PEWAUKEE, Wis. — A suburban Milwaukee school district is requiring all students wearing a dress to next month’s homecoming dance to submit pictures of their outfit before they can buy tickets, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
According to the Pewaukee School District, the policy is aimed at keeping students from being turned away from the event for showing too much skin.
Superintendent Mike Cady told the Journal Sentinel the rule has been in place since January of 2015.
But a reminder email that went out last week week upset some parents and students. Many called it sexist and micromanaging, the paper reported.
“The girls are essentially being held responsible for the wayward thoughts (administrators) think boys have,” Rebecca Sheperd, whose daughter is a freshman at the school, told the paper.
“They’re being told, ‘You are the problem,'” she said. “These are the roots of rape culture, frankly.”
Cady doesn’t believe the policy is sexist.
“It’s really out of a sensitivity to our students,” he told the Journal Sentinel. “We want (school dances) to be a positive experience. We don’t want anyone to show up and have to be sent home because of a dress-code violation.”
