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

I never understood the English schools, the skirts are ridiculously short. The colder the weather the shorter they are. It is a school and a uniform should be respected. I don't mind what they where when they are not in school. It's not always about sexuality it's about respecting the setting you're in.

Well said amelialion

At my DD school, the skirts were sometimes so short, that they barely covered the girls bum cheeks. Inappropriate.

AIBU to think that the girls should not have to modify their behaviour / what they wear so the 'boys' don't look up their skirts and that the male teachers are responsible for their own feelings?

Yes, let's all stop modifying our behaviour, and do whatever we damn well please. If male teachers or students decide to walk around wearing budgie smugglers, showing the outline of their dicks, then so be it. Yes?

Yes they would have been Amelia if caught or the girls told a teacher. The problem is teenage girls are so used to excuses being made for boys and the blame being placed on them, that they don't speak up about things like that!
Ever heard 'it's because they fancy you' or 'they're just being boys'
And sitting, what I'm presuming was the whole of the girls in school and re affirming to them, that they are a distraction to boys or are a source of discomfort to male teachers, because of what they wear is not the way to go!
Maybe girls with a pretty face, should start covering that up too!!!

(by the way this happened at my school in the notorious 'black stockings' revival in the 80s (around the time of the Selfragettes)

Actually, joking aside, couldn't they just insist on blue granny knickers with pockets in at all times? That's what happened in 1950s austerity. Men, financial austerity, stockings and underwear are a dangerous mix...

I think this reasonable, but those naughty boys wearing their tight little trousers that leave so little to the imagination make me very uncomfortable, and they all have such smooth delicious skin - could they regulate for baggy sweats and masks?

emboo, any boys deliberately lifting up girls skirts should be dealt with very severely. Totally unacceptable.

I can't believe this thread. If the situation with seeing underwear is bad enough that teachers have complained to slt then it is clearly an issue that needs dealing with. It is not at all unreasonable for a teacher (male or female) to not want to see the underwear of the 15yo girls in a classroom. In fact, surely it is preferable that teachers don't want to see it!

All of the 'what about swimwear' stuff is a red herring - for whatever reason, in our society wearing swimwear is different to just wearing underwear. I (and many others) feel comfortable walking on a beach or at a pool in a bikini. No way would I consider doing the same in my bra and knickers. I can't really explain why it is different, but it just is. Trying to pretend otherwise is silly.

As for distracting the boys. I'd find it very distracting if I could see my colleagues underwear (cos it's uncomfortable to see that much of someone you work with). I'm sure many on here would find Tom Hardy in his underwear distracting. Trying to avert your eyes is distracting, as is being sexually attracted to someone. It isn't in the least surprising that 13yo boys might find 13yo girls underwear distracting. They might be uncomfortable, they might be attracted. Either way it is distracting. I imagine if the school was having a number of boys turning up with their flies undone it would be equally distracting to the girls and dealt with.

There's 3 schools close to where I live so I see the kids every work day. There's , many young ladies who wear trousers but the majority are wearing teeny tiny little tight skirts. A lot of them wouldn't even need to bend or stoop much to be able to see their knickers, sometimes the black darker band on tights is actually clear to see as it's longer than the actual skirt.
It makes me uncomfortable never mind male teachers. Yes girls will roll skirts up when they leave the house, I did myself but never that short but I've witnessed girls with their parents/grandparents walking around with the skirt still up their arses. What are these people thinking.

Clearly the entire male sex is at fault in this situation. I thought I should start by saying that to ensure that everyone knows that my heart is in the right place.

That said, I don't think anyone should wear clothing in a workplace, be this a school or an office or anywhere else, which offers colleagues a sight of people's underwear, pudenda or breasts. My wife works in a primary school, and the staff are included in this rule as well as the children.

And this is emphatically not because either sex is being made responsible for the feelings of the other, but because although the wearing of revealing clothes may be done with various purposes in mind, one of those purposes is usually to attract the attention of the opposite sex. Talk of people "empowering themselves", "celebrating their sexuality" by choosing to showcase their genitals in tight trousers, or wearing tops cut to allow bosoms to fall out of them is so much misandrist/misogynistic bullshit. Students go to school to learn, and people to workplaces to work, and distractions should be kept to a minimum.

Maybe in this day and age male teachers are worried of being accused of looking at girls even if they weren't.

So what about male swim teachers or gymnastics coaches Slarti they see girls in next to nothing, should they feel uncomfortable doing their job? Or should parents feel worried that they're not uncomfortable?

In regards to seeing underwear under skirts, my school changed our skirts, to a lovely pleated version which had to be bought from the school shop, to stop the tight fitted, short skirts! Great, only as they were wider and looser the more immature boys, realised it was really easy to lift girls skirts up!

Yes, there should be a uniform. I don't think insisting that it isn't a pelmet is unreasonable. I think saying that it's because of the boys is terrible and the teachers make me queasy. If I was one of the male teachers I'd be at the implications of that statement!

Can't help thinking of DD2's high school though. 2 years ago they declared all skirts had to be a certain style, instead of black and a certain length. DD2 is as skinny as a rake so to get the length with a waist that would stay on, I bought 3 M&S skirts. Fine. Then last year it's announced that all skirts will now have to be the school tartan style skirt. We are not in Scotland. Nearly £20 a pop. Sod that. Thankfully DD2 screamed in horror and so it's now trousers all the way. In the midst of all this skirt crap: GCSE results are dropping like a rock, the local bus company have come really close to banning the pupils from their service bus, the locals are being terrorised, the cops keep being called for the fights and people are waiting for the school to be put in Special Measures.

But the girl's uniform skirts are all very smart.

If male teachers are "uncomfortable" however, that is creepy and weird and they are in the wrong job

I'd be more worried if they were comfortable with seeing girls underwear! What a topsy turvy world we must be living in.

I agree surferjet.

Not at my dd's school. They have to wear a specific skirt with pleats in. Some of them are above the knee but I've never seen a child with an unreasonably short skirt. I've seen ridiculous skirts at some of the other senior schools. I think it looks really scruffy and actually quite sad. I think they wear what is deemed to be acceptable by their peer group. The boys aren't allowed to wear skinny trousers either.

I'm a female teacher. I teacher Drama. Girls who can't participate in the practical aspects of the lessons because they're wearing very short skirts and the slightest movement flashes their pants - they drive me potty. The reasons the school gave are stupid - pupils need to dress for the environment and the work undertaken. I tell the girls that it is a practical lesson so to wear either trousers or shorts under their skirts to ensure they do not feel self conscious. It isn't about distraction or making me feel uncomfortable, it is actually about them engaging in the lesson. Which they do not do if they can't even sit on the carpet without showing their knickers.

Teachers often "see" more than pupils due to their position in the classroom - at the front looking directly ahead most of the time. People aren't always aware of what is showing when they sit down etc.

Agree with the school.
You can tell the standard of school by the uniform, & if girls are turning up in short skirts it doesn't give a good impression at all.
I wouldn't send my kids to a school where pupils were allowed to basically dress like they're on a night out.
Just my opinion though ( actually no it isn't, I know loads of people who think the same )

We'd have got so told off in my day.

Aside from the original OP, just s general question. Is it now standard or a fashion for girls to have really short skirts. There's a secondary nearby and all the girls wear a really short black skirt. I'd say mid-thigh. Is this the same in all
State secondaries?

OP, I agree with you. But at the same time I don't think children should be allowed to wear mini skirts to school anyway. It's just not appropriate. They are still children.

I love how people dont know the difference between uncomfortable and sexual

its very weird.

So many posters equating "uncomfortable" to "sexual".

It DISTRACTS the boys NOT the teachers!!! So many people seem to have confused this.... And it's key to the message.
Yes very worrying if it distracts teachers. They DID NOT say this - they said it makes them feel uncomfortable. Well I'd be worried if it to didn't make teachers feel uncomfortable!? Maybe they could have just said teachers rather than male- but hey ho- they are human.