Short school skirts "sending the wrong message"

A belt-length skirt is not suitable for a work placement, nor for a school setting. Any more than going topless for males or females when the weather is hot.
We sent back work-placement boys who thought it appropriate to have their underwear on display, and they were shocked that we did, despite the verbal warning and the consequences being set out for them.
Trousers are a useful alternative if you want o stop the hours that are wasted on fussing about clothing being devoted to something more useful.

Ick! girls look awful in uniform trousers.

Nice knee-length skirts much nicer.

How short is short?

I think you need to check also exactly what was said. I would be very, very surprised if a school was saying (directly, or even by implication) that shirt skirts provoke criminal behaviour in others. I think it is very likely that they were talking about appropriate dress and standards. And if you know what was said, you can at home reinforce the good part of this message, and encourage her to think about any parts where your views and those in this presentation diverge (bit like anything in school which includes a subjective component).

I think you also need to find out what was said to the boys whilst the sexes were separate.

I agree with Evil too,I was sitting downstairs on a bus the other day when,a school girl came down the stairs in a very short skirt and nothing at all was left to the imagination !

If there is such a bloody hoo ha about skirts then why not get rid of them altogether the way GRW's local school did? There's no point in requiring the girls to wear something then complaining about how their wearing it - if it's not working, get rid of it. Everyone in the school should wear the same uniform - ie smart work trousers.

Our local secondary school has actually banned all girls from wearing skirts, because they did not take notice of requests to wear them longer. It caused quite a lot of discussion in our local newspapar.

OP, I'd say ultimately it doesn't matter why the teacher was saying they shouldn't wear short skirts. If it is a school rule then your DD and her friends need to suck it up and do as they're told. I don't think you'll do your DD any favours by complaining.

You just say to all students:

'Flashing your pants in school, which is an environment for work, is inappropriate. Other people, whether students or adults around school, may well find it embarrassing, & frankly, it looks scruffy & as if you haven't any idea how to dress in different contexts - exactly as you would look a complete plank if you went clubbing in THIS indicate own boring teachery garb. Therefore, pull your trousers up, gentleman, & ladies, please ensure your trousers or skirt cover your bum. No-one wants to look at tomorrow's dirty laundry, thank you'.

Absolutely no need to single out the girls or suggest it 'sends the wrong message' with all the woman-blaming guff that implies.

sure puppy, just as it is my job to enforce standards, not least so that students are let off the pressure to conform because "miss" will tell me off

When you have teenage girls wearing less than prostitutes it's embarrassing. As staff we dress appropriately and the students should learn this as well.

Loads of time is wasted on this.
If you can bend down in a normal lined smart skirt and not show your underwear that's fine.

The stretchy belt things that are decent only by being as tight as hot pants should not be seen out side a night club.

Like wise boys trousers need not show underpants either.

Of corse school isn't the place for fashion, but teenagers are rebels. That's their job.

puppy, but school is not the place for fashion, and it is good for schools to enforce dress codes so teenagers do not feel under pressure to conform to ridiculous peer pressure.

It's just young girls trying to be fashionable. As young girls do. And grown ups will always go and the world keeps turning.

Well said boxy

*these not theses.. it's late!

Yes and it's clearly important to clarify what the teacher said and to make her aware that even if she didn't say it, at least one pupil has taken away a very disturbing and dangerous message. When you are communicating important messages, it's your job as the person giving that message to reflect on the way it was understood and received, and to adjust your communication if it's not worked the way you intended.

Also, other people have piled in on this thread to add to the 'sends the wrong message' theme. It's really important that we are very careful about this. 'Sending the wrong message' has often been used to excuse sexual violence. Only two weeks ago a judge excused the rape of a 13yo girl by saying she 'looked older' and brought it on herself. Not enough has changed since the days when judges in rape cases used to justify pathetic sentences with the excuse 'well, she was wearing a short skirt...'

OP- your daughter could be going to the school where I work. I don't condone anyone saying a short skirt invites violence, because the statement is simply not true, but I do agree that wearing skirts so short is not acceptable in the school environment, for many reasons.

We are having a "crackdown" pardon the expression, on short skirts and makeup, and the boys with their disheveled look!

the expression is "skirts must be closer to the knees than the knickers"

It's embarrassing to watch as theses girls struggle and wiggle in these skirts, and basically show their knickers when they sit down. Sometimes it appears as if they are trying to out-do each other. Makeup as well, a girl recently came to school with fake eyelashes on. We want them to take a little pride in their appearance, to look professional.

I have to dress to a certain standard at work, I am not allowed to wear many of the clothes that I would wear everyday, it's business attire, so the teaching and support staff are subject to the same rules.

What we are trying to do is put girls on an equal footing here, stop the fashion show and get on with what matters, learning and respect for all.

I am not a prude, I love clothes, I love extreme fashions, but there is a time and a place and school is not it.

I never say to the students, not do i think it, that it is inviting rape. But i do think very short skirts are inappropriate in the classroom. I apply the same rule to boys, i don't want to see their pants, but oddly at my school we only have a few boys who err on that front, but lots of girls who think appropriate workwear is showing your knicks if you stretch forward for a textbook

Whoah, whoah. They are not being told 'it's all your fault if you get attacked.'
they are being told it sends the wrong message. That message may be: you can look between my legs. I want you to. It's not the message they intend to send. they are too young to know it. But if they wear tiny skirts that give glimpses to men, they will get looked at inappropriately.

I think it's very important for teachers to protect girls from unwanted sexual attention when they are too naive to really understand how sexual attention works.

As long as we live in a society where media and ads suggest that the sexiest look is long thin legs and clothes that almost reveal genitalia, then young girls who have that look will generate a massive amount of sexual interest from men they have no interest in themselves.

I think it is naive and unhelpful to say: 'men must learn not to look.' Why is it repressive to encourage girls not to be too revealing of parts of their body that are bound to arouse sexual interest?

But it does send the wrong message regardless of whether some people think it is linked to violence.

The OP says her that was her DD's interpretation, not that the female teacher said that short skirts = asking for sexual violence.

Yup, as I said in my first post, telling pupils they must not wear exceedingly short skirts is fine. But the OP's dd says the teacher told them 'it sends the wrong message' and linked it to sexual violence. That is a. dangerous and b. wrong and c. potentially very damaging.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that teenage girls are being given the impression that short skirts = asking to be raped. But teenagers are full of hormones, and both boys AND girls should be taught to dress appropriately. Girls in tiny skirts give the impression that they want to be looked at. It is not necessary to hoik your skirt up so high that your gusset is on show. How many of us would go to work like that? Both girls and boys need to be taught to respect themselves, and dressing appropriately is part of that.