High school and middle school girls in an Oregon school district protested “sexualization” earlier this school year by showing up to school in skin-baring outfits that included sports bras and bralettes.
At Southridge High School in Beaverton School District, some students came to school in lace bras that revealed their nipples paired with lingerie bottoms, according to one parent. Students also reportedly wrote slogans on their bodies and clothing such as “rape culture,” “educate your boys,” “my body,” and “my clothing choice.”
The protests at Southridge took place on Sep. 29 and 30 and Oct. 1, and about 20 students participated, a spokesperson for the Beaverton school district told The Daily Wire in an email.
“The students wore sports bras and bralettes to school; all body parts were covered,” the spokesperson said.
Parents of the more than 1,400 students at Southridge were not officially notified that the protests were occurring because the protests “did not warrant that kind of response,” the district spokesperson said.
According to one parent, the girls also accused teachers and staff who confronted them and asked them to put on a shirt of sexualizing them.
Principal David Nieslanik acknowledged the protests in an email to a parent who has a teenage son at the high school.
“I’m intrigued how this conversation was brought up today by two parents when this incident happened over a month ago,” Nieslanik wrote in an email to the parent dated November 2.
“About a month ago a group of girls came to me to talk about how they felt targeted by some staff, based on their gender and perceived sexualization of their gender,” Nieslanik continued.
“Unbeknownst to me, several weeks ago several students who identify as femme-presenting and feminine began a protest about how they feel sexualized because of their gender and attire,” the principal wrote. “Thus, they wore sports bras and such as tops. In addition, they had written words on their bodies to highlight how our greater sexualized culture portrays females and femme-presenting.”
Nieslanik took several steps including meeting again with the girls, holding an optional staff meeting, and setting up a conversation with the girls to be facilitated by an assistant principal at a regularly scheduled November staff meeting. He and the girls discussed a plan for them to wear a red top once a week instead.
Despite those efforts, the protests appeared to spread to a middle school in the district as well.
At Mountain View Middle School, a protest on Nov. 5 turned violent. Students refused to go to class, vandalized school property, created vulgar and rude signs, and students and staff were shoved to the ground.
As the day progressed and the disruption became more widespread, the school called the police.
Principal Wendy Rider attempted to address the situation by announcing a new dress code policy requiring students to cover their midriffs, but she quickly backed down under pressure from students and revoked the midriff policy.
“First, I want to apologize for not giving a timely and thorough explanation of the intention of the dress code change,” Rider said in an announcement to students later in the day. “I recognize the impact this has had on students and staff, and I am truly sorry for that. What we thought was a small change in the dress code is clearly an important freedom to you, and you became passionate about it.”
“We hear you and ask for you to also hear us in our quest for a safer, more unified and kinder school. With that, I revoke the new dress code component of no bare midriffs,” she said.
In a letter to parents informing them about the protest, Rider wrote that her intention had been to “encourage more appropriate and professional attire” as well as to “combat some recent bullying behavior related to dress.”
“However, I later spoke with many passionate students who made excellent arguments for reconsidering that decision,” she wrote.