Texas high school apologises after 'sexist' dress code clip goes viral

A Texas head teacher has apologised after a "sexist" dress code video, which discouraged female students from wearing sports shorts to school, went viral.

On 16 August, Marcus High School students were shown the clip in assembly. In the clip, M.I.A’s song 'Bad Girls' plays while a group of teen girls walk through the school in clothes deemed “too revealing”.

They eventually cross paths with an adult who sends them to a classroom labelled “dress code violators” to repent their sins.

The students are then forced to repeat the phrase “I will not wear athletic shorts”, which is written on the white board.

She later said:

This is oversexualisation. We're not okay with this, we're not going to just let it happen and sit on the sidelines

Twitter users outside the school community, and across the world, voiced support for the female students and branded the video “sexist”.

Head teacher Will Skelton eventually issued an apology, which read:

I apologised to our students regarding this issue today, but wanted to reach out and apologise to parents as well. I'm a firm believer that when you make a mistake, you own it, you apologise, and you make it right”

Yesterday we showed a dress code video that featured only female dress code violations, and was accompanied by a poor song choice. Construction in and around the campus prevented us from holding student orientation, which is typically accompanied by a fashion show that demonstrates what to wear, and what not to wear. We believed a video would be a good way to replace the fashion show, but this video absolutely missed the mark

Moving forward, the dress code states that female identifying students “may wear long pants of appropriate length, skirts or shorts of appropriate length, at or about mid-thigh or longer".

H/T: Fox

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