Leggings, yoga pants, and other spandex “pants” are the new pandemic gripping the nation.

According to dictionary.com, pants are defined as, “a usually loose-fitting outer garment for the lower part of the body.”

Leggings are the antithesis of loose-fitting. As a female, if there is anything I want to cover up, it’s my legs. I feel more comfortable wearing denim shorts than wearing spandex anything. Although shorts don’t technically cover as much bare skin, they are far more modest than leggings.  There are many things in the world that I would rather see than a girl wearing barely-there leggings, but if I had to choose, I would rather look at a plaid pair of shorts sagging out of a boy’s poorly-belted jeans.

FHN needs to stand its ground with the antileggings policy in order to maintain an appropriate, professional, and modest learning environment.

When FHN banned leggings, “#savethebooty” crowded up my Twitter feed, and I was shocked by the lack of offense taken. That reaction alone would have been enough to turn me off on the whole idea of ever wearing leggings. Leggings do not scream strength or independence to me.

As a girl trying to become a strong, independent woman, it saddens me that the average female teen is stereotyped as leggings, a baggy sweater, and Starbucks.

As for me, I will keep drinking Starbucks, but you’ll never see me in a pair of leggings as pants. I’ll proudly wear my jeans, roll up my sleeves, flex my muscles, and try to emulate the woman who epitomizes female strength, Rosie the Riveter.