When the summer heat arrives, people’s opinions about what women should and shouldn’t be doing with their bodies tend to get a little louder. Who deserves to wear a swim suit? What shorts are too short? How distracting is our shoulder skin to the poor, unsuspecting men in front of us in class? Will our spaghetti straps bring down all democracy and force society to crumble???
The short answer: no. Bodies are bodies, and there aren’t any tests they have to pass in order for us to be ‘allowed’ to wear more or less revealing clothing.
Summer is here, and it’s hot as balls out.
Sorry that I didn’t dress that all up nice and pretty for you, but you know it’s true. Everyone’s boiling beneath the summer sun, which means that a lot of us will go for clothes that reveal a little more skin in an attempt to stay cool, which honestly makes sense?
It’s true that there are a few institutions in which dress codes are enforced.
Certain restaurants and stores have loose dress codes, but these are less about the kind of clothes you are wearing and more about whether you are wearing clothes at all (no shirt, no shoes, no service).
American Airlines does not have an enforced dress code for their flights.
Obviously you can’t board a flight naked, but nobody was going to do that anyway. Because it’s hot, and because a lot of people are vacationing to places that are even hotter , you’ll be getting passengers in typical summer wear: dresses, shorts, sleeveless tops, rompers, things like that.
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However, one woman was taken off her flight and spoken to about her choice of dress.
Dr. Latisha ‘Tisha’ Row was boarding a flight with her son from from Kingston, Jamaica, to Miami, Florida, on June 30 when she was told by an American Airlines employee that she was showing too much skin, and that she would have to ‘cover up’ if she wanted to board her flight.
“Here’s what I was wearing when American Airlines asked me to deplane for a talk.”
“When defending my outfit I was threatened with not getting back on the flight,” she wrote in a tweet, “Unless I walked down the aisle wrapped in a blanket.”
The doctor was then given a blanket to cover herself with.
“My shorts covered EVERYTHING but apparently was too distracting to enter the plane.”
Dr. Rowe later tweeted that she thinks the incident is an example of how women’s bodies, especially black women’s bodies, are policed on a daily basis:
“We are policed for being black. Our bodies are over sexualized as women and we must ADJUST to make everyone around us comfortable,” she wrote, “I’ve seen white women with much shorter shorts board a plane without a blink of an eye.”
After the story caught some traction, a lot of people remarked that the doctor “wasn’t dressed appropriately”for a public setting.
“I would say that she was told to cover up because her ‘romper’ looked like pajamas, ugly pajamas at that,” one person wrote. “No one want to see that on an airplane. Se should apologize for her poor taste.”
Others came to her defense.
“She is dressed no different than most people today, of any color!” another person wrote, “I seriously cannot see the problem that they would ask her to cover up. Do better @americanair.”
American Airlines then released a statement apologizing for the incident.
“We were concerned about Dr. Rowe’s comments, and reached out to her and our team at the Kingston airport to gather more information about what occurred,” said American Airlines spokesperson Shannon Gilson.
“We apologize to Dr. Rowe and her son for their experience.”
“We have also fully refunded their travel,” the statement continued, “We are proud to serve customers of all backgrounds and are committed to providing a positive, safe travel experience for everyone who flies with us.”
Overall, it’s important to remember that the company as a whole does not have strict dress code regulations.
This was likely a rogue American Airlines worker who took it upon themselves to police another person’s body, so hopefully, we’ll see less of this kind of thing going forward.
h/t: CNN
