Midriff - in Schools

In Schools

During the late 1940s,schools with dress codes added the bare midriff look to the forbidden list. Even today,many American secondary schools have dress codes dating back to the 1970s against attire that leaves the midriff exposed. An example of a test that some schools apply is to have the student raise her arms if it is suspected that her shirt will expose her midriff. Although more tolerated with younger girls, older female students, especially those over 18 years of age, can be disciplined for exposing their navels on school campuses. As an example, the dress code of the Sherman Independent School District in Texas requires that "there must be no exposure of the midriff area or undergarments. The midriff area must not be seen while bending over, while standing, raising arms, and stretching."

In 2002,East Valley High School in Spokane Valley, Washington specified guidelines about inappropriate clothing in the school's student planner and handbook which includes "clothing that reveals the midriff". In 2004, the Board of Education of Meriden, Connecticut, brought a dress code that banned shirts, blouses that exposes the top of the shoulders, haltertops, spaghetti tops, and any clothing that exposed the waist, midriff or hips.

In January 2012, a Colorado teenager whose yearbook picture was rejected for being too revealing vowed to fight the ban with her high school’s administration, but the editors of the yearbook insist it was their decision alone on the photo. The five student editors of the Durango High School yearbook in Durango, Colorado, told the Durango Herald they were the ones who made the call not to publish a picture of senior Sydney Spies posing in a short yellow skirt midriff and shoulder-exposing black shawl as her senior portrait.

The enforcement of such rules depends on the school itself, and varies widely. At schools with more relaxed or unenforced dress codes it is not uncommon to see girls with some midriff showing or exposed lower back midriff while sitting in class.