A Moncton, N.B., teen is speaking out against her school’s “unjust” dress code after getting detention for wearing a full length halter dress to school on Monday. The grade 12 student later received a one-day suspension after submitting an open letter complaining to her vice principal.
Taking her anger out on Facebook, Lauren Wiggins, 17, posted the picture of the halter dress she wore to Harrison Trimble High School earlier this week that earned her a ticket to detention. According to her post, the dress that reveals her shoulders, upper back and bra straps, was deemed too “inappropriate” and a “sexual distraction” to her male classmates.
“I’m tired of the unjust standards that we as women are held up to. I’m tired of the discrimination against our bodies, and I’m absolutely fed up with comments that make us feel like we can’t be comfortable without being provocative,” Wiggins wrote. “It’s time to change the worlds mindset.”
In her post, Wiggins also included a picture of the open letter she wrote to her principal, Shane Sturgeon, in response to the discipline she received for wearing her dress. Her letter ended up earning her a one-day suspension.
“If you are truly so concerned that a boy in this school will get distracted by my upper back and shoulders then he needs to be sent home and practice self control,” she wrote. “The fact that authority figures, especially males, can tell young women they must cover up their shoulders and their back because it is ‘inappropriate’ and ‘a distraction’ is very uncomforting.”
“The double standard here is that when we try, we are then told we’re wrong. We may not truly dress, act or speak how we want because authority figures, and I use that term very loosely such as yourself, tell us we can’t.”
Since Monday, the post has garnered a lot of support with over 200 likes and over a 1,000 shares on Facebook. Even the teen’s parents chime in, saying they saw nothing wrong with their daughter’s choice in clothing.
“I saw your outfit this morning and there is nothing ‘provocative’ about it,” wrote Paul Wiggins, the teen’s dad.
“She wore it to a job interview and was hired, and told how nice she looked, so, I mean, what’s wrong with that?” added Cindy Wiggins, her mother.
Despite the overwhelming online support, the school’s dress code does have a clear stance on the matter. According to the school website, their policy states that that “shirts exposing shoulders and/or backs and/or midriffs (spaghetti straps, tube tops, halter tops)” are simply not allowed.
I’m going to start off by sounding like an old fuddy-duddy…get proper foundation garments if you’re wearing a halter/strapless dress!!! i hate seeing bra straps!!!
but other than that, wtf? teenage boys get hard ons pouring milk on their cereal, for pete’s sake. if a boy is distracted by a shoulder then i agree completely with her…go home and practice self control. it’s a s-h-o-u-l-d-e-r. Now, that being said it is in the “dress code” but that seems antiquated to me….what is wrong with a back?