Girl Suspended For Wearing Torn Jeans And Not Considering Boys' 'Hormones'
This Facebook ‘mom rant’ is a must-read for anyone who thinks it’s OK to police the wardrobes of female students
In news so sexist you’ll think it’s from 1968 instead of 2018 (oh wait, this year suuuuucks for women), a mom has taken to Facebook to call out her daughter’s school for their completely outlandish response to her daughter’s torn jeans. Literally, that’s it. Jeans with a hole in the knee. She says the school forced her daughter to sit in in-school suspension all day and was shamed for not being “considerate” of the hormones of her male classmates.
Yes, really.
Melissa McKinlay, a mom and the mayor of Palm Beach County, took to her Facebook page to share her “mom rant” about what happened to her daughter.
“In the middle of a quiz in her IB History class, a male administrator came to classroom, told her she needed to consider the guys in her class and their hormones when choosing her wardrobe, yanked her out of class and threw her into In School Suspension for the remainder of the day,” she writes. “So she missed an entire day of core classes and couldn’t finish her quiz.”
Yes, hello, all schools everywhere? A word, please. STOP PUTTING THE ‘HORMONES’ OF MALES ABOVE THE EDUCATION OF FEMALES, OKAY? Also, it’s a f*cking knee. Not even a whole knee. And another thing? Even if it was A WHOLE BOOB, this response sucks.
“I’m sorry but EXCUSE ME?” McKinlay continues. “Perhaps she should have worn a different pair of jeans. But why should she have to worry about dressing a certain way to curtail a boy’s potential behavior? So, like, it’s her fault if the boy touches her because of what she was wearing?”
She’s absolutely right. Teaching impressionable teenage girls that what they wear is why things happen to them — from suspension to sexual assault — is part of the prevalent patriarchal disease known as rape culture. Last I checked, teenage boys wear whatever the hell they want to, including gym shorts, that (and please, correct me if I’m wrong — just kidding, STFU) can and do show not one, but two whole knees.
McKinlay is, quite rightly, enraged that her daughter missed an entire day of classes for something so ridiculous. “A boy’s potential inability to control his hormones warrants my daughter’s inability to attend her classes today and miss valuable curriculum?”
“Sexism. Victim blaming. Girl shaming. This Administrator should be suspended.” It’s completely inappropriate for a male administrator to be in charge of addressing wardrobe issues for non-males at school. I remember being pulled out of Geometry once because I was wearing a sleeveless turtleneck (I’m dating myself, also please don’t focus on my fashion choice even though I totally deserve to be roasted for it). I had to sit in his office until my mother brought a jacket from home. This was 15 years ago — good to know things haven’t changed much.
The school principal, Mary Stratos, tells the Palm Beach Post that she’s “unfamiliar with the incident” but that she would investigate the school official’s alleged comments to McKinlay’s daughter. She also says that the school prohibits ripped jeans and other torn clothing.
McKinlay concludes her post by proclaiming herself a “furious parent.” And who could blame her? “If she needs a lunch detention for being slightly out of dress code, so be it. But this? No. Not an appropriate response. EVER.”
