Who Wears Short Skirts?

[callmemadam]

News today that St Aidan's Church of England High School in Harrogate has banned skirts because girls are ‘putting themselves at risk’ by wearing them too short.

On the one hand, my hackles rise at the suggestion that by dressing in a particular way women and girls are 'asking to be raped'. On the other I remember an occasion when I was walking along with my then very young daughter, who was wearing short shorts. I had that sudden creepy feeling of being watched; looking around I saw a lorry driver sitting in his cab, staring. To my horror, it was my little girl he was looking at. I walked on with a calm demeanour and a racing heart.

Mini skirts came in when I was a gel at school. One day, our Head Girl came into the prefects' common room and collapsed in a fit of giggles. She had been summoned to the Headmistress's study and then immediately instructed to kneel down. This surprised her somewhat. Our revered (not) head then produced a tape measure and measured what she considered a decent distance from knee to skirt hem and the edict went forth. We, of course, found this killingly funny. For us, short skirts were nothing to do with sexiness or empowerment (whatever rubbish people may say now about the sixties) and everything to do with fashion. No matter what your legs were like, a long skirt marked you out as a frump.

So is this school right or wrong in imposing its skirt ban? I can't decide so here's the song.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I think traditional length kilts and hand knitted Fair Isle jumpers are probably the answer. If the boys don't want to wear kilts, they can have good thick cords : )

I think it's so depressing to think that the only acceptable, 'safe' clothing is black polyester trousers, in school *and* at work.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Those trousers are grim. When our local middle school gave girls the option of wearing trousers, I was pleased, thinking it gave them more freedom. Then I thought they looked nicer in skirts!
I love the idea of the boys in kilts.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

He'd have been a hopeless judge of Rear of the Year, then!

[lurpak.livejournal.com]

oh dear, some things never change! My school tried to ban short skirts, and now we get letters from my daughter's school asking that girls wear skirts no shorter than 2" above the knee. Most girls take no notice of course. Same goes for the "discreet makeup, for years 10 and 11 only" rule. Most school trousers for girls are horrible, and they grow out of them so quickly anyway.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Let them find a way of stopping the girls turning over the waistband! I'm a bit shocked they would wear make-up to school. Showing my age, there.

Who wears short skirts

[(Anonymous)]

My daughter is in Year 11 at another school in Harrogate which regards St Aidans as its main rival, and I can't tell you the amusement that this ruling has caused!
Her school got round this problem a few years ago with a decree that from the new Year 7's onwards, uniform skirts and trousers could only be bought from a specific stockist and since the skirts are pleated, there is no way that they can either be turned up or rolled up at the waist without it being very obvious which seems to have had the desired effect.
As my daughter walks to and from school most days, she prefers to wear trousers anyway and fortunately for her she was in Yr 8 at the time and so escaped the ruling because the uniform trousers are horribly unflattering!

Re: Who wears short skirts

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Ha, straight from the horse's mouth.
Consensus so far appears to be that girls' school trousers are revolting! No one ever mentions that with those very short skirts you must wear decent tights. Expensive!

short skirts

[(Anonymous)]

As a parent of children attending St Aidans I'm glad that the excuse for a skirt has met its demise. Sadly the blanket ban does impact on those that have worn the correct uniform. Now looking forward with anticipation for any action to wipe off orange make up/crotches to the knees. Let them be children and not compliant to media stereotypes.

[(Anonymous)]

In high school, we had to kneel and the skirts had to hit the floor. No uniforms - just regular skirts. Seems so very mild these days when pants are so very low on the waist, and cleavage is just normal. I often wonder how girls will look back at old pictures where their bellies are hanging out over their low pants. I have a few cringe moments at the things I used to wear. Those mini skirts were really short!

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

Hah, I wore ankle length skirts to school, and a tank top instead of a jumper. I used to wonder why the other kids thought I was a bit odd...

I think that school uniforms probably need to be quite plain - school's not the place for glamour. However, I don't think the way a female dresses should ever be taken as an excuse for a man to help himself; a nice window display is no excuse for shoplifting.

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Well put!