but we are human beings just like men.

Liv is a freshman in LAS.

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