Last Thursday’s community circle met discussed some of the ‘unwritten’ dress codes and beauty standards at Menlo. Photo courtesy of Pete Zivkov.

By Kaitlyn Tom

This week’s community circle, led by juniors Lola Williams and Colton Conley, addressed clothing and it’s influence at Menlo. The community circle aimed to discuss clothing “appropriateness,” labels, and double standards.

During the community circle, students addressed the preppy style of clothing that most Menlo students seem to wear. “It’s fair to say that there’s a slight pressure that it’s cool to wear preppy clothes,” senior Lauren Henske said.

Other students felt that the issue was more related to the cost of the clothes items. “There are obviously pressures to wear more expensive clothing, if not specific types of clothing,” freshman Elise Thompson said.

When addressing body types at Menlo, students agreed that while there isn’t an outright standard for body types at Menlo, some body types are not as accepted. “There is an element of normality for a certain [body] type. When you’re a bit different, you feel a bit outside of the box,” senior Oratile Monhkei said.

Some students attributed the focus on a certain body type on the emphasis that the media puts on the “ideal” body type. “There’s […] pressure to look like people in magazines. Not just being thin, but with big breasts, a butt, no leg hair, lush hair,” junior Jun Ru Anderson said.

Another topic that was addressed was Menlo’s loose dress code. One teacher felt that while the options are essentially unlimited for the types of clothing that Menlo students can wear, they seem to naturally gravitate towards the same style of clothing. “From my perspective, we seem to have a uniform for girls: […] black yoga pants, uggs, whatever,” Spanish teacher and sophomore class coordinator Janet Tennyson said.

Other teacher concerns were brought up as well during the community circle. “It bugs me that […] the amount of judgement on the quad is unreal,” English teacher Margaret Ramsey said, addressing the topic of double standards. “We police female bodies.”

One topic in particular generated many different views. “How do you tell people that they may be showing more than they want to without making judgement?” English and History teacher Rebecca Gertmenian asked.

Some students, such as sophomore Gillian Bressie, believed that using language such as, “I’m not trying to pass judgement, but I just wanted to let you know that” would be effective, while other students thought that a preface would be superfluous. “I think it’s just not necessary to say [I’m not trying to pass judgement]. If I was showing something I didn’t want to be showing, I would want someone to tell me,” Henske said.

While the turnout at this community circle wasn’t as large as previous community circles, the ideas expressed reflect that clothing and standards do play a large factor in the Menlo community. Stay tuned for the next community circle recap in two weeks.