Girls told to wear longer skirts at school because the boys are distracted and male teachers feel uncomfortable.

Maybe schools should make trousers compulsory for both girls as well as boys. This would stop all of these irritating issues around skirt lengths

I think there is a possibility of 'be careful what you wish for' to be considered. Forget about the boys and male teachers for a minute. What about the girls (like the OP's daughter) who are being sent off to school with a normal length skirt. Is the OP going to feel so keen on standing up for the rights of the pupils to wear whatever they want if her daughter comes home one day demanding to trade in her sensible skirt for a micro-mini and thong, not because she really wants to but because of peer pressure or the need to feel in with the crowd?

Standardised uniform and sensible dress codes in schools solve far more problems that they create IMHO. It also gets children used to the idea that sometimes you have to conform to expected standards (e.g. in the workplace) whether you like it or not. Does the HT really deserve having to deal with a barrage of strongly-worded letters over this? He or she has far bigger fish to fry surely.

We wore all sorts of daft stuff when I was at school out of fashion and competition. In particular, we rolled up our skirts to be as short as possible! We were told not to wear patent leather shoes because our knickers could be seen reflected in them. At the time, we thought our Senior mistress who delivered this message was a dried up old spinster who was imagining things, but who's to say she was wrong?

If the environment is opening the girls to sexual harassment then it needs to change. In particular, of my daughter was at that school I'd want to know which teachers were incapable of controlling their
perving over teenage girls.

I agree with a PP that as a female teacher I frequently spoke to girls about the length of their skirts. My male colleagues (wisely) did not - even though we were supposed to check uniforms with our tutor groups at the beginning of the day.

There is nothing wrong with insisting that all pupils dress appropriately and professionally (as we would at work) and leave their more daring attire for their leisure hours. However there is everything wrong with the reasons this person has given.

YWNBU to contact the school and say exactly what you have done in your OP - you agree with the uniform rules but strongly object to the reasons given. The person giving the assembly really needs to have their attention drawn to this.

I'm not assuming they are. Certainly teenagers are very obsessed with the fashion and fairly worryingly sheeplike in that way. But I went to school with teens (male and female) who were trying to get noticed by the opposite and same sex. Not always in a sexual way either. Sometimes they were just aping grown up traits (making them look taller / curvier/ more muscular) as teens are still childlike enough to think looking and dressing like an adult is the aim in life. Very much fake it to make it.

I totally agree with OP, at my daughter's school they are told the same thing. I believe the issue is with men/boys and that they should be expected to have some respect and show some self-control. All of the girls at my daughter's school wear opaque black tight ;so NOBODY is showing their pants. Some of the boys get away with wearing very close fitting trousers that look like leggings and I think this is inappropriate, but they are never called up on them. As for telling the students that they should be preparing for the work environment, lots of teachers wear very short skirts and when the girls point this out they are told 'they are adults they can do what they like!' This is very contradictory.

YABU

The skirts at DDs school are barely there. If they bend over to get something or walk upstairs I'm pretty sure everything is on view. Why should boys and teachers have to be made wear blinkers so girls can go around half naked. It's not always possible to suddenly avert your eyes if something happens in front of you. There's a time and a place for tiny skirts and school is not the place. It's good that the school is enforcing a good standard of uniform. It would not be appropriate to wear skirts this short in the workplace so why shouldn't the same rules apply at school.

This attitude gives me the rage. Reminds me of a job interview when I was told in no uncertain terms never to wear a skirt (of any length!) Because it would 'distract' the mostly male workforce

I went to an all girls school and whilst some girls took the piss rolling their skirts right the way up, strutting about in huge heels and tiny handbags instead of school bags (??) I can only imagine the uproar if the school wrote home and basically victim blamed for the fact the male teachers couldn't contain their erections with children.

Echoing something said above - the OP sounds like a DM head line.
I'm pretty sure the discussion would have been delivered in a more rounded way and bringing potential sexual thoughts of the male techers (even the gay ones..) to the event seems fairly cack handed at best. As posters say, the female teachers can be invited to feel 'uncomfortable' too.

I think schools have to safeguard everyone. A girl in ds's year would wear short pleated tennis style skirts and then accuse boys/male teachers of looking at her legs etc, up her skirt. Ds said lots of the quieter boys got very embarrassed as everyone laughed.

Why are you assuming it's because they are trying to attract men.

Is it not possible for a girl to do something because she likes to without it needing to be "for" somebody.

I teach in a primary school where we frequently have work experience students from local schools. They are clearly told that we expect smart dress, appropriate for work. They are given the chance to see what we wear in order to give an idea.

Almost every year we have to ask at least one student to reconsider what they are wearing as the skirts or tops are too revealing. A male member of staff complained that he felt very uncomfortable being confronted by a 15 year old's thong when she leaned over a desk. He wasn't leering- the complete opposite, he really didn't want to see her bottom.

If this is also happening in school I think it needs to be addressed. Yes, women of all ages need to be able to wear what they want in their own time. No, this should not be at the expense of everyone else's comfort. I'd tell DS that tight Lycra shorts are not appropriate for school for the same reason- no-one needs an eyeful of that either.

A girl going upstairs in front of them who is wearing a skirt so short that the boys can see their knickers is wearing an inappropriate outfit for school.

This. Like pp said, I'm not sure this is a sexist issue - if it was boys dressed inappropriately the school would also raise it. Freedom of expression and wearing / doing what you want is not a moral priority that automatically trumps every other consideration. One of the important aims of school is preparation to succeed in the workplace and being suitably presentable is a part of that.

I also don't think it's unreasonable to say that it's making the male teachers uncomfortable. If I was faced with teenage girls accidentally flashing their knickers on a regular basis I would feel uncomfortable too, and I'm a middle aged woman!

Can't they just say 'noone wants to see your underwear, it's underwear, lets keep it that way'.
It's blunt, but less laying blame all over (and less likely to encourage any teen thinking they want to attract the attention of boys/ girls/ teachers I certainly had a handful of friends who did dress to get a second look.).
Same for boys with their trousers round their arse and boxers higher than their waists. I don’t want to see that either. It's not distracting but again, they're pants. If I wanted to see pants I wouldn't be walking down the street in the day.

It's frustrating when schools have to continually remind parents of the uniform policy.
We often get letters reminding about piercings/make up/shoes etc.

It's all there on the uniform sheet what is and isn't allowed but there's always a few that think it doesn't apply to them for some reason.

I have teen boys and a pre-teen DD so I am seeing this from both sides.

to ask them to change to police the the feelings and behaviour of men is shocking

Even when affecting the feelings/behaviour of the men is probably why they are wearing the skirts in the first place?

Presumably the boys have to wear uniform as well, if the rule is skirts of a certain length then that is the rule. No need to go into reasons or justify it just tell them to stick to the rule.

Personally I wouldn't want my daughter going to school in a skirt that allowed all and sundry to view her backside but then she is a teacher not a student so maybe that makes a difference?

I think there are some girls who do want to attract looks - the 'populars' in dd's school. The rest of them are just not wanting to be seen as uncool and teacher's pets. I do agree girls shouldn't have to adjust their behaviour because it's making the boys/teachers uncomfortable but I think asking for work appropriate choices to be made is fine.
Dd's skirt is shorter than I'm entirely happy with but school have declared it as fine btw. It's actually hard to buy skirts which are long enough but then not enormous on the waist.

I think that would make it worse tbh.

Nothing worse than oversized shapeless clothes like school uniform.

It truly is awful what some of the girls wear. So high and tight its like a belt. I have seen boys peering up the skirts of the girls walking upstairs or on a higher level. I think that actually the girls need to know what the boys are doing. As a kid I'd have been horrified to know the boys were peering up at my knickers. Most of the girls don't actually realise this, they wear short skirts as its fashion and to fit in with the other girls and look cool.

I'm sure the poor teachers manage just fine in other areas of their lives when they see short skirts. Is it just at work they lose the ability to control their eyes?

Giles, I don't think the school is saying the male teachers have inappropriate urges towards the girls. It's fair enough that a male teacher is especially uncomfortable getting an accidental glimpse - they will be constantly worried that someone will accuse them of looking.

I'm a female teacher and I find it really uncomfortable when my students are dressed inappropriately. Not because I have any nefarious interest in them, just because it's not nice to be put in the position of working with someone who has more on show than you'd want to see. It feels like you're accidentally intruding on their privacy and I'd far rather they saved the plunging necklines and mini skirts for elsewhere.

Surely by the mere fact of they are children should ensure that most normal people would not be having any kind of inappropriate uncomfortable thoughts....

There is a vast difference between feeling uncomfortable and having inappropriate thoughts.

It is a shame that the school have had to point this out. The parents should have stuck to the proper uniform in the first place.

To be fair to the parents, the girls could be folding up the waistband of their skirts once they leave the house.