Teen gains national support after challenging dress code policy

Velena Jones by Velena Jones

A Verona area high school student is asking the school to rethink its dress code policies after being told her senior photo was “inappropriate.”

Eleanor Fitzwilliams, 17, said she was not only shocked to be told what she was wearing was inappropriate, but confused because it’s an outfit she had worn at school before and did not receive a dress code violation.

here’s my senior picture. because you can see my part of my brallette, it was “too inappropriate”. yet, here’s the boys swim team picture. pic.twitter.com/hGg2G3ubO6 — eleanor (@elfitzwilliams) September 26, 2017

Last week, Fitzwilliams was called into the office by a yearbook faculty member to discuss the photo. According to Fitzwilliams, she was told the picture was inappropriate because her bralette was showing. Feeling embarrassed, she provided a new photo as requested.

“On my way back to my class I was thinking about that picture thinking ‘what parts of that were inappropriate? Why was that bralette inappropriate?'” she said.

Fitzwilliams’s father took and approved of the senior photo. After analyzing the comments by the faculty member, she started to getting upset. Fitzwilliams took to Twitter and compared her photo with last year’s boys swim team photo, whose members are only wearing their Speedos.

“The double standard is that their body is not sexualized, but mine is. The side of my bralette, my clothing is sexualized. I feel like that is really harmful, especially for girls in high school being told their body is different and more inappropriate than their male counterparts. That’s the part that is not OK with me,” she said.

In her tweet Fitzwilliams pointed out what she calls a double standard in the dress code that puts more limits on girls then boys at the school. She recieved widespread support with other’s sharing similar stories of what they encountered in their schools.

“That plays into the culture we have in our society telling women they are lesser or have more constrictions on them. Being younger and in high school it can be harmful because it can create weird body images,” Fitzwilliams said.

She claims both the swimming teams Speedos and her bralette could be considered undergarments but also serve dual purposes. Her tweet gained widespread support on social media.

The high school’s dress code emphasizes the use of “good judgement” and requires the chest, midriff and bottom to be covered. It also states undergarments should not be visible. A spokesperson for the district said they were following school guidelines.

Fitzwilliam said she is no longer concerned with what photo the school chooses to use. However, she is asking the school to address double standards with the dress code. A spokesperson with the district said the school followed the high school guidelines and declined to comment further.

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