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?

So that is what school uniform should be like if schools insist on them. Variety of clothes which pupils can choose from to suit every one. Trousers, below knee skirt, shorts, shirt, polo shirt, jumper, cardigan. Does it matter as long as they are comfortable and presentable?

Why is boys wanting to wear skirts ridiculous? They're an item of clothing. Scottish boys and men have worn them for centuries. What's the big deal?

I'm glad to hear it, but I'd be interested to know if @spottedinthewilds agrees.

So why have a uniform at all?

That what my school had in the 90s. It was shirt/blouse, V neck jumper, ties for boys only. But any black trousers/Shirts that weren't Skin tight/supershort

Then we campaigned for sweatshirts, and they changed to polo shirts a couple of years after that.

20+ years later and they are back to V neck jumpers, shirts, ties for all and blazers.

Hahahah

What an insightful, measured response. I'm sure you'd feel just as amused if someone told you you were ridiculous for wearing trousers.

Getting rid of skirts as part of the uniform seems like a good idea. I don’t see this as a feminist issue at all. Some of the skirts I see on school girls are so short that there is no way they could walk up stairs without flashing a bit. Time to get rid.

It stops all the designer pressure nonsense and it means there is a cohesive look for the school in terms of colours. They could still have crested cardigans and jumpers etc.

I don't see why they do need a uniform, but if they want one, it should have enough options for everyone to dress comfortably.

Thank you ❤️

I am more concerned that nearly all girls feel pressure from their peers to roll up their skirts. I work in a secondary school and can tell you that practically every girl who chooses to wear a skirt wears it just below their buttocks. If there were no skirts girls would not feel under social pressure from boys and girls to wear their skirts so short. The idea that girls are exercising free choice here ignores preconceived ideas in teen culture about what is attractive and how girls should dress and behave to attract the attention of boys.

But many on this thread have pointed out that on many girls the skirts are so short you can see what they had for breakfast. Unacceptable, tbh. And as I said previously, girls wearing these micro skirts always appear so uncomfortable, continually tugging on the gems. And, they don't wear them except at school - outside school it's all jeans, tackies and leggings.

Rebellion, perhaps, but then don't be surprised if the choice gets taken away. If girls wore their skirts at a reasonable length, there would be no issue.

This is exactly what happens.

Well discussing this with my DD tonight the observations were:

Other girls judge you if your skirt is too long and also judge you if it's too short- so you can't win either way.
Wearing short skirts has nothing to do with pressure from boys or trying to get their attention. It's all to do with fitting in with the other girls.
DD would be happy if skirts were replaced with trousers only or if they were replaced with ankle length skirts which would make skirt rolling impossible.
The whole skirt rolling thing is getting ridiculous and increasingly starting with younger year groups.

I asked youngest DD today, she said that you were bullied and called a lesbian by other girls if you wore trousers🙄or a loser and a suckup if you followed the rules about skirt length. She's glad she is no longer at school.

However, this is probably my point. Why should girls not wear short skirts? We should be educating young people that by wearing a short skirt it does not give somebody right to abuse or harass them .

But that wouldn't affect a trans person anyway.

I'm sure we are educating people that no one should be abused or harassed. As many have pointed out the short skirts just aren't appropriate for school. You can often see buttocks, they're often shorter than the blazers. I'd say exactly the same about boys if they were wearing trousers hanging so low that you could see their arses and pants. When boys do wear clothes like this they get told to pull their trousers up immediately.
Skirts so short that you can see underwear would never be permitted in an office, why so we think it's ok for pubescent girls to dress like this? It's not appropriate. We're not talking about short skirts above the knee, we're talking about cases where you're seeing too much.

Really? You can't imagine why we don't want to see any individuals arse ? They typically don't engage in activities. They look absolutely uncomfortable as hell constantly pulling at their skirts.

Thankfully my children attend a non uniform school 99% fetch up in tracksuits, leggings or jeans .

Thanks everyone for your comments. Some really interesting and informative posts.

I won't be writing a letter. But will still vote for an option with a skirt as my daughter is far more comfortable in one.

I’m not comfortably looking at the arse of any girl or woman quite honestly, much less some nuts a child of 12/13/14.
We have rules for the workplace around not wearing clothing so revealing that we can see someone’s underwear and/ or privates.
So why not at school?

This. I think it's a reasonable idea. My daughter wore trousers at school in the 90s.

I remember seeing a similar thread a few months back saying if a girl has a VPL when wearing trousers she gets teased.

I don’t know why you’d think this 😂. The independent school in the town where we live has exactly the same issues. The school campus is spread across the town and as soon as the girls walk out of one building to go to another, the skirts are hoiked up. Alternatively they wander round town in their sports kit, which features incredibly short skorts.

Teenage girls are all the same, however much mummy and daddy are paying for their education.

Reetpetitenot some Christian and Orthodox Jewish girls/women don't wear trousers. Some Muslim girls might also not be comfortable without a long top over the trousers.

@Girasoli it's amazing how Orthodox Jewish, Muslim and Christian girls manage to follow the rules of wearing a school skirt at an acceptable length.
I mean it's not hard !