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

'Barely a step down from "what did she expect/she was asking for it"'

That's rubbish. Why do you think it's ok for children to go to school inappropriately dressed? Would you go to a job interview wearing a skirt that barely covers your bottom? School is a place of learning. The children should not be dressing like adults. It looks scruffy and gives the school an impression of poor discipline.

The headteacher has given entirely the wrong message to the students. Girls cannot and should not be held responsible for boys behaviour. I think she was also very unwise to cast doubt on male teachers by her remarks.School uniform needs to be enforced properly and teenagers need boundaries. I prefer trousers for girls rather than skirts - easier to enforce. Skirt lengths are so easily adjusted by rolling the skirt over at the top! I used to teach in a school where all the girls wore trousers. Technically skirts were allowed but nobody wanted to wear them. It was a mixed school too!

Official uniform, fair enough.

Distracting male teachers? I'd be taking this so high up, it would hit the sky. I'd be pointing out that if a male teacher is distracted by the sight of a 15 year old girl's legs, then he is nothing short of a peadophile and not fit to practice.

I'd also be making it clear to my daughters that whilst correct uniform is ideal for comfort, they are in no way responsible for the actions and reactions to their body by grown men.

To grown men, a 15 year old girl should be viewed as just that. A girl. A child. It's fucking disgusting, the creepy insinuation that those teachers find a child girl's legs sexual. Uncomfortable my arse.

It's the normalisation of these attitudes that leads to far more dangerous places. Jimmy Saville didn't happen in a vacuum. It was precisely the attitude that underage teenage girls are fair game, to be viewed as sexual objects by perverted adult men, that in part allowed it to happen.

Stand up and speak out. There would be no stopping me I'm afraid.

I think we all have memories of trying to wear short skirts at school. I suspect short in 1970/1980 was nothing like today's "short" however. The 60s mini was short but it didn't reveal your pants when you were standing upright, as many of today's belt-skirts do. The girls wearing them are not remotely trying to be lap dancers - but what made such revealing skirts the fashion? They dont make choices in a vacuum. If you believe we live in an increasingly pornified culture it's not hard to see that fashions for females are influenced by this too.

Th elk

The comments on this thread are disturbing. They are doing it to be provocative, they want to look sexy They all look like lap dancers I don't want my kid to go to school with them. Look at all those poor boys having to deal with the skirts they are all out to deliberately distract them they are all hormonal boys and it's to be expected they struggle with this. Poor boys and their hormones they need protecting from these lap dancer girls. Everything the girls are doing is because of boys.oh and they are also out to make false accusations or honey trap the teachers to. Evil girls and their short skirts.

Barely a step down from "what did she expect/she was asking for it"

I'd ask the head what measures he (bet it's a he) is putting in place to ensure the safety of girls if the boys and staff are so out of control that they cannot avert their gaze.

There was a case like this recently where the head was a woman.

Given how common it is for girls to be sexually assaulted by boys in mixed schools I'd ask the head what he/she is doing to keep my daughter safe. A clue: asking them to wear longer skirts isn't it. When a lad grabbed a handful of my arse on the stairs I was wearing trousers. When another lad grabbed my breasts in the corridor I was wearing the regulation school shirt and tie.

The reasons given are absolutely appalling.

DD1 goes to an all girls school. They wear specific uniform from one shop. They all roll their skirts up. It isn't done to attract boys.

More important lesson is for boys to learn is, no matter what someone is wearing, you should never letch at them to make them feel uncomfortable nor touch them without their express permission.

What is the PE uniform? Lots of schools have skorts that look like tiny skirts.

I'd ask the head what measures he (bet it's a he) is putting in place to ensure the safety of girls if the boys and staff are so out of control that they cannot avert their gaze.

why do they want to wear really short skirts anyway? Is the main reason so that boys will admire their legs? It cant be for comfort, surely. If they are wearing them very short to get males to look at them then it seems fair enough to say that they shouldn't as it makes them uncomfortable (the teenagers more than the teachers)

How odd! I'm well over 60, but wore a really short school uniform skirt, much against the rules. I did not for one minute do it for boys to look at my legs, especially as I was convinced I had horrible legs. I did it because it was the fashion and fashion when you are thirteen-fifteen is not ephimeral, it is essential to look like a human being. I did not want to look like a granny is a long dawdy skirt. (I still don't)

I am surprised so many people have totally forgotten their own teenage years

Agree with araiwa

exactly. totally agree

Persian - I really don't want my daughter to have to go to school with other girls who come to school dressed like lap dancers. The real question is why do girls feel that they have to do this? It's sad.

All the sympathy for the poor boys

I was a hormonal teen once.

Funnily enough I was able to cope with the sight of people in all states of dress without needing a change of underwear or being able to treat them like a human being.

Why are expectations of boys so frickin low

I just don't understand why skirts in secondary school uniforms need to be shorter that primary school's ones. Manufactures make them shorter and it is a very hard time for boys (hormones and all) .
I have two DD and tbh I'm really scare about them travelling in public with tiny skirts so it will be opaque tights rain or shine all year round for them. Not really worry about anyone else but them ( sorry, selfish on this one)
Xxx

persianpeach bikinis are appropiate for wearing on the beach or swimming pool.Extremely short skirts aren't appropiate for wearing in school. It's 2 different situations so why compare them?

You are NOT being unreasonable!!! Makes me so cross! Would you stop your daughters wearing bikinis on the beach or at the pool because the males can't control their thoughts?? Totally ridiculous. How dare they dictate!

My son is 15 & when dropping him at school I see some girls with skirts so short I have seen their bum cheeks . It is disgusting . Girls need to have more respect for themselves so yes they should be told to wear a proper school uniform.

Havn't read the whole thread but I'm sure that I've read this reason for girls being spoken to before, possibly exactly same wording??? Maybe good idea to check the actual words used to the girls before contacting the HT. While at school my was touched by a lad who put his hand on her bum down inside her trousers while he sat next to her. She told me and I was incandescent with rage but she begged me not to report it. She told him where to go and said he thought as some of the girls were ok with it he thought she would be?? I tried to reason that if he continued to do this and possibly worse could she live with the fact that she could maybe have stopped him. She was terrified of being a snitch and said that if anyone found out it was her who reported it her life wouldn't be worth living and she would never go back to school. Seems quite a few girls had allowed this lad to do similar and more so he thought it the norm for all girls, my dd said he meant the "popular" girls(at 19 now she uses a far less polite way to describe them!) the ones in short skirts, incorrectly knotted ties and thongs. I despaired of the whole situation and did contact her HOY to discuss but had no name. My dd did tell me a year later that the boy had been permanently excluded for inappropriate sexual behaviour. She wore correct uniform at all times (despite getting stick for it) and trousers never a skirt and was quiet not one of the "popular" crowd. She now says looking back that it shouldn't matter what girls wear but that some clothing does give off the wrong impression not just to boys. The school has a strict uniform policy and now sends students home to change if they do not comply, both sexes.

Wow - I am outraged that "male teachers feeling uncomfortable" has been interpreted by so many people as "all male teachers are pervs who can't control themselves". I have felt very uncomfortable as a female teacher when getting a flash of knickers, too much cleavage (talking visible nipples) butt cracks, hands in pants. I have also never, ever found any of these things remotely arrousing. I am also always conscious of the way I dress around teenagers, especially when I was 15 years younger and considerably hotter newly qualified and only a few years older than some of the students.

Although I whole heartedly believe we should never, ever blame the victim for unwanted attention, or worse, I also think we are doing our young women a disservice if we let them believe that the way they dress has no bearing on the way they are treated. Yes, the school should have been much more careful about the way it phrased this, but surely this is one of the reasons that very short skirts are not appropriate in a work environment?

The request to wear clothes from the school uniform shop is not out of line. The reason given is completely out of line and outrageous I would certainly be complaining.

The reason for the 'chat' at assembly should have been non-compliance with school uniform skirt lengths. Making young women responsible for the behaviour of others is completely unacceptable. I would definitely be writing to the head!

I think they need to wear appropriate length skirts from the correct supplier. However, I think what they said to the girls is completely unacceptable. I'm a firm believer that we need to teach men that sexual harassment is not acceptable rather than teach girls they need to dress a certain way to prevent men from having urges and getting raped. While men don't throw themselves in the street at men only wearing cut off jeans, so we should be able to wear hotpants without a second glance. My 11 yo dd already thinks it's weird and imbalanced that men somehow have to be protected from themselves.

OP, I think there are two issues here: firstly, all students should wear school uniform (if that's the policy of the school). There should be clear rules about where it's purchased from, whether it should be specific-to-the-school or balanced guidelines about what is acceptable. Skirt length for girls and shorts length for boys (let's not get into skirts for boys ATM ...!) should be unambiguous. Religious clothing should be agreed and appropriately liveried, eg with local mosques - the board of governors should have developed a good relationship with all faith groups. Ties, blazers, polo shirts, trainers, long/short-sleeved shirts should all be specified as to their acceptability, along with the facility for free-school meals families to buy school-specific clothing at a reasonable price.

The issue of short skirts, low necklines, designer clothes, tee-shirts being worn under shirts with visible or offensive wording showing through, should be put into the uniform policy.

I think you have a good case to write to the head/principal and require that the issue of 'distracting the boys/making the male teachers feel uncomfortable' to be removed from the literature. Not only is it sexist (and thus blatantly contrary to equality legislation, by which all schools & academies must abide), but it is reinforcing the stereotypes that boys' schooling is more important than girls'.

I suggest you finish by telling the head/principal that you fully expect that the uniform policy is more rigorously enforced. This is a failing of supervision on the school's part.

There was a school in the news a couple of years ago which decided to switch to trousers only uniform to avoid all the issues around too short skirts. The head teacher made the point that some of the skirts were so short that you could see the girls knickers when they were just sitting or walking up stairs and it's just not appropriate for school.

I haven't read the whole thread but I agree that school should have phrased it differently ( if that's exactly what was said).

However, as a female teacher of many years I have mulled this issue extensively. Here's my top point about why we should be telling girls to dress more appropriately in school:

1. It is a work environment. Not a fashion show, the park or a jolly holiday. That goes for all of them. It should be a work environment. That means appropriate attire. No unbuttoned shirts, boxers hanging out (retro), bums on show etc.

2. There are younger children around. This one might seem a bit pearl clutchy but it's based on observations. The short skirts are mainly Yr9 and upwards. But Yr7 are still 11. They shouldn't have to be constantly flashed. Some of them, especially some of the SEN kids, find it upsetting, even if they aren't always sure why. Most of them are still little kids when they arrive at big school.

3. Teenagers are bags of raging hormones who don't make rational decisions. All of them are struggling with their sexuality. They need to explore it. But school is not the place. School is a work environment. In fact school should be a welcome break from the constant sexual imagery, conversations, pressures etc.

I'd also like to point out that unless you've recently spent a lot of time with a cohort of teenagers then it's easy to forget just how sex focus, tactile and provocative they are with each other. Break time is like the mating dance of the chimps- not subtle. They are still children and learning boundaries. So anything that can reduce the sexual focus is a good thing. Getting your body parts out on display is not a helpful thing to do for either gender!