--- title: The War on Leggings Gets Political description: A new dress code for the Montana Legislature forbids leggings and sparks controversy canonical: https://time.com/3626639/the-war-on-leggings-gets-political/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-10T20:57:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:56:26.548Z og:title: The War on Leggings Gets Political og:description: A new dress code for the Montana Legislature forbids leggings and sparks controversy. og:url: https://time.com/3626639/the-war-on-leggings-gets-political/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The War on Leggings Gets Political twitter:description: A new dress code for the Montana Legislature forbids leggings and sparks controversy. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The War on Leggings Gets Political > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Dec 10, 2014 8:57 PM UTC  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Dec 10, 2014 8:57 PM UTC Students across the country have been [protesting](http://time.com/3394549/dress-code-long-island-new-york/) school dress codes that they say [slut-shame](http://time.com/36997/when-enforcing-school-dress-codes-turns-into-slut-shaming/) young girls. Now politicians are doing the same. Critics are saying the new dress code for the 2015 Montana Legislature (which applies to lawmakers, reporters and staff) is too strict on women. The guidelines say no leggings, no open-toed sandals, and no casual dress even on weekends. The memo to staffers also noted that women should be “sensitive to skirt lengths and necklines. “That phrase is right out of the 19th century as far as I’m concerned,” incoming House Minority Whip Jenny Eck [told](http://missoulian.com/news/local/strict-dress-code-for-montana-legislature-draws-ire-satire/article%5F594063fb-0e0e-5ee2-a032-b66b090c38f8.html) the Missoulian. “Women can be trusted to get up in the morning and dress appropriately. How would it be enforced? Would the sergeant of arms be the clothes police checking our skirt lengths and cleavage?” The argument is similar to the one made by middle and high school girls who are told by their teachers that items like leggings are “too distracting.” Dress codes tend to demand that girls cover up, rather than teaching boys (or in the case of the legislature, men) learn to not ogle women. The rules, as [one teen in Illinois](http://time.com/36997/when-enforcing-school-dress-codes-turns-into-slut-shaming/) argued, are “giving us the impression we should be guilty for what guys do.” **MORE:** [When Enforcing School Dress Code Turns Into Slut-Shaming](http://time.com/36997/when-enforcing-school-dress-codes-turns-into-slut-shaming/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3626639/the-war-on-leggings-gets-political/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3626639/the-war-on-leggings-gets-political/"},"headline":"The War on Leggings Gets Political","datePublished":"2014-12-10T20:57:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:26.548Z","description":"A new dress code for the Montana Legislature forbids leggings and sparks controversy","url":"https://time.com/3626639/the-war-on-leggings-gets-political/","keywords":["Living","politics"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3626639/the-war-on-leggings-gets-political/","name":"The War on Leggings Gets Political"}}]}] ```