The first thing that the professor said to me was “is that really what you would wear?”

She, a white woman, continued: “Your shorts are too short”.

The professor proceeded to tell me, in front of my whole class, that I was inviting the male gaze away from the content of my presentation and onto my body.

She said I was making a statement by wearing my outfit. I told her that I sure as hell wouldn’t change my statement to make her or anyone else feel more comfortable.