Whether you went to private or public school, chances are you were aware that your school had a dress code you had to abide by.
Male clothing choices are generally less policed than the outfits of girls. For girls, however, a fine line must often not be crossed by teachers and other school personnel when it comes to the dress code. While it may seem like it would protect girls from bad influences, sometimes it does more harm than good by sexualizing young girls' bodies.
Of course, this is something no parent wants to believe. But when her daughter Reese was embarrassed for a presumably normal-looking outfit, mom Suzie Webster was outraged, and didn't hesitate to call out the school and the teacher who called her middle school daughter's skirt a "clubbing" skirt.
She reminds everyone reading her public Facebook post about the incident that it was a skirt that she herself picked out for Reese.
Now scroll down to read this mom's tough words, and see if you agree with her about her daughter's skirt…
So, I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted to post anything about my encounter with Moultrie Middle School today. But as the co-founder of the iGoddess Fair and the mother of three girls, I felt it was my responsibility to share the story and let you make your own judgments.
Attached is the outfit Reese wore to school today. She has worn it on numerous occasions during the first 6 weeks of school. Today she called me from the office to tell me I needed to bring her pants because her skirt was deemed to be too short. Now those of you who know me well, know that I am a very laid back, super chill Mom, who tends to let her girls fight their own battles in life. However, this one hit me the wrong way and after cursing to (not at) Reese on the phone (not my finest moment), I hung up and went home to grab her jeans. Now here is my problem with the whole scenario:
1. I found out that Reese was called out in the hallway surrounded by other kids and told to go to the office because her skirt was too short and needed to be replaced. Also, the teacher told her she looked like she should “be clubbing”.
What? I don't know too many women who wear a boxy t-shirt and an a-line preppy denim skirt to go clubbing. Perhaps it was her scandalous ankle boots.
I told the Principal during my rant, that I felt that it was madly inappropriate for my daughter to be humiliated in front of other students and if there was concern about her meeting the dress code there was a more tactful way vs. a public shaming.
2. He had Reese brought into his office with me there and he pulled out a ruler to have me measure to see if it met the dress code rule of 5″ above the knee. It did, albeit it was exactly 5″ from her knee.
He did tell Reese she could continue to wear the skirt, however at this point she was so embarrassed that she asked to change into her pants and told him she would not wear the skirt again.
3. Reese apologized numerous times and was clearly feeling like she did a bad thing wearing the skirt I BOUGHT FOR HER, which just killed me. We spent weeks looking for shorts and skirts long enough to be appropriate and this skirt is the exact same length as the “uniform” skorts I bought at Old Navy. Yet suddenly she was made to feel trashy because according to her teacher and authority figure, she looked like she belonged in a club!
4. Now here’s the one that really killed me and maybe I should have led with this. While Reese was changing, her Principal, Mr. Cumberback started to explain to me that it was necessary to closely monitor the girls attire because boys at this age get very distracted by the girls and their appearance. So in order to control this, they needed to make sure the skirts were long enough etc. WTH?!
This is the exact problem with society today. SO MY DAUGHTER WAS EMBARRASSED, HUMILIATED IN FRONT OF HER PEERS AND MADE TO FEEL LIKE A BAD GIRL BECAUSE BOYS CAN'T CONTROL THEIR DIRTY THOUGHTS!
I have to say he didn't get to finish his entire argument because I asked him to please stop talking and told him the above. Even after I said that to him he still felt the need to explain to Reese how inappropriate boys thoughts are. She kindly said she understood because she had problems with boys at her elementary school (sad but true).
5. As a final note, I will say how proud I was of Reese who was very classy and respectful. She likes Mr. Cumberback and I will say, I liked him too. But this kind of thinking (in my opinion) has got to stop. I am not sure what we can do, but I felt I should share and get the opinion of my friends here on social media.
I am not calling out Moultrie Middle, I have heard these stories about other schools in Charleston County and some much worse. I understand there has to be a line, but shouldn't the emphasis be on teaching our sons to be gentlemen and focus on their school work, not how much skin our daughters are showing?
It really is hard enough to raise girls to have positive self esteem and a good body image without worrying that they are being shamed by their teachers and administrators. Everyone has different body shapes and it is sad to think that girls who may be more developed are called out because of how they look in their clothes, this is just plain wrong. Please Share.
Please SHARE if you believe that Reese's outfit wasn't inappropriate, and if you commend this mom for calling out the school for embarrassing her young daughter!
