The time is here. The time of year for demoralizing and sexualizing women for parts of their body they have every right to expose.

Instead of teaching teenage girls to feel ashamed of something as natural as their bodies, try teaching everyone else to stop oversexualizing the human body.

It is not about the fact that we assume teenage boys “get off” on the sight of an exposed shoulder. It is that administration within schools has to concentrate on enforcing silly rules such as dress codes because we assume boys cannot control themselves. Boys are not the problem, it is the assumption made by adults that teenage boys cannot control their thoughts when in reality they are fully capable of doing so.

This so called dress code demoralizes women and promotes rape culture.

No, “she is too young to be wearing that” is not a valid excuse. If she is too young to supposedly be wearing that, then she is also too young to be sexualized. The problem is not the shorts or the tank top, it is the inappropriate perception of the outfit.

You see, there is no right answer as far as dress code goes.

Some teachers will enforce it strictly, while others will look the other way when they see a questionable outfit. Girls with longer legs will never be able to wear shorts without being coded, even though they are fingertip length, because their blessedly long legs will draw the attention of many. Girls blessed with a curvy body will be told their pants are too tight. The overused and biased excuse that these dress code violations are distracting to boys reminds us of the sad truth: A girl’s appearance is more important and draws so much attention from adolescent boys that their educations are put to a stop to instead humiliate a girl for her body.

As if girls are not already insecure enough about their bodies, they now have to be publicly shamed for them as well.

Regardless of if you are big or small breasted, tall or short, skinny or curvy, you just cannot win.

Those who tend to cover up their bodies will be made fun of for being prude, for not showing enough while those who like to show a little skin will be shamed for showing too much. Our society has normalized the art of body-shaming. Either way we cannot win so how about we try out the radical notion of minding your own business? While it is a work of art, a female’s body does not exist for society’s own personal viewing pleasure or displeasure.

Stop slut shaming girls.

Stop making it okay for boys to make unsolicited comments to girls.

Stop telling girls how to dress, wear their hair, apply their makeup.

Stop sexualizing girls.

Stop teaching boys that their sexual thoughts are more important than a girl’s education.