Letter re banning school skirts

[spottedinthewilds]

Has anyone here written a letter to their school regarding banning of school skirts?

Our school have not yet banned school skirts that appear to be disguising this ban by offering different school uniform options. Most of which do not have a skirt option.

I have quite strong feelings against this as I feel that as a school educating young people they should be concentrating on educating their pupils about misogyny and the reasons why they feel school skirt should be banned.

Without wishing to dive into a trans debate, I feel that the trans issue is already eroding women's rights and feel that this is just another step in the wrong direction.

I agree that I am not the best person to word this letter well and wondered whether anyone here has written a similar letter to their school regarding this issue.

If so, would you be kind enough to share all or part of it with me so that I can put together something that I feel makes my point?

Our local schools banned them years ago to save on arguments about skirt length.

I went to a school where skirts had to be below the knee. The girls trying to push the boundaries showed their kneecaps. There were no arses or underwear on display, ever. It's about sensible rules, not outright bans.

I didn't like having to wear school uniform at all, and I'm against the general idea, but if a school has to have it, the more reasonable options, the better. I'd have hated it if trousers were the only option. Standard sized trousers don't fit my body shape. These days, I can get them altered if I want to wear them. As a school student from a low-income background I'd have been wearing comically ill-fitting, unflattering and uncomfortable school trousers and my regular teenage girl body image issues would have been so much worse - especially if paired with rules about shirts having to be tucked in, etc.

Other girls would hate being forced to wear skirts. Let them choose.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius perhaps if you had been made to wear them, you wouldn't be so insecure?

When I was at school we had to wear skirts and I hated it. I would have loved to have worn trousers. However, our school was very strict on uniform and skirts had to be knee length and below.

I've seen girls coming out of school and walking down the street and their skirts are indecent. I don't want to see little girl's crotches and I hate the thought of perverts lusting after them.

Either the school maintains strict discipline over uniform or they should wear trousers.

Seriously!?
No, any girl in ill fitting uniform ends up being the target of bullies.

@SanFranByAir I was bullied, horrendously. It got a lot better when my school introduced trousers and didn't force me to wear a skirt that wasn't made in my size and showed my pants

I'm not one for policing what girls wear but unfortunately many girls wear their skirts too short. I'm including my 14 year old daughter in this! She rolls it up so high that you can more or less see her bum. She's always getting told off by the school and by me but continues anyway, as do all her friends.
I don't think it's acceptable when boys wear their trouser so loose that you can see their bum and pants. Bums should not be displayed at school by either boys or girls! What they do in the free time is up to them, but it seems inappropriate in a school.

So it was wrong for you to have to wear an ill-fitting skirt (I agree) but other girls should be forced to wear ill-fitting trousers?

@FearOfTheDucks if they're allowed to buy their own, they won't be ill fitting will they?

Of course no one has a right to abuse or harass them but some of these skirt lengths are just inappropriate. Like I said, you can the knickers and bums sometimes, that's not appropriate at a school. I wouldn't go to work with a skirt so short that my colleagues could see my knickers. I would hate it if my male boss had his trousers hanging down so I could see his pants and half his arse. You simply can't pretend that it's fine for people to expose intimate body parts in a school/work environment. It makes people uncomfortable.

Why? It’s a uniform. If you get to choose what you can wear, it’s no longer a uniform.

Why shouldn’t pupils be allowed to wear a skirt if they want to though? Who will it offend?

Unless they're from a single school supplier.

Or, as in my own example, standard sized trousers from anywhere won't fit because you have an unusual shape, but your parents don't have the spare cash or skills to have them altered.

Its like saying you could have bought a better-fitting skirt.

Girls haven been allowed to wear skirts to school in this country for years. Why are they being banned all of a sudden?

Because the entire concept of a uniform is that you don’t have a choice - you wear what you’re told. I’m no fan of school uniforms, but you either have one or you don’t. You don’t get to pick and choose which bits you do and don’t like.

Not really the point. Why do so many schools insist on black shoes rather than trainers? Why do they make children wear more formal clothing than most adults do in the workplace?

Why not? It would certainly be a lot more comfortable in the hotter months, and a lot of girls happen to prefer wearing skirts. Why the sudden need to start phasing them out from school uniform? It doesn’t hurt anyone so why can’t they wear a skirt to school if that’s what they feel most comfortable in?

Because black shoes are smart. As are school skirts. Trainers aren’t - they are leisure wear. What next - banning skirts from the office so everyone looks exactly the same?

Then why aren’t you arguing for the abolition of school uniform?

Skirts are not exclusively worn by girls/women. There are plenty of countries/cultures where men/boys wear skirts.

A skirt is just a garment. A ban seems fine so long as boys and girls are banned from wearing skirts

Even on MN it seems like a stretch to suggest this has anything to do with transgender people

Let them choose. If they push the boundaries and continue to wear skirts that are too short then yes - make them wear trousers. Simple.

@MrsPeregrine that's what a lot of work places do. Make everyone look the same.
It's called a uniform 🤷

No letter but just to say I LIKED wearing my school skirt or dress (and they were below my knees most of the time). One reason was that it made it easier to change - either for P.E. (and back again) or particularly to have a quick pee between lessons!!

Because children have worn school uniform in this country for years without issue. It’s only in recent years that certain voices have been calling for skirts to be banned. Why skirts? What next? Cardigans?