Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

[UPDATE, 10/1/14, 9:00am] Superintendent Scott Privratsky admitted while the school did show female students clips from 'Pretty Woman', the intent was not to make the connection between their clothes and prostitution. Rather, it was meant to illustrate how clothing affects people's perceptions. Additionally, he notes that leggings, jeggings, and tight jeans aren't banned outright, but "must be appropriately covered by other clothing so they aren’t so revealing.”

The school was scheduled to meet with female students Tuesday to clear up any misconceptions about the policy. “It could have been approached differently, in hindsight,” Privratsky admitted.

A new policy at a Devils Lake school is sure to elicit strong responses from parents and students alike.

Devils Lake High School recently informed all the female students they were no longer allowed to wear leggings, jeggings, or tight jeans. The same policy does not apply to male students. The school says the purpose is to prevent distractions among teachers and other students.

Perhaps even more perplexing is the school's decision to show girls two scenes from the movie 'Pretty Woman' and compare their attire to the main character, who is a prostitute.

Predictably, the new rules are being met with resistance. Some students expressed discontent with having to find a new wardrobe while others feel the school should be focusing on bigger issues such as bullying.

It's not widely know what the ramifications are for violating the policy, but it has been said to range from being required to change clothes to an automatic detention or suspension.

The assistant principal claims the rules are not meant to objectify girls, but to stop boys from focusing on anything other than their schoolwork.

The bigger question becomes, what are policies like this teaching young boys? The implication seems to be they don't have to accountable for what they do, instead putting the responsibility solely on females to consider how their choice of attire may (or may not) affect someone how someone else reacts. That is a misguided, and quite frankly, potentially dangerous implication. I'm all for reasonable expectations when it comes to school attire, but people need to be held responsible for their own actions.

[SOURCE: Valley News Live, INFORUM]