The principal of Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas has apologized to parents after a video which was intended to showcase the school’s dress code drew massive criticism.
Many have stated that the premise of the video is sexist, as it only portrays female students violating the dress code
The video begins with a shot of teen girls walking through the school’s hallways while wearing shorts as M.I.A.’s song “Bad Girls” plays in the background.
A faculty member confronts the students and leads them into a classroom which is labeled “dress code violators.”
A whiteboard in the classroom reads “I will not wear athletic shorts.” A teacher then directs the students’ attention to the message written on the board and states, “Repeat after me: I will not wear athletic shorts.”
The girls are shown repeating the phrase in unison.
The video was shown on Thursday to around 3,000 students. A 17-year-old senior named Catherina Moring tweeted the footage. The video has currently been viewed over 300,000 times.
Today my school was shown this video. So sad how ONLY girls are shown as the violators. I understand why my school has a dresscode, but what about the boys who wear shorts, or show their shoulders? It’s 2018…Why are we still over-sexualizing teen girls? pic.twitter.com/fCXymYAIEG
— cat (@catmoring) August 16, 2018
Moring posed the video on Twitter with this caption:
“Today my school was shown this video. So sad how ONLY girls are shown as the violators. I understand why my school has a dress code, but what about the boys who wear shorts, or show their shoulders? It’s 2018…Why are we still over-sexualizing teen girls?”
Moring believes that the video is blatantly sexist.
“The first thing that came to mind was the blatant sexism and lack of diversity,” she said. “Not only were there no boys but there were no people of color, plus-sized individuals or people that identify as gender non-binary; all people who wear athletic shorts.”
She continues:
“My issue was never the fact that my school wanted us to have a dress code. My issue was the fact that nobody in administration or the student body involved was able to see this video before they showed it to everyone, and recognize that this shouldn’t be shown.”
However, she is still hopeful that the outcry that the video has provoked will lead to a positive change. She stated:
“I never did this with the intention that it would gain national attention. Seeing people from around the globe interact and agree with me on Twitter has made me so hopeful for the future.”
Will Skelton, the principal of Marcus High School, apologized to parents on Friday in the form of a letter.
Skelton acknowledged that the video missed its mark. He stated that it was a poor decision to play the “Bad Girls” song during the video. He also conceded that it singled out one group of students.
Here’s the full letter:
Aug. 17, 2018
Marcus Parents,
I apologized to our students regarding this issue today, but wanted to reach out and apologize to parents as well. I’m a firm believer that when you make a mistake, you own it, you apologize, 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.
Please accept my sincere apology for not ensuring our video achieved its intended purpose — to remind ALL students of our dress code expectations.
If you want to visit with me about this or any other concern you may have, my door is always open.
Sincerely,
Will Skelton
Principal, Marcus High School
Featured Image via Wikimedia Commons
