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?

As short as I want to.

I mean, when I bend over they probably could but at least in wearing knickers.

I saw a school girl a couple of years ago whose skirt was so short I could see the bottom edge of her knickers. I was walking behind her along a narrow pavement so it was hard not to notice. It just seemed so tacky.

I also think girls should be allowed to wear skirts. I don’t understand how everything that has been traditionally female is now considered rubbish, and everything traditionally male is somehow empowering. It’s almost like if it has any kind of female association it’s automatically shit because women are shit

@CandiedPrincess don't you think that's a little bit inappropriate - people in public being able to see your knickers?

@vibratosprigato Exactly, so why ban all skirts. Just enforce policy. Our secondary managed that very well.

God, I wish our school would! So sick of seeing the arses of DCs friends. Skirt up to your knickers and ripped/shredded tights are the fashion for most of the secondaries around here- including the private ones.

I disagree with uniforms in general but if they have to be there then I think this is wrong. To me it implies that the traditionally male option is the default and the traditionally feminine option is inappropriate and less than.

But realistically trousers have been gender neutral for decades. Even when I was at secondary school 30 years ago girls were fighting to wear trousers, on the basis that you could in pretty much any other walk of life.

If anything, it’s boys who have less choice here. For decades in most schools, girls have had the choice to wear trousers - but very few people see skirts as a gender neutral option, even if there is no outright ban on boys wearing them.

@CandiedPrincess the thing is it's the few who spoil it that ruin it for the masses.

I think it’s a good idea to ban skirts.

Shoes- no trainers deals with the kids wearing £200 Nikes when others are wearing ASDA own brand…
schools shoes are ready available and generally cheaper than most sports shoe brands for teens.
its a uniform. Just fecking wear it!
Cant bear parents who send their kids to a school with a particular uniform then start to whine about their child having to conform to wearing it…

When I was at school I longed to wear trousers but wasn’t allowed. I’d rather wear trousers to school than skirts any day, given the choice.

I think skirts should be option definitely. Smart trousers do not fit all women's shapes. I would not have been comfortable at all wearing school trousers.

@FearOfTheDucks "But what happens if, after the skirt ban, the same girls who wore skirts that were too short now wear trousers that are inappropriately tight and form-fitting? How does that get policed? Especially when a pair of trousers that are fine on a slimmer girl might look inappropriate on a larger one?

I don't think tight fitting trousers are inappropriate. I would expect kids/parents to choose trousers that fit/flatter them. That's not a problem. The problem occurs (for me) when children are revealing their arses, knickers and (as a teacher said up thread) sanitary towels.

My school had a few options of trousers that could be chosen, so if it was an issue, a school could take that approach.

Boys should have the same option. If girls get the choice of cooler clothing in Summer (skirts), school can't stop boys wearing them too.

Doesn't sound like you'd be happy with that.

Or even shorts!! They're not even allowed to wear shorts.

There should be trousers and a shorts option for the summer. That's it or sack it off

Those trousers would have to be hella tight to show the same that a skirt half way up your arse crack does…

I think you are trolling now aren’t you?

In case you are not, then obviously ‘short’ or rolled up to excessively short skirts should not be permitted as part of a school uniform. Outside deeply sexist work environments (waitress etc), most company dress/uniform rules require modesty and practicality. For men as well as women.

School is about social as well as academic education - it is about preparing them for the wider world and the work place. So, yes, limiting skirt options sounds a sensible option, especially given the fact that a large percentage of young girls ignore the rules on skirt length and leg coverings, and this is distracting to both them and to other children in the classroom… who are also there to get an academic education and not look at each other’s knickers.

Our uniform - as with all the state schools in the city - is gender neutral. Boys can wear skirts or shorts if they wish and so can girls or everyone can wear trousers, up to them.

I would personally ban all school uniforms. Girls roll up the skirts because in their eyes they are horribly old fashioned and frumpy styles that they feel like a granny in.

Teenage girls tend to wear tracky bottoms and jeans out of school and hardly ever wear skirts and dresses other than for parties.

Not saying there wouldn't be dress code problems and everything is solved overnight, but most other countries in the world seem to manage. Why not just let them be comfortable? Plus all this bollocks about not removing blazers or ties when it is 30C outside. No-one should have to wear a tie, but especially not girls who would NEVER wear one as an adult. Even office dress is far more comfortable these days. Girls already have to fit in with what is acceptable for boys in this regard. Stop treating girls as defective boys. I am comfortable at work, why can't they be comfortable at school? How do they expect kids to learn who are hot and uncomfortable?

Completely agree. Girls should retain the choice of skirt if they want it. I'd have hated to be forced into wearing tailored uniform trousers. Let them choose.

What age group is this school?

But the whole point of a uniform is that you don’t get a choice in it.

I would prefer my DDs school to ban skirts, she has mainly been wearing trousers since the weather turned colder and she looks so much better, as well as being warmer and more comfortable.
Like all of the other girls she insists on wearing skirts that barely cover her bottom (she rolls the ones I buy her up to make them shorter)!
It's quite difficult for parents and schools to enforce a skirt length policy, and measuring skirt lengths seems more misogynistic to me than an outright ban. After all there is nothing in my DDs school uniform policy that bans boys wearing skirts so I don't feel like banning them altogether is about sexism. It just removes the problem altogether.
Girls (and boys) can wear whatever they want to outside of school

There is no functional or practical reason why young girls should have to wear skirts to school.

This is not the hill to die on.

@BrightonFrock not at all. All the schools around me allow the choice. It's still a school uniform. Some girls wear the trousers. Most, from i what can see, choose the skirt.