Banning girls from wearing skirts to school

Firstly, priest, you can fuck off and have a while you're at it.

Secondly - at my school girls could wear salwar kameez or trousers as well as skirts. I always thought that was quite a practical outfit to base a uniform on - no restriction of movement, girls don't grow out of them as quickly so no gaps around the middle, comfy and lightweight. Not vastly disimilar from some 'grownup' uniforms (nurse / pharmacist etc)

Having said that, I really think the primary purpose of a uniform should be that it is cheap and practical. That probably does rule out short skirts. Blimey, I remember the contortions of trying to sit down for assembly in a short skirt! Ridiculous.

'I remember feeling sick on non uniform days coz I was poor'

Me too. The bullying was vicious, it's why I got into fights and ended up contemptuous of the whole' appearance is all' ethos pedalled by girls and women who thought what you wore, and how much slap you had on was the definition of your worth.

Oh and I am proud to be a feminist and am bringing my children up to be feminists too. The feminist movement has brought huge benefits to my life and I am sure will bring further benefits to them too.

wtf is a 'standard of femininity'.

I encourage my daughter to be the best person she can be, to express herself, to be a nice person, to work hard and to have fun. Exactly the same things I encourage in my son and try and do myself.

I teach both of them to respect other people, and to see them as individuals first and foremost. As it is summer my dd has some short skirts and short shorts too, which she is allowed to wear at her non-uniform school (good for games). If some sad bastard sees that as provocative or arousing then they are seriously perverted (dd is 10). Being comfortable and expressing herself has no impact on her grades - she is an honour role student. My son on the other hand refuses to wear shorts even in the hottest weather and does much worse at school. What they wear is utterly irrelevant.

NOT a member of the Taliban sorry to disappoint, lol.

I'm just one of those pesky little conservative yanks who likes to draw attention to the naively obvious truth!

Girls wearing longer skirts will:

#1. Cover more of the arousal area of the female form.

#2. Generate (in the boys) an increased propensity to treat the girls with more respect due to them not objectifying themselves with their suggestive clothing.

#3. will encourage the girls to focus more on their school work and not how they can get more looks from boys if they wear shorter and shorter skirts.

What girls wearing longer skirts will NOT do:

#1. It will not make the parents of these girls teach them that they should not have been wearing the short ones in the first place.

#2. It will not change the hearts of these sad little girls who have already accepted the objectification of their sexuality that society has dictated to them.

#3. it will not stop sexual assault, but as one poster said it will remove one of the excuses, and i believe it will help some.

To those "loving" posters who try to dislodge what i say with cute little pet names like "Taliban".....it is clear that your mind is made up on what you think and that you do not want to be disturbed with the facts, but peradventure you were open to the facts you may want to exercise a little more intellectual honesty and realize that the feminist movement has lowered yourselves and your daughters to the lowest possible depths, and that if you were to make a WILD MOVE and set a standard of "femininity" in your home for you and your girls to strive for....I think that you would be surprised at the results.

Respectfully,

I dont think it stops bullying but I think a uniform decreases that aspect of bullying

I remember feeling sick on non uniform days coz I was poor

Well it is cheaper in my case at the school my DS and DD go to.
The uniform code is strict so it can't really be got round.

And for the wear they get out of the uniform for a year, I believe it would cost me more to buy and replace their day to day clothes.

I like school uniforms as they are low cost and there's no competition for who where's the trendiest clothes.
And less grief for people who don't where trendy clothes.

Trillian I was talking about women (as this thread is about uniform for girls). I have worked in an office environment for 20 odd years ow, and I don't believe I have ever met any woman wearing a tie or a heavy blazer (like school blazers) or an ill fitting badly made skirt (like most school uniform) or an ugly shirt (like many school uniforms) or colours that didn't go together or suit the person in question (again like most school uniforms), or wearing some of the weirder uniform items, like kilts for that matter.

Of course I've met many women wearing dark coloured trousers/skirts, sometimes with a blouse or jacket. But they would be chosen by that women to suit her own style, shape and comfort. If school wants to have children dressed as if they were going to work (and I'm not sure why this is required in any case, given that many sixth forms totally relax uniform rules, and universities have none) then why don't dress codes reflect that?

Uniforms are in my opinion ways to keep children in their place, causing stupid arguments and petty harassment.

Urgh - soggy trouser bottoms from the rain or snow! Makes me shudder just thinking about it. Don't get that with a skirt and tights.

I hate wearing trousers, and would hate this rule.

One reason I have just thought of is wet weather.

The one and only time I wore trousers to school, I got drenched from head to toe by a passing lorry going through a puddle.
All day I had to sit in soggy trousers, where the fabric was completely stuck to my legs.
If i'd been wearing a skirt, I would have been able to tuck a towel underneath my skirt whilst in lessons, keeping the wet from me.

Now imagine driving rain for 4 months throughout the winter, and girls having to sit there all day with wet trousers sticking to them.

Let the boys have their discomfort.

It's a stupid rule.

When I was at school 01/02

the headmaster tried to make us wear skirts and in the report he wrote 'some girls don't have the figures for tight trousers'

no joke I nearly died he wasnt sacked

Trousers are very practical for young girls and women. I think its quite resonable for a school to insist on trousers.

Prehaps girls should have the option of wearing a tunic or a skirt if they have religious reasons. However a school should be allowed to decide their own uniform. Provided that there is no sex discrimation I can't see the problem.

I wouldn't be keen to send my daughter to a school that spent its time worrying about the length of skirts of pupils or banned skirts...and if they changed the policy while I was there I'd object.

FWIW when I started work at a law firm in the late 90s I was advised that women wearing trousers in the office was frowned on

How old is the OP's dd1? If the skirt was a reasonable length 6 months ago but is now deemed to be borderline, then either she has had a helluva growth spurt - or it is not actually that much of a "pelmet".

If the school is not going to take into account the fact that children grow, then they are being the unreasonable ones if a couple of inches above the knee is deemed to be unacceptable.

The bottom line here is that schoolgirls in secondary school and their uniforms are considered to be "sexy", when really they shouldn't be.

If a girl has a pair of trousers and she grows and they become tight around her bum - it's "sexy" / "inappropriate" / "will attract the wrong sort of attention" and so on.

If a boy has a pair of trousers and he grows and they become tight around his bum everyone just thinks "oh look he could do with some new trousers".

This is the real problem.

You can put schoolgirls in lumpen sackcloth but they will still be schoolgirls and will still attract "the wrong sort of attention".

We need to stop seeing young girls in this society as sex object / fetishising them and what they wear. Men should know not to proposition girls in school uniform whatever length skirt they have on.

I agree with Trillianastra that enforcing skirt length is a waste of teachers time, and it puts too much slightly pervy/fetishy attention on skirt length, when I think part of the whole point of school uniform is to try to reduce the distraction of adolescents' new found sexuality and self-expression when they are at school, which lets face it is just that bit more fascinating that conjugating French verbs.

If a school finds that trying to fight the battle of skirt lengths and skirt rolling is getting unreasonable I think it is fair enough to switch to trousers (or to tell the student body if you can't comply with the rules on skirts then they will be withdrawn from the uniform).

Northernlurker- is your school's skirt requirement for pleated skirts? Maybe they should withdraw that rule and let girls where any plain style of skirt at knee length? I do think part of the problem is the pleated skirt thing - you rarely see anyone in an office in a knee length pleated skirt.

I don't know why I am taking part-I don't have girls and I wear trousers 99% of the time. Ignore me!

Well, if it was DD's school I would be very against it.

As said before - as an adult I hate wearing trousers, especially if not worn with a long top or tunic. In many cases trousers are very unflattering and make me fee unconscious if I had to wear trousers with a tucked in skirt and shortish jumper. I also find them uncomfortable, esp as so many are worn quite low ont he hips and have little depth to them.

My 9y DD feels the same regarding the comfort factor.

The girsl shoud have the option but also know the consequences of breaking the guidelines. These sanctions should be upheld.

Giving in in this way is not, imo, the answer.