"Distracting" is apparently a female-only characteristic

An assistant principal at the Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte, NC, had to apologize for implying his female dance students who wear spandex outside of class were teases and that the consequences were their fault:
"He explained that wearing leotards and tights in public places around the school would motivate the men to rape us," said the petition posted by a student and signed by dozens of others who attended the assembly. "He went on to say that once you are raped, you will be the talk of the town all because you chose to dress promiscuous."
Also
style="font-size: 12px;" face="Arial"> In his explanations, he went into great detail that girls dressed "provocatively" in dance wear is a distraction to many of the other students, as well as construction workers that routinely work repairs to the school.
This last bit about being a distraction is what they always fall back on.  Supposedly no we're not saying you're doing anything "wrong"!  Heavens no!  Just that you're "distracting" other people by being all sexy and female and shit. 

And supposedly men don't distract women because they don't dress like Fabio with an open shirt and exposed biceps.

Well let me tell you.  There are dozens of distractions out there.  That includes people dressed like they're nine-year-olds in sports clothing or Garanimals.  That includes people dressed in colors that don't exist in nature and don't combine so well with each other.  That includes people with weird haircuts.  People with annoying verbal habits.  People who tell stupid jokes and stories over and over and over.  People who wiggle in their seats.  People who have post nasal drip and make little throat clearing noises three times a minute all day.

So if we are dealing with all of that, you can deal with the fact that we have secondary sex characteristics that might not elude your notice.  Being female and having a female body is not a crime and doesn't need to be hidden. 

Posted by oldfeminist at 1/7/2012 8:17 PM
Categories: blaming the victim, school, education, rape, bodies, victim blaming, youth, entitled white males, male as default
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this post
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
  • No comments exist for this post.
Leave a comment

Submitted comments are subject to moderation before being displayed.

 Enter the above security code (required)

 Name (required)

 Email (will not be published) (required)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.