Teenager Suspended For Wearing Shorts Fights Back With Epic Anti-Slut Shaming Posters

lindsey stocker headshotI think I’ve found my new hero. A high school student in Montreal has started a revolution of sorts after refusing to change out of a pair of denim shorts that her school had deemed too short. Now, I’m sure I will hear a chorus of “those are the rules, you have to follow the rules, BLAH blah blah” but I think that’s a bullshit excuse to create bullshit, sexist rules that only target young women. How about, instead of forcing girls to wear long pants on the hottest day of the year, you tell young men to stop sexualizing girls every waking moment of the damn day? And this is exactly the point Lindsey Stocker is trying to make.

Last week, Lindsey, who is in grade 11 at Beaconsfield High School, threw on a pair of perfectly acceptable (at least in my opinion) shorts on the hottest day of the season, and was quickly asked to change by the school’s vice principal.

lindsey stocker shorts
YouTube

Instead of complying, Lindsey printed out a set of flyers questioning why young women’s bodies were being attacked instead of young men’s behavior. I think she’s got a damn good point.

lindsey stocker poster
Twitter

According to Lindsey’s interview with the National Post:

“When they came to me after about two rows of looking they stopped and told me my shorts were too short and I had to change. They continued to tell me would be suspended if I didn’t start following the rules. When I told them I didn’t understand why I had to change they told me that it doesn’t matter – I don’t have to understand the rules, I just have to comply by them.”

Lindsey goes on to say that she felt “singled out and humiliated” in front of her peers. Because of course she did. They did all this in front of the fucking class. I think THAT caused more commotion than if they had let her be. If the boys weren’t looking before, they certainly are now. Hence Lindsey’s poster campaign.

Of course, the posters lasted about 10 minutes before being taken down, but we live in the Facebook Age where nothing is temporary, so they can easily be found on social media. And she’s won the support of many of her fellow female students, including Lauren Paquay, who told CJAD News that she feels that the “dress code verification,” which consists of forcing girls to publicly stand up with their arms at their sides to make sure their fingertips don’t go beyond the hem of the shorts, is “humiliating.” Because of course it fucking is. That’s the point of it, which is why it should be put to rest. What is this, 1952?

Susanne Stein Day, a spokesperson for the Lester B. Pearson School Board told CJAD News that Lindsey has been suspended for “not following the rules.” They went on to say that:

“The rules are there to help the children learn and prepare them for their future work places, high school is a job for them, they are there to learn to function in society, so it’s important that the rules be followed. Girls and boys have rules on dress codes; it is not a girl, boy thing, that’s not the point.”

Except we all know that this is bullshit. Dress code rules are always a “girl, boy thing.” Always. As a boy, you basically have to show up with curse words or gang symbols on your shirt to get in trouble. Meanwhile, as a girl, you can be asked to change for the stupidest reasons. Your straps are a fraction of an inch too thin? Get the eff outta here! Your shorts go a fraction of an inch beyond your fingertips? Let’s publicly humiliate you and take you out of class. Because boys will be boys, you slutty McSlut-sluts!

It’s not like this kid showed up to school in a negligee or booty shorts. She was wearing a pair of perfectly acceptable shorts. This is exactly the type of thing that allows slut shaming and rape culture to flourish. It’s time that we stop shaming women for GASP, having bodies, and start telling men and boys that women aren’t sexual objects to be policed and consumed. Period.

(Photo: YouTube)

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