Dear Jasmine: December 5th, 2021

By Jasmine Stidham, Teacher and Coach at Harvard-Westlake and Assistant Coach at Dartmouth College

Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. If you would like to ask a question for next time, please visit the Dear Jasmine tab on our website, girlsdebate.org. 

The next installment will be published two weeks from now, December 17th.

You can read the previous Dear Jasmine posts on our website.

Q: Since I started debating, I have never been to an in-person tournament and my whole team is guys, what is the dress code for girls? (ex. jeans and a blouse, a hoodie, etc.)

A: Your question reminded me of the fact that I haven’t had to initiate the dress code talk with my students in so long due to online debate. This is definitely a reasonable question. I will say I am a bit surprised your coach hasn’t discussed this topic with your team. Typically, the coach will establish a dress code for everyone and communicate it with the students and parents. I would check with your coach to ensure you are following any specific guidelines.

That being said, here are my thoughts:

1.     Comfortable and confident: This is the mantra I always repeat when it comes to tournaments. No matter what you wear, you should feel comfortable and confident. Is it something you can wear all day and still feel comfortable when the night is over? Does it make you feel more confident as a speaker?

2.     Location: It’s important to consider where you will be debating so you can dress appropriately for the weather. Always check the weather before choosing your outfits!

3.     Audience: You should think about your audience, e.g., the judge pool. Are your judges primarily former debaters? Are they parents? Are they more traditional? For example, if you are mostly debating in front of parent judges, they might expect more formal attire. However, if your audience is largely made up of young judges who are former debaters, there is a good chance they don’t care as much about what you wear.

4.     Event: Certain events have stricter expectations about the dress code. For example, many judges in speech events will expect you to wear a suit in some form.

5.     Sexism: Let us not forget that most dress codes can be incredibly sexist. We have an older article on our website about this topic:

Studies found that women who wore clothes more associated with “masculinity” were more likely to be evaluated by others as having more or better management traits. These perceptions of professional wear are especially relevant to debate where many expect debaters to wear formal outfits.

Unfortunately, the debate community is no exception. Often times, judges give girls feedback on their outfits instead of their arguments and shift the focus away from argumentation and substance to their personal perception of a debater. Girls spend time stressing about “proper attire” or having their judges or opponents not take them seriously as a result of what they are wearing.

https://www.girlsdebate.org/blog/2017/7/25/persisting-dressing

In closing, I tell my students to wear what makes them feel comfortable and confident. If they want to rock a suit and tie, awesome. If they want to wear jeans and a sweatshirt, great. As long as they don’t look like they just rolled out of bed, they will never hear any complaints from me.

Q: How do I get more novices to stay on the team into first year varsity?

A: Love this question! We have multiple articles on this topic.

This article has advice for novices entering varsity debate:

https://www.girlsdebate.org/general-resources-1/2020/9/11/a-guide-to-entering-varsity-debate

This article has advice for coaches and students on this topic:

https://www.girlsdebate.org/blog/2018/3/25/persisting-transitioning-from-novice

I have one additional tip:

Transition early: In my experience, it is necessary to ease novices into varsity debate towards the end of their novice year. One of the reasons why we see such attrition at this stage is because the jump from novice to varsity is so huge and intimidating. As coaches, we can make this transition smoother by slowly integrating novices into the world of varsity. In their second semester, consider entering your novices in a JV division to test the waters, and then put them in varsity after they get their feet wet. This makes the jump less terrifying once they return for their second year of debate.

Happy debating!