Shorts, shirts, pants and tank tops; everyday pieces of clothing that serve the same purpose. But while one student is told to go home for wearing a certain item of clothing at school, another just skates by. The only difference between the two? Their gender.

Dress codes, instituted in various forms, vary in scope and restriction within New York City’s public school system, though the general rule that appropriate attire must be worn applies to all schools. The New York City Education Department, which regulates the school dress code, states on its website that dress codes are intended to “provide an environment conducive to promoting educational excellence with minimum distractions and disruptions of the learning environment.”

But some girls in the Bronx recently told the Norwood News that an outright imbalance of the school dress code exists, where girls are discriminated against more so than boys, creating a kind of double standard that’s led many young females to label the dress code unfair.

Students say that while boys have greater freedom to wear what they want, girls are more likely to be reprimanded for wearing what appears to be regular clothing. This has forced many to shed their style of fashion some, avoiding wearing tank tops or shorts because they “jeopardize” girls’ self-respect. In some instances, a woman wearing a short skirt will be stereotyped and labeled various disdainful and unjustified terms despite the fact that her intentions were far from what was interpreted by her peers, say students.

“A female could be wearing an item of clothing that there could be no rules against, but she will be stopped and told that it is not ‘appropriate’ attire for school,” said Afridah Rahman, 17, a senior at DeWitt Clinton High School. “On the other hand, I have witnessed males in my school change their shirt in the middle of the hallway, and there would be no reaction from school aides.”

Staryion Smith, 17, a resident in the Bronx, said the dress code “places responsibility on girls on how boys should behave because if we wear certain things, we’re ‘distracting’ them.”

Staryion argued the dress code “perpetuates rape culture,” a term feminists use to describe the social conditions in which a rape victim is blamed for being raped instead of blame falling on the rapist. “[I]t creates this imaginary correlation between what you wear and the respect you deserve,” said Staryion. “What I wear has nothing to do with my self-respect.”

Staryion ultimately considered the dress code flawed. “The school dress code reflects how in the real world being ‘modest’ is the essential to being professional, which is complete BS,” she said.