Jared Hensley was discussing dress at Soddy-Daisy High School

Comments prompt backlash in local community

Jared Hensley has been placed on administrative leave. Photograph: MakiEni's photo/Getty Images More

A Tennessee high school athletic director is on administrative leave after he blamed girls for the school’s dress code.

In a video addressed to students, Jared Hensley discussed the fact that athletic shorts had been banned at Soddy-Daisy High School. “I know, boys, you’re thinking, ‘I don’t understand why, it’s not fair, athletic shorts go past your knees’ … If you really want someone to blame, blame the girls. Because they pretty much ruin everything,” said Hensley. “They ruin the dress code, they ruin ... well, ask Adam. Look at Eve. That’s really all you really gotta get to, OK. You can really go back to the beginning of time. So, it’ll be like that the rest of your life. Get used to it, keep your mouth shut, suck it up [and] follow the rule.”

The video prompted a backlash among many parents at the school and Hensley is now on administrative leave. “We find the comments about young women in this video inexcusable, as the sentiments expressed do not align with the values of Hamilton County Schools. The situation is under investigation, and this employee has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately,” said Hamilton County Schools superintendent Bryan Johnson.

Local parents told the Chattanooga Times Free Press they believed Hensley’s comments reflected wider problems in society. “The fact that they’re coming from an educator is bad enough, but the fact that they’re coming from a man in a position of power is even worse. These remarks are blatantly sexist and misogynistic,” one parent, Natalie Green, said. “And do nothing but perpetuate victim-blaming and reinforce the rape culture that is so insidiously ingrained in our society.”

However, one student at the school, Paige Dunny, wrote to the Times Free Press to defend Hensley. “I had his gym class before he was vice principal and not once was he sexist or treated us any less because we were girls,” Dunny wrote in an email. “There are many who stand behind him. I’d hate to see such a wonderful man lose something he cares so much about over a comment that he didn’t mean. While distasteful, it doesn’t give a glimpse into the man he actually is.”