After a school sent 50 girls home for breaking sexist uniform rules, these guys had the best response

Sexist uniforms and dress codes persist into the second decade of the 21st century.

One school in Hollister, California allegedly sent around 50 female students home on the first day of term, 14 August, for wearing tops that revealed their shoulders.

A number of boys attending the school on the same day however, were showing their shoulders through vests - none of them were sent home.

This isn't the Vatican - what is that about?

According to Yahoo Style, the dress code regarding off the shoulder tops has been a rule for years at San Benito High School, but students claimed it has only just started to be enforced.

One student, who spoke to the site anonymously at their parent's request, claimed the strict enforcement of the policy began the week before, when students arriving for a photo day in off the shoulder tops were turned away

Off the shoulder tops are often worn in year book photos, as demonstrated by this student.

In solidarity with their female cohort, male students at the school started rocking up in off the shoulder tops.

One female student told Yahoo Style:

It’s not harming anyone physically….I think it is ridiculous how we have to fight against [the administration] to wear a shirt that is not harming anyone.

[The] administration says that it is for our own safety, but I don’t understand what they are keeping us safe from. I really don’t think that there is someone dumb enough to pull down a shirt first of all — they have no right to touch me or anyone else at all. I mean, there is no point in that. They are focusing on the less important things here.

Another student, Andrei Vladimirov, told the Huffington Post

What I find problematic about this [keep kids safe] response is that if someone did try to assault a woman, the responsibility should lie solely on the attacker, not the victim.

A woman never ‘asks’ to be objectified, assaulted or raped ― and such thinking is what creates harmful consequences. Women deserve to be treated with respect ― and to be treated with respect is to be given the freedom to express one’s self, and hold agency as an individual.

The principal of San Benito Adrian Ramirez told Yahoo Style that the dress code incident has 'offered some major teachable moments for the entire SBHS community'.

We would never blame a female student for another student being distracted by something they wore. The other thing is as a school, we should be looking back and looking at how consistently we address the dress code across campus, and that’s something else students have brought up.

According to Ramirez, the dress code will be up for discussion at the next faculty meeting, with input from members of the student body.

HT Yahoo Style, Huffington Post

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