Girls are being targeted for what they wear to class while there’s a more relaxed approach to boys, according to some students at Jack James High School in southeast Calgary.
“If it’s hot outside and I want to wear something that shows my shoulders, I think my shoulders are fine,” said Mary Peterson, a 16-year-old student at the school.
“Because if somebody is getting aroused by my shoulders then they should have to leave, not me.”
Mary and other female students say girls are being sent home to change while boys are allowed to wear the same type of clothes without any consequences.
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Some male students support that claim.
“There’s always that one guy that has a half-naked lady on his shirt and then there’s a girl that walks by with her bra strap showing and she gets told to cover up and he’s not,” said Alex Bull, who is 18 years old.
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The Jack James School student handbook has a dress code section that lays out what can and cannot be worn.
It specifies “students are expected to dress in appropriate clothing that is suitable for an indoor work environment but clothing must also support and promote safety and security in the building. Students are not permitted to wear bandanas, hoods up, chains, spike etc. while in the building,” according to the handbook.
The Calgary Board of Education says there is no system-wide dress code but all 250 public schools develop their own individual policy on clothing. Global News requests to the school were directed to the CBE.
It released this statement to Global News:
“Principals work in consultation with students, school councils and staff to determine the standards expected for student dress and grooming. Conversations about dress codes are ongoing at a school level, are based on each school’s individual community and evolve as society evolves.”
The CBE Standards or Dress and Grooming regulation 6010 does stipulate:
“Students are not permitted to wear articles of clothing, jewellery or accessories that indicate or suggest membership in a sorority, fraternity, secret organization or unauthorized student group or gang.”