Girls at DD’s school cannot wear socks because men and boys feel uncomfortable

[Eastie77Returns]

DD’s school has placed a ban on girls wearing socks due to persistent issues with girls wearing skirts that are too short and not the school’s regulation kilts. According to the e-mail sent to parents, girls wearing socks with said short skirts has resulted in some “members of the school community” feeling uncomfortable. When the issue was raised further by some parents, the (male) Deputy made it clear that it was essentially unfair to male pupils, and presumably teachers, to be made to feel awkward when girls undergarments were visible to them. There have also been issues with boys making suggestive comments to girls in short skirts.

I support the school enforcing school uniform policy but hate the fact that 12 year old DD and her friends are already being policed as to what they can or cannot wear because…men. DD hates the thick black tights she now has to wear. She always wore the correct length skirt and knee high socks.

The situation will apparently be reviewed ahead of the warmer months. I just feel this reinforces the view that girls & women need to ensure they dress in a way that doesn’t attract male attention but boys are not learning that inappropriate comments and behaviour towards a girl because of the way she dresses is completely unacceptable.

To fit in. To look "fashionable". Peer pressure. Rebellion

In today's climate anything seems to be possible. Roll your skirt down to a decent length NevaehMaySophieJayden!!
Nah sir its my yuman rites to show my bare arse innit but if any boys stare they are a rapist!!
At school in the 70s us girls would like to have had the option of trousers in the winter but it wasnt allowed. Anyone not conforming to uniform rules would acquire a detention and letter home to parents

Both my girls wear cycling shorts under their skirts, their choice, my youngest just copying her sister, but my eldest has done it since Y5 because of boys looking 😱
Boys at 9/10 looking up girls skirts... they are not children for long anymore (thanks to phones/social media/easy access to inappropriate content)

If it were somehow 'a thing' for boys to routinely turn up at school wearing tight shorts that were so small they showed off the bottom of their bum cheeks, absolutely nobody would be saying that they shouldn't have their bodies policed; that girls should 'just not look' or 'stop sexualising them' if they have an issue with it; and that any female teachers who told them to dress more appropriately for school 'must be perverts'.

It's a shame for the girls who do dress appropriately to have to suffer; but as has been said, schools don't have time to police widespread violations of policy and so their solution is to bring in blanket rules. Our DS only ever uses his phone at breaktimes, (currently allowed) and then only to send us messages/to see mundane messages from us about changes to schedules etc... but because the majority of the students keep looking at their phones during class time and have been using them inappropriately, they're bringing in a blanket rule whereby no phones are allowed to be switched on on school premises at all. Yes, it's unfair to the responsible ones; but so much of society is run that way: where the people who want to break rules and can't/won't behave acceptably spoil it for everybody.

How has it come to a point where boys and men saying that they DON'T want to see somebody else's underwear are somehow perverts? Is it standard for perverts to want people to wear clothes that cover more of their bodies?!

That said, irrespective of what the boys and men do or don't think, what on earth possesses anybody to decide to go out to a public place of learning with their pants on display? Don't people realise that nowhere that has a dress code specifies what underwear you wear underneath it... because nobody else should ever be able to see it?!

Exactly this.

Do teenage girls wear skirts outside of school? I've never seen them on any of them. So it is performative to wear the shortest skirt in school, and the easiest way around it is to have a unisex rule of trousers only.

That should be the policy, and if pupils/parents don't like it, then choose a school that allows micro minis.

So was I and it definitely was!

I remember the day, too. On the morning after the Easter holidays, I decided I couldn't possibly go out in public in my hefty pleated skirt and had what was, to me, a brilliant idea. I rolled it up.

When I got into school, half the other girls had done the same thing.

My personal hypothesis is that it coincides with peak puberty. Our hormones suddenly make us feel the only thing that matters is to be sexually appealing. Sure, we'd be horrified if every male we skipped past tried to shag us, but teenage hormones aren't logical.

I was at school in the 70s and it very much was a thing. However we didn't roll them up high enough to show our underwear/cheeks.

Skirts for everyone!

No school uniform should include being able to see underwear, for boys and girls.

Never mind the socks, the skirts need to be longer.

I agree with PPs who say that these girls who roll their skirts check their view at the front but never think to wonder what they look like from the back.

I worked in a supermarket so I got to see a LOT of people walking away and bending over self service tills. Some dresses which looked lovely and perfectly respectable were quite the opposite when the wearer bent over forwards, and I saw more knickers and thongs than I could ever have wanted to. Also various styles of clothing which probably looked great in the mirror but from behind were almost laughable. I am fully in favour of anyone wearing whatever they want, but there really should be some kind of general "Check Your Rear" campaign.

This. As a teacher in a high school of 25 years, girls skirts in the past roughly maybe 8 years have gone ridiculous.

I would send every single child home until the parents provided them with a knee length skirt. But you can only do that when the uniform stockists and manufacturers make skirts that are appropriate in shape for teenage girls. The girls are wearing age 7-8 at age 15 and 16 because they fit on the waist and everything is elasticated. And barely any difference on length. In what world are a 7 and a 16 year old the same size! They arent.

A bit dramatic maybe but safeguarding is very different now. Social media means things spread fast. And parents seem to have a lot more interest in taking stuff to the press. False allegations are a problem in teaching and male teachers are more at risk.

Still doesn't make the girl the problem.

This 100%

This academic year, for the firsf time every on 25 years, I am at least twice a week yelling at boys to pick their pants up as some have started wearing them BELOW their bums.

My private convent school we had long pleated skirts though in 6th form you could wear shorter black skirts.

Wtaf though? I do agree some girls skirts are more like belts.

Careful you don’t hurt yourself with that massive stretch.

I’m a woman in my 50s. I have as much of an issue with boys’ underwear on show as I do with girls’ underwear. It has nothing to do with anyone holding blame if they are assaulted because of it. Children should not be flashing their underwear.

School uniform codes are there to protect everyone, and when you join the school you accept that code.

I can't imagine anything more uncomfortable on a hot summer day than wearing trousers. And yes, I have seen teenage girls wearing skirts outside of school, usually short denim ones (although not as short as the girls talked about on here - maybe it's a UK thing).

Im on the fence with this one. In an ideal world maybe we could all wear what we want, but I am a firm believer in dressing appropriately for the occasion.
I think in this day and age it would probably be best that school uniforms were just trousers for both boys and girls - comfortable and practical. I went to an all girls school, we had the choice of both and everyone chose trousers. Was this because no one was there to “view” our legs? Who knows.
Realistically, the girls rolling up their skirts - who are they doing this for? The cynic in me says they are trying to attract the male gaze.
Of course teenage boys are full of hormones and will find this distracting. Of course male teachers will feel uncomfortable about seeing a young girls underwear. I’d say the same if the boys were unbuttoning their shirts in the summer and revealing their chests.

Its worded badly by the school but we live in a world where nudity = sexy. That’s not to say anyone dressed in a certain is asking to be assaulted - of course they aren’t! But they are inviting looks and attention.

I don’t think this is the case here at all. On the school run I see young girls daily with school skirts so short that I can see their underwear and sometimes bum cheeks. I don’t want to see that either!

It is a shame that girls who are not breaking the rules can’t wear socks anymore. But if the rule-breakers will continue to show their pants then I’m not sure what else the school could have done. If I was a “member of the school community” I would also feel uncomfortable at seeing the bum cheeks of teenagers, I am already uncomfortable seeing the girls around here despite not being in their school community. I am
obviously not a perve but it draws the eye because it’s not usual to see bum cheeks on the street (especially in February) no matter who they belong to.

I can imagine if male teachers try to tell the girls off they will get “Were you looking at my bum, sir??” and can’t discuss skirt length without looking or admitting to looking. It is not very “my body, my choice” for other girls to complain about their peers, so I can understand how this situation has arisen without it being about men perving. However, if I was the head teacher I would say all teachers feel uncomfortable and we have had complaints from other students

Below their entire bums? Surely not! (I know you don't mean naked bums. Still shocking though.)

That stupid trend for boys wearing their jeans a quarter to halfway down their bums (over boxers, thank God) has been around for years, though.

Why is it SO difficult for many young people to keep their private parts covered up?? I was very slim with a good figure when young, and I had no desire to show off my bum cheeks or half my boobs!

This. The school needs to take a harder line on enforcement.

I’d change her school