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

I'm a teacher and HATE the 'it distracts the boys' argument.

Its so much simpler than that.

1. School has uniform
2. School sets rules
3. All students have to follow them

If that means not wearing bum skinming skirts, no trainers, boys not wearing their trousers lower than their underwear so be it.
Nothing about distracting the opposite sex and everytging to with learning that you cant do what you like in life.
Workplaces have uniforms and dress codes. Thry also have professional conduct expectations. Adults follow them. Simple.

emoo

I have seen builders bum on a few lads

Not the band of their boxers?! How awful for you.

DS never takes his blazer off but he doesn't tuck his shirt in his pants either.

boys don't show their underwear at school I saw plenty of boys underwear at school! And not because we were getting up to anything! But if their shirts were untucked and rode up, generally during break time playing sports or classes such as art/dt, you quite often saw the band of their boxers. Of course boys had no restrictions on what colour underwear they wore, maybe if they had all worn grey underwear it would have been less noticeable!

We have had a few incidents with low hanging trousers - boys - where the trousers have just fallen down.
We deal with this in an entirely processional way that does not involve pointing and laughing.

Short skirts were the fashion in the 60s, since then girls like wearing them whether in fashion or not.

Teens are awful, aren't they, whatever the sex!

I come back to the trousers issue and the skin-tight ones. They, to me, are worse than the short skirts as they look unhygienic unless they are being washed every single day and how can anyone imagine that "Miss Sexy" emblazoned on one's backside is appropriate dress? I did a bit of a search and on MN and NM some mothers were whining that what was wrong with MissSexy trousers as they fitted and their dds wanted to wear them blah de blah.

I work with young people we don't have a uniform but we do ask them dress 'decently'. We spend time telling the girls to cover up. We also spend a lot of time telling the boys to get their hands out of their pants! The boys do show their pants and fiddle with their bits. They get quite offended when we tell them not to.

Boys don't show their underwear at school anyway. I think we have established that.

Yes, because society always puts the comfort , convenience and opinions of women over the comfort, convenience and opinions of men.

Are you implying that's what i said? Because that would be bullshit wouldn't it?

I think that dd and her friends wear short skirts because that is the fashion . Schools (well, definitely in my time, anyway) were always trying to ban what was considered trendy. Plenty of girls at my school straightened their skirts into hobble ones instead of having to wear a big A-line number.

Boys try to bend the rules in different ways, mainly through shoes. Boys are frequently frogmarched to the Deputy Head's office to choose from a nice array of sweaty old school shoes if they come in wearing trainers.

The problem with the short skirts is, imo, not girls looking like Britney Spears and tempting hapless male teachers. It's the fact that it's just not savoury to see someone's knickers - anyone's knickers. I'm sure we all think it gross if we see a big hairy builder's bum. We're not going, "Corrrrr," but wishing he'd wear a belt. If all girls had to wear big navy bloomers, perhaps that would be better. We had "knicker check" at school to see that we were wearing "navies"

Business, even!

I think the reason is the biggest issue here! Fair enough they want you looking buissnes like and professional, as they are preparing you for working life (my schools stand on girls uniform and hair/make up)
But even suggesting that women and girls are somehow responsible for men and boys behaviour is wrong!!

It really annoyed me at my school, that girls skirts and trousers were monitored for how tight they were, but not boys!!
Skinny fit trousers were in and most boys wore them.

I once had to spend the whole day in the height of summer in my jumper. Because my white bra had a small amount of lace on it and it could be seen through my shirt! Shock, horror, a 14 year old girl wearing a bra!
And not at all embarrassing the male teacher pointing it out in a full class. I did offer to take it off, but that got me sent to my head of year!

"Why not? If boys were showing their underwear and causing female students and teachers to feel uncomfortable i can't imagine there being much uproar over addressing it. If males are uncomfortable though it's "boo hoo" and "tough shit" and "poor menz" or in plenty of cases "perverts"."

Yes, because society always puts the comfort , convenience and opinions of women over the comfort, convenience and opinions of men.

the reason they shouldn't should not be because they'll be forcing men to look at their pants and feel uncomfortable.

Why not? If boys were showing their underwear and causing female students and teachers to feel uncomfortable i can't imagine there being much uproar over addressing it. If males are uncomfortable though it's "boo hoo" and "tough shit" and "poor menz" or in plenty of cases "perverts".

Branleuse and Soupdragon have it.

Let'a stop pretending that there is the same pressure on females and on males to dress in a revealing manner. The wider issue is why do only females play this game in society. Agree reasons given in school were unacceptable. Should be about reference to professional attire /policy only and be gender neutral. Reference to self esteem also good. I feel sad when I see the pupils flashing so much, and wonder why it is usually girls doing it. And I simply don't believe they are doing it "for themselves". When I dress for myself it tends to be for comfort. As for fashion - again, naive to suggest that fashion doesn't tend to involve a disproportionate amount of flesh visible for women. Just open your eyes. Question is, why, and why do women comply?,

Trousers aren't boys' clothes. Girls happily wear trousers out of school. I'm wearing trousers right now and they are not from the menswear department. I don't think many boys would happily wear a skirt. That's a silly suggestion.

Nobody's saying girls should be able to wear what they like to school. They're saying the reason they shouldn't should not be because they'll be forcing men to look at their pants and feel uncomfortable.

As a female teacher Ive had to tell girls to unroll their skirts, replace them not because of any distraction experienced by males (student or teacher) but purely because they are inadvertantly showing their backsides off.

Whether its distracting anyone else is almost irrelevant its about dignity, self respect and appropriate dress.

Ive had several arguments with my DD about her skirt length. In fact I have been in contact with her school to express my frustration about their lack of enforcement of their uniform policy. No one wants to see a students underwear and no one should have to. To those who say that girls should wear what they like without being looked at by the opposite sex, yes within reason. Equally male teachers have the right to carry out their job without having girls knickers flashed at them and without having to worry about being called a pervert for not constantly averting their eyes.

I dont think bertrand thinks that trousers are boys clothes

Unless she has been taken over by pod people

That could've happened..honest!! I saw it in a film

I can see their point re short skirts being inappropriate BUT the reason is shameful! Yes the girls need to keearn appropriate length of skirt for school/work environment but equally the boys need to learn appropriate behaviour towards this otherwise it's another generation of males believing they have any say in how women dress or even blaming their behaviour on a woman's attire!!
As for parents making sure the girls wear appropriate ones I know some girls roll the top of their skirts to make them shorter. In this instance it would make no difference what skirts they are wearing.

I only have 18 months left of having a DC going to school in uniform. In total I will have been doing uniform for 15 years. I have never had a problem with it, and neither DS has ever complained either. It will be weird to never venture into the uniform shop again.

I know Shat and Bert, let's make them all wear kilts. A totally unisex garment. If made following a traditional pattern, they are past knee length, so no thigh problems. Although if we follow tradition then a flash of thong will be the least of anyone's worries.