Long socks and kilts - the uniform of a typical high school girl, or a porn star?



After a teacher made a passing comment that over-the-knee socks were "creepy porn-video looking", and shouldn't be worn by high schoolers, a Nelson student is tackling "the sexualisation of socks" in a documentary.



Madi Fulton Buckle said times had clearly changed since her mother attended Nelson College for Girls, and long socks with knees showing were an accepted part of the uniform.



During a recent discussion about their uniforms, a group of year 13 girls were surprised to hear they weren't allowed to wear long socks.



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A teacher joked they were "creepy porn-video looking" unless completely covered by the skirt.

However, Nelson College for Girls principal Cathy Ewing said the school uniform policy regarding socks was not based on concerns about a sexual image.

MARTIN DE RUYTER Nelson College for Girls student Madi Fulton Buckle wearing her over-the-knee socks.

She did, however, say young people needed guidance about how what they wore could be interpreted by others.

"We are allowed to wear socks, but we can't be showing any leg between the bottom of the skirt and the top of the sock," Fulton Buckle said.

They were allowed to wear ankle socks in summer, but no other variation on length if a gap of skin could be seen.

MARTIN DE RUYTER Nelson College for Girls uniform policy forbids students from showing any skin between the bottom of the skirt and the top of the sock

They'd been told the forbidden gap of skin was due to untidiness, but she felt there were undertones of sexualisation, "which the teacher pointed out when she joked about it".

Fulton Buckle said she felt that making that connection between high schoolers and pornography stereotypes wasn't right, and she wanted to start a conversation about how and why over-sexualisation of teenage girls occurs.

She is channelling the lunchroom chatter into a documentary called Between the Skirt and the Sock, which will screen at the annual Briefs Film Festival held in Nelson in November.

She interviewed fellow classmates at Nelson College for Girls, as well as a group of Nelson College year 12 boys.

"I asked [the boys] if they watched porn and stuff, and if that linked to the way they stereotype that [knee-high] sock look," she said.

"One of them says [in the documentary], "if you see a porn star wearing over-the-knee socks, and then see a girl just cruising around in that, you know, you do make that connection in your head."

However, the girls she interviewed said they shouldn't be sexualised based only on their appearance, much less their socks.

A student tells Fulton Buckle, "sexualisation is a behavioural thing, it depends how I walk, how I talk. Sure if a porn star is on the cover of a porn magazine with over-the-knee socks on... [she's not sexual] because she has over the knee socks on, it's because she is a porn star in the cover of a porn magazine."

Fulton Buckle said her documentary treats the topic lightly and in a humorous way, and didn't intend to criticise the school for its uniform rules.

She said the point was to make people question their thinking, using the relatively small issue of socks, as making assumptions about a person based on their clothing choices was a foundation for bigger issues including rape culture and the objectification of women.

"It's not okay for it to be sexualised when the person isn't acting sexual," Fulton Buckle said.

She said when school staff made comments or gave instructions to "cover up" at school dances or modify how they dressed, it felt "disempowering".

"It pretty much puts in boundaries and limits that are setting us up for the rest of our lives and implying that if we show too much skin that can lead to bad things," she said.

Ewing said: "To enable a uniform to be able to be reasonably consistent in how it is worn, all schools set the parameters of what constitutes the correct uniform items."

The reason the girls were not allowed to show any skin between the top of the socks and the skirt hem was because the uniform guidelines were for tights, or ankle socks.

"Clarification [has been] given which included that they could wear over the knee-high socks as long as they looked like tights – which is the uniform statement for winter."

"This is a responsibility of parents as well as schools. Employers set standards of dress for employees, as do schools for uniforms," Ewing said.

The Nelson College for Girls winter uniform guidelines are:

- Kilt worn knee length to mid-calf

- School navy jersey with crest or school vest

- School black jacket or plain black jacket (not worn inside)

- School long sleeved blouse tucked in

- School scarf (not worn inside)

- Black tights, white or black ankle socks

- Black leather polishable shoes with either laces, buckle or one elastic strap (no adornments or ankle boots) - similar to pictured styles

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