Schools banning skirts.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and lays eggs . . .

Ok,so we ban skirts to protect the girls modesty or whatever. How soon before we have to cover their arms,faces necks in case it inflames boys uncontrollable passions?
Women have always worn skirts,look back in history.
As another poster pointed out it took us ages to get the right to wear trousers.
We are supposed to have been liberated and yet we are now going backward.
I don't get it!

Teetime I am totally in agreement with you, I thought gender neutral mean't everybody could wear what they like. My granddaughter wears trousers some days and a skirt other days. She looks beautiful in both.

For all of human history so far it has been relatively easy to tell whether a person is male or female. Suddenly, with self-identifying, it has become potentially difficult, as shown by pinkjj's story.

I think the onus is on the self-identifiers to make clear what their self-identity is that day, rather than on everyone else. People can't be blamed for thinking someone who most definitely looks (sounds, moves, etc) like a female is not a male.

love skirts and dresses and being feminine

I wear trousers nearly all the time. It does not make me any less feminine than I've always been by virtue of my genes and feminine physique.

Hmm... "feminine physique". How to define? How even to define "feminine"? We are definitely going down a rabbit hole with this stuff.

J52. Totally agree with you. Why should we be dictated to by a minority? It’s ludicrous!

I know gender and age and other social factors are is a social construction I am a sociology lecturer and have been teaching this stuff for years, but surely, as Weber said there has be to some form of common symbols in identity in order for humans make sense of their social world and intact with it accordingly? .
Making every one wear trousers is not actually gender neutral.

still using male pronouns

I'm not quite sure what I feel on this one as I can see both points of view.

Bearing in mind the hot weather we're having at the moment, I would have thought skirts would be more welcome than trousers. And both the secondary girls schools I attended had a winter and a summer uniform (do they still do that?). The summer uniform was a dress, which would be much cooler and more comfortable in hot weather. But I can see that it is unfair if girls have a choice but boys do not. I suppose both sexes could wear a sort of lightweight Bermuda shorts.

It's not an issue that I find myself getting too upset about though.

FarNorth Thank you for your comment however that is not correct as the teacher had said "Today for the fate he has chosen to be a girl and is using a female idenity which is why he looks like he has dressed like a a girl normally would. He May wish to change his clothes and hair later today and idenify as a boy . We must allow for fluidity when it is required" . Her very words still pronouns. Sorry but I admit I was confused.

It would be gender neutral to say that all pupils have the choice of wearing either a skirt or trousers.

pinkjj27, if the child said 'I am a boy' he was clearly identifying as a boy in a pink princess dress that day, so male pronouns were appropriate.
But, how you are supposed to know that, just from seeing the child, I've no idea.

Upskirting is covertly taking photos of underwear, it can't happen accidentally!

Grannygravy The private school discipline system is simple 'stick to the rules, or we throw you out'.

Some schools around here wear skirts and some wear trousers. In both cases, the schools allow both but the girls decide what is going to be the norm. If the girls aren't wearing leggings with the skirts, they normally wear shorts. They are very aware of the upskirting issue in their own way but have made a choice which satisfies them.

Girls wear skirts and dresses out of school and will do so after they leave. Schools do not have the right to take that choice from them.

I totally agree with trousers for both boys and girls - men and women almost always wear trousers at least some of the time. I've seen the schoolgirls in my local area and their skirts barely cover their ass - this is inapppropriate and trousers are eminently suitable for all sexes. As for larger girls, of which I was one, the right trousers are far more flattering than a skirt. This said, I'm getting really fed up of pandering to a tiny minority at the expense of the majority!

I went to a school fate on saturday with my grandaughter. she had a go on a tombola and won some sweets. Say thank you to the little girl I said. I am a boy said the child about 7/8. Then the other child said he is a boy . The boy had long black hair and was wearing a dress with the word princess on and pretty pink shoes . The teacher came over and really told me off in front of my grand child and said the boy is gender fluid and decides which gender he wants to be when he wants ( I thought it was ironic that he and the the teacher were saying he and boy although the child was clearly identifying as a girl that day. My granddaughter was very confused . I guess by banning skirts they are trying to deal with certain issues. personally I love skirts and dresses and being feminine and equality. I think issues of inequality and upskirting are deeper issues and should be deal with rather than masking the issue with a ban.

It won’t belong before being politically correct will become the new authortiranisum. Very scary.

I don’t agree with banning skirts,I believe there should be a choice.
I must admit to living in jeans,trousers, cut offs, with special occasion dresses,skirts.

We should be concentrating on stopping such behaviour as upskirting not telling females that they are no longer allowed to wear a female item of clothing. Why should girls be penalised by restricting their right to wear a skirt? If we're worried re LBGTQ rights then again I say why penalise girls wanting to wear a skirt for the very few LGBTQ who actually might well also want to wear skirts. What next the burka???

Once again the majority are being lead by the minority. A friend's 7 year-old son came home from school saying 'I'm gay and I'm proud'. His mother gently asked him what he meant and he replied that his teacher had told the boys that if they are gay they should be proud. He had no idea what 'gay' meant.

We all wore very short skirts (with ankle socks and navy knickers - such a good look!) when I was at school, but it was an all girls school so the question of boys or masters seeing our knickers didn't arise.

I think trousers are much more practical for a lot of the things you do at school.

Whilst not normally a fan of banning things, to me, it makes sense for pupils to wear trousers ( for all.)
Certain things are banned at various schools anyway, such as certain hairstyles, jewellery, face studs etc and I think if a pupil tried to smuggle in a bar of chocolate, all the alarms would go off.?

And the girls were still allowed to go around in bum-skimming tight skirts over not very thick tights.

All very stupid.

Hear, hear! grannygravy. The independent school near us has kilted skirts as the girls' uniform. Knee length is adhered to.

I did have a conversation with Minibaggs's secondary school 'guidance' teacher when she was only eleven. He had told her off for wearing leggings under her skirt rather than tights. I think he was misinterpreting the rule about no leggings: it meant no leggings if that's all you were wearing on your lower half. If you wear a skirt over leggings it's essentially no different from wearing thick tights. but he was a stickler for rigid rules.

My son is a Prefect at his school and they are expected to reinforce the uniform code. He has to be in School early once a week so that they inspect everyone on the way in to ensure they are dressed correctly. The Prefects ask the younger pupils to dress properly and those that fail to do so, get dealt with by the staff. On the whole the system works very well but every now and then we get a letter home reminding us of the rules. There is a Pupil's Uniform Council so the pupils get a say in what they would like to happen. Next year, the uniform is changing to allow girls to wear trousers and the boys can wear smart suits (strictly regulated) just like the girls have historically done, when they get to 6th form. These were changes suggested by the pupils.