On Sept. 2, 2021, shortly after a strict abortion law went into effect in Texas, the New Yorker published an article positing that the state had also approved of a new dress code for women:
Texas Republicans Back Statewide Dress Code for Women
A new bill moving swiftly through the Republican-controlled Texas legislature would institute a strict statewide dress code for women.
Governor Greg Abbott, a vehement supporter of the bill, said that the dress code would benefit women because “it will give them one less thing to think about when they get up in the morning.”
This is not a genuine news article. This is a piece of satire from humorist Andy Borowitz.
The Borowitz Report is an award-winning satirical column created in 2001. The tagline for the column, which has been published by the New Yorker since 2012, is "not the news."
While Borowitz is well-known humorist, his content occasionally gets mistaken for genuine news as it circulates on social media. We've previously addressed his fictional articles about the Trump administration hiring drug lord El Chapo to run the DEA, the Queen of England offering to re-establish British rule over the United States, and President Barack Obama signing an executive order requiring the loser of a presidential election to leave the country.
Borowitz wasn't the only person to make dress-code jokes in the wake of Texas' abortion law. A fake photograph supposedly showing the new, modest outfits of the Dallas Cowboys' cheerleaders also went viral on social media.