Down With Skirts

[Yufster]

In this day and age, don't you find it ridiculous that girls are banned from wearing trousers in school? I mean, come ON!

 

When out and about, you'll notice most girls wear trousers. Doesn't this say something about our preferences?

 

Irish/English weather is wet and windy and cold. Skirts are uncomfortable, and you're constantly worrying about them blowing up or something.

 

There is a law against making a female wear a skirt in a workplace. A school is a workplace. This law, I feel, should also cover female students, whether or not it is a mixed or single sex school.

 

Why do schools feel it nessecary to hold down female students and deprive them of equality? What is the use of skirts? What do skirts have that a pair of trousers does not?

 

I've been given the following weak excuses by my Principal:

 

1. Skirts are TRADITIONAL.

Back in the 1920's, it was also traditional for a woman to be a housewife, and cook and clean for her husband. If you're going to be stuck in the past, you should teach history, not french, Ms Ryan...

 

2. Our School Uniform has been the same for over 80 years, and we're not changing it now!

Lies! Originally there was a green skirt, a blazer, and a jumper with the school emblem. Now, in recent times, the jumper is plain green without the emblem. There is no blazer, and the skirt has been changed for senior cycle students to a kilt. And now, they're changing it again, to a red/green jumper, a jacket, and a scarf instead of a tie. I don't think this is a valid excuse anymore...

 

3. Girls look awful in trousers!

Um, this one just makes me laugh.

 

4. We're not going to change the entire school uniform.

Somebody is a bit afraid of change. And no, you're not going to change the entire school uniform. You're going to change the skirt for some trousers.

 

5. You don't see Boys asking to wear Skirts.

This is because (a) skirts are retarded, uncomfortable and unpractical and (b) equality is the same for either sex. Therefore, I say let guys wear skirts if they want to. If they want to.

 

6. You signed a document when entering this school, saying you would wear the uniform.

Sure did. Didn't say I'd uphold and cherish the uniform, either. In fact, I didn't even say I wouldn't try to start a nationwide rebellion against it. Nosiree. No such words ever crossed my lips. Or pen nib.

 

7. Skirts are so much more practical. They just get dry cleaned every once in a while and... voila! Trousers need to be washed constantly, ironed, uh, other stuff...

Here's the truth. You have to pay to get the skirts dry cleaned. You have to pay a lot of money, in fact. They're pleated, so they can't be washed at home without wrecking them. This is inconvenience at it's worst. Besides that, one spill, one accident in the Home Ec room, one food-fight, one trip-up during PE... and your skirt needs to be cleaned. So it needs the dry cleaners, AGAIN. Besides that, it needs to be ironed once a week to get out the creases that appear naturally when you spend your day with your ass pressed against the item in question. Have you ever tried ironing pleats? Probably not, because you're probably a guy and don't have this problem. Trousers, on the other hand, can be thrown in the wash and ironed straight whenever. Skirts also allow for limited freedom of movement, discouraging girls from being athletic. Ever tried hopping across a wall in a skirt? Ever tried running in a skirt (In irish winds, this can be tragic...)? Ever tried going up a flight of stairs in a skirt? Skirts are also humilating in this sense. I can't count the amount of times I've seen girls stopping on the stairs to let up a male teacher, because they're embarressed to walk ahead of him, for obvious reasons.

 

So I want to know what your views are on such ridiculous rules as wearing a skirt to school. I know some people will take the view that Girls should for some reason, obey these rules and wear their skirts like good little girls. I want to hear all viewpoints, because I plan to rebel, and I need to argue my case until I yell it in my sleep.

 

Above all, when you think about this, try to imagine wearing a skirt during your everyday activities. On a windy, raining and cold day. As it most often is in Ireland at least.

[Reaper Girl]

Ah ha! Yufster is a Catholic school girl!

 

Running in a pleaded skirt is awful...

...and they wonder why many students are always late to class...

*BAD MEMORY: Standing in the wind, waiting for bus, and male parent drives by*

 

That is an extrondinaryly stupid rule ever.

 

Trousers? Trousers are ugly...but better then a skirt.

[RicardoLuigi...]

well...i'm not a girl and we don't have school uniforms so it might be tricky for me to judge here...but i say...

 

 

let girls wear trousers. the skirt idea is completely ridiculous, it sounds like it's a big hindrance in any kind of ability to do anything at all, and plus it's sexist anyway. maybe you can have us all sign a petition or something...i don't know if it would make a difference or even if anyone would believe that we were all real...

[Alia]

I hate skirts. In fact, I shun most clothes beyond my pajamas and my green cargo pants.

 

Get with it, Yufster's school! Let girls wear pants if they want. Women aren't just decorational baby machines anymore. Times have CHANGED. Jerks.

 

Hmm. I'm not getting through to you, am I?

 

*brandishes katana menacingly*

[Yufster]

Somebody give me the link to that Petition Creation Site....

 

This is the start of a war.

 

When I get mad about something, I get passionate. And when I get passionate about something, I don't give up until it's the end. Whether it's a good end, or a bad end. I'm going to email every newspaper in the country to ask if they want to give up space to begin this. I'm going to create an underground network of students. I'm going to whore all my resources. I'm going to fight until every school in the country is allowing female students their rights. Failing that, I'm going to stop wearing my uniform.

 

I need all the help I can get. Rebellions don't work, god knows, unless you've got some good people on your side. I need irish people, but foreigners can help by signing petitions, spreading the news, and generally creating an air of importance. If it gets news coverage, that's it, we've won a battle.

[RicardoLuigi...]

you know what i just noticed? my new location and avatar make my posts look extremely plain.

 

just like i'm sure those stupid skirts are making yufster's school the same way! sounds like they need to spice things up a bit...like emeril.

[Ray Jones]

hhmmm.. traditions ..

 

it should be tradition to seperate waste.

it should be tradition for males to sit down on the toilet while using it.

it should be tradition for females to let me choose their panties.

 

 

but tradition to wear skirts?

 

 

ununderstandible.

 

like my posts.

[Jedi-Monkey]

Girls can wear trousers in my school. The problem is they don't seem to know how to.

To put it one way, the 'builder's bum' should be renamed to 'thong revealer'. And its not just when they bend over. Its all the time. If I say anything I get told to stop staring at peoples asses.

One girl doesnt know how to wear shirts, but thats a different matter.

[Jared]

reading this topic makes me laugh....

 

thats just.....wrong..... to bann girls wearing pants...thats one of the stupidest thing I have ever heard.....heh.....what has this world come to when you cant even get out of bed and decide what you can wear...??

 

 

besides.....girls look just as good in skirts, or trousers....it makes no difference...o_O

You know what I bet? I bet the teachers get a kick out of skirts...the whole....schoolgirl look....uh.......umm......fill in the blanks....you know what I mean...

 

 

^^

 

you should rebel.

burn the school down.

start a war.

 

 

kill them all.

[Yufster]

On Monday, I am presenting to my Principal a letter, along with a short speech and a very politely worded question running along the lines of, "So, what colour trousers should I purchase?" I will then proceed to say, "It is discrimination to suggest I should assume the traditional role of a woman and wear her traditional outfit. The Gender Equality officer has already stated that it is discrimination and that such a case would be strong against the school. This may be a single-sex school, but there is a co-ed school nearby where the females are allowed to wear trousers. Therefore I consider this discrimination and illegal. It is highly discriminatory to deny females in a workplace the right to wear trousers, and a school is a workplace. Furthermore, it is yet more discriminatory to deny one set of females within an establishment rights that another set are allowed, due only to age. Therefore I would like to ask you which colour trousers to purchase for now, until you have coordinated trousers as an official part of the St Leos College uniform."

 

You with me?

[Ernil]

Oh man. Girls in skirts....

 

Lovely

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The girls around my school dress - erm - ridiculously. Perhaps they are trying to stop you from taking this all too far, and ending up looking like

 

 

that.

 

 

But if you were to stay away from that look, which I'm sure the Church doesn't like, you should of course be allowed to wear trousers, or anything else you desire.

[Shivermetimbers]

I despise skirts. I own three: two short black skirts and one long black skirt. But I never wear them becasue they are awful. Refuse to be forced into such a wretched garment! Personally, I'd think that schools would be trying to steer away form the "catholic schoolgirl" image, seeing as (at least here) the image is taken quite... differently. Nuff said. I like my scrubby old grayish green cargo pants. I'd die if someone said I couldn't wear them. (They are not the same as Alia's green cargo pants)

[Yufster]

Here's that letter to my darllllling princiPAL. It's long, but by heck it's biting and I think it'll be the first time that a student has ever handed her such a disrespectful pile of crap. MEANINGLY crap.

 

 

 

Since first attending St Leos College, I was always surprised (and still am) that any modern establishment could still uphold such ancient and ludicrous traditions such as making females wear skirts. I have brought this topic up with several teachers and received many different excuses for this clear-cut discrimination of over 800 students in this school alone.

 

1. It’s Traditional

Need I mention that it is also traditional for wives to serve their husbands, or for women to be obedient homemakers and mothers? Modern society has (quite rightly) let go of these primitive ideas. Traditional is not a viable or convincing justification for the continual inequity against female students in St Leos, and across Ireland.

 

2. It’s been our school uniform for years, we can’t/won’t change it

now.

To correct this obviously accidental mistake on the part of many teachers, the St Leos School uniform has not always been the same, as it used to include a blazer, for a start. Also, the uniform is now due to be drastically changed again, therefore rendering this widely used defence obsolete.

 

3. It’s not up to us, the Teachers/Principal/Vice-Principal

The issue of discrimination is in fact, up to you, the discriminator. As enforcer of discriminatory rules, you therefore partake in the act of discrimination itself, against over 800 female students. You may not be able to change the uniform overnight, or of your entirely own accord, but your input into the process is vital. So far, any interaction with staff members of St Leos and other secondary schools across Ireland has simply produced shrugged shoulders. It is quite evident that said staff members are not working for the welfare of the students being discriminated against.

 

4. When you entered the school, you signed a document whereby you agreed to wear the St Leos School Uniform.

My parent/guardian signed the said document, and I did not willingly agree to

wear the derogatory uniform. However, as the document has been signed,

I can for now only continue to wear the uniform. Nevertheless, this does not

merit the constant discrimination, or justify it, or make it defensible. It merely

implements the inequitable rule and forces such discrimination on the

students.

 

5. Skirts are more convenient than trousers.

In Junior Cycle, the St Leos skirts may be machine washed without much by way of ill effect. However, there lies the problem of ironing, which is a dreadful task on any pleated skirt. In Senior Cycle, the skirts are anything but convenient. They contain a lot of pleats, making ironing them a tedious and time consuming job. This also means that machine washing will destroy them and wash out the colours. Therefore, the skirt must be dry cleaned, at horrible expense and terrible inconvenience. A pair of trousers, on the other hand, can be thrown into the wash whenever and quickly ironed. They are also significantly cheaper than the current school skirts, which range in price somewhere around E55. To say that skirts are more convenient is to lie blatantly.

 

6. Skirts are much neater. Trousers look horrible on a girl.

I can only laugh bitterly at this remark, which has been echoed by female and male teachers alike. Apparently, there is much conflict as to the true meaning or symbolism of a school skirt; so far suggested have been tradition, convenience, and because you just have to. But to suggest that a true reason for forcing a female to wear a skirt, to walk home in driving rains or winds in a skirt, to wait for buses or lifts in the winter months in a skirt, to wander around a cold school premises in a skirt, to endure teasing by male students from the neighbouring schools about her skirt... to suggest that it is because it looks better than a pair of trousers is insulting to both the said student, and the person who made such an absurd remark in the first place.

 

7. You don’t hear lads asking to wear skirts.

Of course not. Skirts are awkward, uncomfortable and belittling. But of course, if girls are allowed to wear trousers, of course males should be allowed the right to wear a skirt. It’s a silly and primitive tradition to bar any sex from wearing a particular item of clothing. If they want to sport a skirt, I say let them. If they want to.

 

8. Get used to wearing the skirt; you’ll be wearing uniforms when you get a job in the real world.

No wise Employer makes the female Employees wear skirts. Such treatment can, and usually does, immediately lead to lawsuits. It is considered shameful to the Employer and does not stand well in court, as it is highly unlawful and extremely inequitable.

 

Many students are now realising that the school cannot, in fact, legally prevent them from wearing trousers. It is becoming a matter of time before some manner of a student strike takes place. Schoolgirls and women workers are no longer required to wear skirts following a landmark ruling by an Equality Officer that compulsory women's uniforms are discriminatory. Rulings by an Equality Officer have a legal standing and can only be appealed to the High Court.

 

Therefore it has already been decided that the compulsory female uniform in a place of work or education is considered discrimination. The enforcing of the strictly female uniform is discrimination. Furthermore, to deny a female in a workplace the right to wear the male uniform is highly discriminative and unlawful. The school is a workplace, and this law covers female students, as they are females within the place of work for as many hours a day as a teacher.

 

In conclusion to all of the above, I would request that you seriously consider your treatment of the St Leos students as regards the derogatory and outdated uniform skirt which has been the subject of this letter, before the students take more serious steps in making their voice heard. The uniform is being altered; now is the time to make the leap to equality.

 

[Alien426]

Originally posted by RayJones

it should be tradition for males to sit down on the toilet while using it.

Nah, can get you problems with the prostate, I heard.

[Ernil]

'Trouser.' Hehe.

 

You don’t hear lads asking to wear skirts.

 

 

I changed clothes with a (girl) friend of mine one day at a football game, and ended up wearing her skirt around the whole day. That was one of the weirdest experiences I have ever had. The ability for things to.....'move' was interesting.

 

I believe Mr.Burger saw me that day in the skirt.

 

 

Also, Burger and I went as Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween a few years ago. I believe we wore skirts then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thinking about it more and more, I dress up as a girl WAY too much. I just did a few nights ago. Brings the tally up to about 15.

 

 

 

Hm...

[Alia]

You sound like my uncle, Ern. I've seen some CRAZY pictures of him.

[Darth Groovy]

Originally posted by Orca Wail

Ah ha! Yufster is a Catholic school girl!

 

 

The porno plots are thickening...

[Shivermetimbers]

Ernil is there something you aren't telling us?

 

 

It's funny to see the word "trousers".

[Ernil]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe...

[Emma]

Yufster, no offence, but your headmaster sounds like a total ****.

[Ernil]

Emma, don't say that. It sounds like Yufster REALLY likes the gal! You shouldn't make fun! She probably took offense, even though you said not to.

 

 

[Alia]

Yeah. Yuf sounds like she's endeared to her principal. Even though she has been stripped of basic RIGHTS by her. Go figure.

[Ernil]

*sigh*

 

 

The end of the Catholic School girl Skirt era. This is a sad day indeed.

[Skinkie]

Stop the discrimination! Start a war!

[Jared]

see? Skinkie agrees with me!!