Who Wears Short Skirts?
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.
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.
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