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There's no way to defend disqualifying a champion high school swimmer over a wedgie

I mean, come on.

Photo by Marcus Ng on Unsplash

I almost couldn't believe this story when I read it this morning. Almost. But when it comes to women's bodies and puritanical pearl-clutching, there's not much that surprises me anymore.

Here's a very brief synopsis of the story as reported in the Washington Post:

A high school swimming champion in Alaska exited the pool after beating her competitors, but instead of being awarded her hard-earned first prize, she was disqualified. Why? Because her swimsuit was riding too far up her butt.

Yes, seriously.

A referee at the swim meet saw more cheek than she could handle, apparently. Nevermind that the girl being disqualified for her swimwear was wearing the same school-issued suit as her teammates. Nevermind that women's bodies come in all shapes and sizes and that some of our derrieres try to devour our clothing every time we move. Nevermind the fact that Speedos contour to every curve of a dude's penis and testicles and no one ever complains.

RELATED: A man told women they shouldn't wear yoga pants. So they threw a yoga pants parade.

As a wide-hipped woman, I take this personally. It took me years—years—to find a brand of underwear that didn't ride up my rear every time I walked. I'm super frugal by nature, but I buy ridiculously expensive panties with thin rubber lines on the cheeks because they're the only ones I've ever found that don't give me a wedgie. (Sorry, TMI but true.)

If I were to swim the length of a swimming pool in any swimsuit that wasn't shorts, you'd be seeing some serious cheek action when I got out. Might as well be wearing a thong. Can't keep my bum covered unless I'm standing perfectly still. That's what wide hips and a big butt do to a girl. C'est la vie.

To disqualify a swimmer because her swimsuit rode up and she didn't immediately fix it upon exiting the water? That's ridiculous. There's just so much wrong with it:

1) Let's just stop sexualizing young female athletes, shall we? Can we all agree to try that for a while?

2) The first thought a swimmer who has just kicked butt in competition should have after exiting the water is, "Yes, I kicked butt!" not "What does my butt look like right now?"

3) If the school issued the suit, and the suit was found to meet the requirements for competition beforehand, the way the suit behaves on a woman's body while she's doing her sport should not disqualify her. Why does this need to be said?

4) Apparently, this swimmer was the only mixed race girl in the competition, and has a "curvier" build than most. Women with African ancestry often have curvier bottoms, and to penalize a woman for that can easily be seen as racism.

5) IT WAS A FLIPPIN' WEDGIE. Wedgies happen. Get over it.

If seeing some cheek really is an issue, why don't they require female swimmers to wear suits that go down onto the thighs like most men wear in the Olympics? Or—and I'm just spitballing here—WHY DON'T WE STOP POLICING WOMEN'S BODIES ALTOGETHER?

RELATED: It's time to stop policing women's clothing and start raising our expectations of men.

The Anchorage School District has issued a statement explaining that the referee's decision is currently being reviewed. According to the statement, the swimmer's coach tried to contest the referee's ruling at the meet and was it was denied.

Honest to goodness, if they don't un-disqualify that girl, someone needs to organize a Freddy Mercury-style fat-bottomed-girls-on-bicycles protest. We don't deserve to be disqualified over wedgies we can't help.

Update: Upon appeal of the referees's ruling, the Alaska School Activities Association has reversed the disqualification and reinstated the swimmer's win in the meet. Good—but still crappy that it happened in the first place.

swimming

A high school principal created a dress code for parents. It's being called racist and sexist.

Parents whose children attend James Madison High School were taken aback when they received a letter from Principal Carlotta Outley Brown outlining a strict dress code they needed to adhere to while on school grounds.

“We are preparing your child for a prosperous future,” Brown wrote. “We want them to know what is appropriate and what is not appropriate for any setting they may be in.”

The list of banned items was pretty extensive. It included satin caps, bonnets, shower caps, hair rollers, pajamas or any pajama-looking attire, jeans “torn from your buttocks to all the way down showing lots of skin,” leggings “showing your bottom and where your body is not covered from the front or back,” very low cut or revealing tops, sagging pants, shorts or jeans, Daisy Dukes, low rider shorts, undershirts on men and dresses that are “up to your behind.”

According to reports, the letter was provoked after a mother was kicked off the school campus by an administrator for her ensemble.

Joselyn Lewis was unable to register her daughter for school, after showing up on campus wearing a Marilyn Monroe t-shirt dress and headscarf — an item commonly worn by black women to protect their hair.

Mother claims she wasn't allowed to enroll daughter in school due to outfit https://t.co/uzLGoRtvPd #kprc2 #HouNews
— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC 2 Houston) 1554778801.0

“[Principal Brown] went on to say that she still couldn’t let me on the premises because I was not in dress code and I still didn’t understand what that meant,” Lewis told Click 2 Houston. “She said that my headscarf was out of dress code and my dress was too short.”

Lewis said she was in the headscarf because she was in the process of getting her hair done, but pointed out that there are other reasons people might wear them.

“I’m not saying that it’s a part of my religion, but it could have been, but I just wanted to have it up. Who are you to say that I can’t wear my hair up? In a scarf? Who are you to tell me how to dress?” she continued.

Many people, including Zeph Capo, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, can understand why racy clothing should be banned from schools. However, he finds this particular policy “a little classist” in nature.

"Having body parts exposed is one thing. Turning someone away because their hair's in rollers ... is a little ridiculous," he told CNN. "This is an issue of a principal issuing a dictatorial edict rather than having substantive conversation."

@CNRush A parent dress code???? Anti Blackness jumps through every hoop
— Prime Mamaguy Material 🇩🇲 (@Prime Mamaguy Material 🇩🇲) 1556128448.0

Social media, as well as mass media, has been on fire debating the issue. Some claim that imposing these specific dress code violations is racist (note that the principal herself is black) while others deem it sexist, as most of the dress code restrictions are targeted at women. Several also point out that the school should be focusing on education rather than policing parents on dress code.

Dear Houston High School, Parenthood is hard. Life is hard. We're all just doing the best we can. Please worry abou… https://t.co/yVxmUk6ZAl
— Danielle Christensen (@Danielle Christensen) 1556217423.0

Imagine your school has an average ACT score of 13 and you are focused on a black parent wearing a bonnet. Just cal… https://t.co/szAGjU3Sxv
— Nia Educational (@Nia Educational) 1556214518.0

One woman, a PhD, noted that white women are rarely banned for wearing tight yoga pants to pick-up and drop-off.

I’ll stop here but let me add one last thing: I want all y’all to realize that nobody says anything about Becky™️ w… https://t.co/MW9d9oDNfv
— Roni Burren, Ph.D. (@Roni Burren, Ph.D.) 1556115180.0

This isn’t the first time a dress code has been deemed racist or sexist in nature.

Back in 2017, Chicago restaurant and bar, Bottled Blonde, came under fire for issuing a dress code policy that many felt targeted black people. “No excessively Baggie [sic], Sagging, Ripped, Dirty, Frayed, Overly Flashy, or Bright clothing,” “No plain white tees, long tees, denim, flannel (not even around one’s waist)” “No gang attire...no camouflage,” and “shorts must be no longer than one inch past your knees,” were just a few of the items that ignited controversy.

And in 2016, three girls at a North Carolina private school revolted against a dress code requiring them to wear skirts to school or risk punishment. After creating and circulating a petition, the rules were overturned when a judge found the dress code unconstitutional.

“The skirts requirement causes the girls to suffer a burden the boys do not, simply because they are female,” wrote US District Judge Malcolm Harris on March 28 in response to the 2016 ACLU lawsuit against the Charter Day School in Leland.

Thankfully, there’s organization working to create a model school dress code that’s meant to be entirely inclusive.

In February 2016, Oregon NOW (National Organization of Women) created a dress code that wouldn’t marginalize or oppress any group based on gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, household income, gender identity or cultural observance.

The basic principle is that certain body parts should be covered — genitals, buttocks and nipples — but that cleavage is okay. Most clothing is allowed, however items banned include anything with words or images promoting violence, drugs and alcohol, hate speech, profanity or pornography, or anything promoting a hostile environment. Visible underwear, bathing suits and helmets that obscure the face are also prohibited.

“Oregon NOW created this Model Dress Code to help school districts update and improve their student dress code policies and enforcement processes,” policymakers explained.

“Student dress codes should support equitable educational access and should not reinforce gender stereotypes. Student dress codes and administrative enforcement should not reinforce or increase marginalization or oppression of any group based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, household income, gender identity or cultural observance.”

From Your Site Articles

A North Carolina school required girls to wear skirts as part of their uniform. Two years ago, three female students decided to take a stand against the outdated code.

Keely Burks, 14, and the oldest of the three, created a petition asking her school to change its policy requiring the female students to wear skirts or risk punishment, which under the school’s policy could include calling parents, removing them from class and possibly expulsion. She herself had been punished for wearing shorts and was forced to “sit in the office all day” until her mother came to pick her up.

Burks explained that wearing skirts was a burden early on in her education. They kept her from sitting cross-legged like the boys, do cartwheels at recess or play soccer.

“My friends and I got more than 100 signatures on our petition, but it was taken from us by a teacher and we never got it back,” the eighth grader said in a post on the ACLU website. She continued by explaining that a few parents asked about changing the policy, but the school refused to hear them, claiming that making girls wear skirts promotes “chivalry” and “traditional values.”

The girls weren’t deterred. Instead of dropping the issue, they asked the ACLU to step in.

The human rights organization obliged, filing a lawsuit claiming the policy “violates the law and discriminates against girls.”

We're proud to represent Keely in a lawsuit filed last year. #InternationalWomensDay https://t.co/yEi73m0UUZ
— ACLU of North Carolina (@ACLU of North Carolina) 1489022520.0

In their lawsuit, the group pointed out the obvious: that forcing girls to wear skirt was not only a distraction from academics, but also made it hard for them to engage in physical activity, sometimes resulting in discomfort and them being unnecessarily cold.

What gave the lawsuit weight was this is far from an isolated situation. Many girls across the United States are required to wear skirts as part of their school uniform.

However, the recent ruling on the ACLU’s case, courtesy of a North Carolina judge could change that.

“In the year 2016, I don’t think anyone should have a problem with young women wearing pants,” said Burks in the ACLU post. “There are so many professional women – businesswomen, doctors, and world leaders – who wear pants every day.”

Judge Harris found no merit to the school’s claims supporting the sexist uniform rules, slamming the policy in his ruling.

“The plaintiffs in this case have shown that the girls are subject to a specific clothing requirement that renders them unable to play as freely during recess, requires them to sit in an uncomfortable manner in the classroom, causes them to be overly focused on how they are sitting, distracts them from learning, and subjects them to cold temperatures on their legs and/or uncomfortable layers of leggings under their knee-length skirts in order to stay warm, especially moving outside between classrooms at the school,” he wrote. “Defendants have offered no evidence of any comparable burden on boys.”

While parents were supportive of the ruling, they were a little disturbed by the fact that getting the policy changed required an intervention by the legal system. “We're happy the court agrees," one of mothers, Bonnie Peltier, explained in a statement provided by the ACLU, "but it's disappointing that it took a court order to force the school to accept the simple fact that, in 2019, girls should have the choice to wear pants."

Hopefully this ruling will inspire other schools with similarly old-fashioned dress codes to reconsider their own policies, giving young women the same opportunities to dress as comfortably as their male counterparts. Gender equality may still have a long way to go, but giving young women the right to wear clothing on par with young men in 2019 should be a no-brainer.

Tired of being humiliated, these girls fought the school dress code. And won.

Four middle-schoolers sat at the podium. Poised. Confident. Ready to challenge the Portland Public Schools board on its dress code.

Four students from Portland, Oregon, testified in front of the board in May 2015. Image via PPS Communications/YouTube.

AnaLuiza, a seventh-grader, told a story of a friend who was pulled aside one day for wearing a skirt deemed to be too short. The friend sat in the principal's office for hours while the staff tried to get ahold of her parents. She missed important classwork, and worse yet, felt humiliated by the ordeal.

"The only reason I go to school is to get my education," AnaLuiza told the board. "When I get dressed in the morning, my intention is not to provoke or be sexualized. My intention is to feel comfortable in my own skin."

Sophia, also in seventh grade at the time, spoke last. "My problem with the dress code is that 100% of the students that get sent home are female. ... In a way, you're telling [a girl] that boys are more entitled to their education than she is. And I don't think that's acceptable."

They were absolutely right. Because if you're a preteen or teenage girl in America, you can get a dress code violation for almost anything: showing your midriff, shoulder, collarbone, leg, bra strap, or, in some cases, for just wearing something as harmless as spaghetti straps.

Stephanie Hughes of Kentucky was cited for a dress code violation for this outfit, which sometimes shows her collarbone. Photo by Stacie Dunn, used with permission.

Girls who violate their schools' dress codes are accused of being distractions and are often humiliated in front of their classmates.

They're then either sent home to change (missing valuable class time) or forced to cover up with "shame clothes," like old sweatpants that have been lying around the guidance counselor's office for who knows how long.

This has been a problem for years, and a particularly frustrating one to solve. Almost everyone agrees schools need some kind of dress code, but almost no one can agree on what that should look like.

Deanna Wolf of Alabama says her 15-year-old daughter missed an entire class period simply for wearing leggings and a loose-fitting shirt. Photos by Deanna Wolf, used with permission.

But now, thanks to these brave Portland students and a couple of key community members, we might finally be making some progress.

The school board, to the surprise of many, agreed the dress code needed fixing. But that didn't mean it would be easy.

A committee was formed, including Sophia (one of the girls who testified in front of the board), parents, teachers, and other community leaders. Lisa Frack, president of the Oregon chapter of the National Organization of Women, and a parent, was one of them.

Frack said some issues were easy to fix, like the ban on spaghetti straps. That was quick to go. Others? Not so much.

There was plenty of back-and-forth. Are short shorts OK? How about cleavage? What about all of the subtle (and not-so-subtle) policies that unfairly target students of color?

Marian Wilson-Reed of Texas says her 9-year-old daughter was pulled out of class because school administrators thought her natural hairstyle looked like a mohawk, which was against the rules. Photo by Marian Wilson-Reed, used with permission.

Then there was the issue of enforcement. Although hopefully, with the new dress code, there would be fewer violations, the committee wanted to find ways to eliminate shaming and missed class time for students who broke the rules.

Despite debate on some of these specific issues, Frack said, the conversation always came back to the same basic point.

Some board members "felt like they wanted a little line in there reminding everyone that this is a learning institution. But that's exactly what we're trying to get away from," Frack said. "We don't want to link clothing and learning. ... You can't learn math better or worse whether you have a tie on or a collared shirt or a tank top."

"We're going to basically have people covering what you have to do to not be naked."

The final approved dress code, one of only a few like it in the U.S., was a major improvement. But perhaps just as important was the conversation sparked by the process.

Gone was phrasing that specifically targeted bare midriffs, "plunging necklines," or "sexually suggestive clothing." The new, gender-neutral code essentially asks that students wear a top and a bottom (or a dress), and that their clothes not show profanity or reference drugs.

It's pretty simple. But the conversations that led to this point were anything but.

"It raised the issue of people's discomfort with how girls are objectified in this country. Is it a solution to tell them to cover up?" Frack said. She even recalled some of the adult members of the advisory committee having trouble talking about things like breasts and sexuality with a straight face — which, she said, is part of the problem.

For now, though, Frack just hopes this code can serve as a model to other districts looking to get with the times. Portland just rolled out the new policy in the fall of 2016, so it remains to be seen how it'll fare — especially when the weather gets hot again.

But so far, Frack said, all she's heard from parents is how happy their kids are to be free to be themselves without judgment.

From Your Site Articles

Like many 17-year-olds, Aniya Wolf was looking forward to her junior prom.

The Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, high school student was looking forward to dancing the night away with her best friends and classmates at the May 6, 2016, formal. Aniya, who has always preferred pants to dresses, even purchased a new suit with her mom for the special occasion.

Aniya on the day of her prom. Image via ABC News/YouTube.

But things went south when administrators from her Catholic high school, Bishop McDevitt, heard Aniya was planning to wear a suit to the dance.

The school informed Aniya and her mother that if she chose to wear the suit, she would be asked to leave. The conversations and messages, which took place just hours before prom, mentioned that the dress code was clearly stated in a previous note to parents. However, Aniya's mother, Carolyn Wolf, said the dress code never explicitly stated girls had to wear dresses.

Aniya reading over the e-mail and dress code from her school. Image via ABC News/YouTube.

Carolyn even sat down with the principal that afternoon, just to see if anything else could be done. And short of making her daughter wear a dress, there wasn't.

"I can't put a dress on her any more than I could put a dress on any of my sons," Carolyn told Today. "That's not who she is."

With the dance rapidly approaching, Aniya decided to go for it and attend prom anyway. She barely made it past the ticket line before she was asked to leave by school officials who went as far as threatening to call the police.

The experience was painful and embarrassing for the teen.

"I felt humiliated, getting kicked out of prom," she told Today. "I wasn't going to hurt anybody with a suit."

Aniya, who identifies as a lesbian, feels her school is singling her out because of her sexual orientation.

"It's saying, 'We don't want you in our prom. You're a freak of nature,'" she told Today.

Aniya after being asked to leave the dance. Image via ABC27 News.

It would be easy for Aniya to feel defeated, but people across the country have rallied behind her to show their support.

Women around the country donned suits and tuxedos and shared their photos using the hashtag #suitsforaniya.

Employees at Aniya's local chapter of the YWCA were some of the first to participate.

Double bassist Lauren Pierce showed off her dashing tux.

Professional soccer player Ashlyn Harris lent her voice to the effort.

And "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" creator Rob McElhenney even asked Aniya if she wanted a guest spot on the show.

But surely, one of the best reactions came from William Penn Senior High School.

Principal Brandon Carter invited Aniya and her date to the school's prom on May 21.

"We embrace all," he said in the invite.

It may not be the prom she had in mind, but hopefully it will be a fun, welcoming, night to remember.

Hear from Aniya and her mother about their experience in this short clip from ABC News.

The biggest problem plaguing American high schools? Leggings, apparently.

Yesterday, a group of high schoolers were, um... I’m sorry. What was I saying? Oh yeah. So there’s this high school in Florida. They did ... this thing...

OK, this is getting embarrassing. I'm sorry, I'm just so distracted. I'm sure you understand.

You see, I'm writing this article from a coffee shop, and there are people wearing leggings here. LEGGINGS.

You know, those stretchy pants that people (mostly girls and women) wear on their legs. You may have heard about them in the news, because they've been scandalizing high school administrations across America.

Many schools insist that if girls wear leggings, their male colleagues — upstanding young citizens who would otherwise be diligently focused on their studies — will only be able to concentrate on their female classmates' bodies.

And yesterday, the curse of the distracting leggings struck again — this time, in Pensacola at Booker T. Washington High School.

A fed up student posted this photo on Facebook, which has been shared widely.

"Up until THIS MORNING we were allowed to wear leggings and without any prior warning every girl wearing leggings was sent to the office and they arent giving warnings, theyre SUSPENDING us for 10 days if we cant get a change of clothes or get checked out. Some of us CANT go home right now and how were we supposed to know anyway? They said we are a distraction for how we dress and we are taking away from people getting education. The only people who are getting their education taken away are the females. They said it was for boys in violation of dress code too, but there wasnt a single boy up there and I promise you there were just as many boys sagging their jeans as there were girls in leggings. Thank you for telling us that females actually arent equal to the males at Washington High School." — Amelia Martinez

According to students at the school, teachers were instructed to send all students wearing leggings to the principal's office. "Yesterday morning our principal came over the PA system. He began to talk about dress code, focusing mainly on the female body," a Washington student, Alexsys McClellan, told Upworthy.

"He told every teacher to send whoever was wearing leggings to him or the dean," she added.

An estimated 80 female students were pulled from class for wearing leggings.

Can you believe it? There were that many distractions, just walking around the school in front of everyone — "distractions" who were going to class, reading books, perhaps even studying for the SAT.

Some of the students had to call their parents and ask them to bring a change of clothes to the school. "We were there for over an hour just to deal with wearing leggings," another student told the Pensacola News Journal.

Washington High Principal Michael Roberts spoke to local radio show 1620 News Radio about the incident. "Today, sir, there was no change in the dress code. There was just enforcement of the dress code," he said. You can hear the rest of the interview here.

Within hours of the announcement, students began posting on Facebook about their disappointment with the school's decision — and they decided to take action.

"This is honestly way more distracting than leggings. That has been the only thing we have been talking about in every class," wrote one student, who should maybe consider a future career in school administration.

"I'm tired of having to change my life around to fulfill the needs of men," another girl posted. "I wake up every morning to come to a school to learn."

One student even created a Change.org petition, and McClellan wrote a letter to the school board.

The double standard is not lost on students at Washington High School. Photo by Alexsys McClellan, used with permission.

And women aren't the only ones calling out the administration. McClellan said lots of male students at Washington aren't too happy with the idea that girls should be held to different standards either.

"I'm very proud of them and how they've come together and helped us girls," she said.

"What's really distracting?" Photo by Alexsys McClellan, used with permission.

"The issue is important because we do not want to live in a society anymore where women are judged and lowered because of their gender," she said.

We couldn't have said it better ourselves, Alexsys.