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TheBlaze posted a story earlier this week about a 15-year-old girl at a school dance in Utah who was told her dress was inappropriate and that she needed to cover up.
Why? Because it was sleeveless and her shoulders were exposed.
“Somehow my shoulders are sexualized,” Gabi Finlayson told KUTV. “Like it’s my responsibility to make sure the boys’ thoughts are not unclean.”
While at a school dance, Lone Peak High School student Gabi Finlayson was told she needed to cover up her exposed shoulders. (Image source: Facebook via Mail Online)
The dance dress code for Lone Peak High School:
Formals, backless dresses and/or tops may not extend beyond the bottom of the shoulder blades. Girls� dresses and tops must have a 2″ minimum strap on each shoulder. Shawls, boleros and other shrugs are acceptable if worn over the dress at all times. Cleavage covered.
Here's what some readers of TheBlaze had to say about the issue:
joejoheyI not only think she looks great but looks conservatively dressed as well.
Exposed shoulders? Are these clowns kidding? In a day and age where school kids have more hanging out than in, this young lady gets called on the carpet for dressing like a young lady should? What does this school have, a Muslim principal? This is ridiculous. I suppose they would have felt better if she had come dressed like a Bourbon Street hooker rather than a nice, conservative lady who still has her decency intact.
I’m sure there’s a school policy that says no sleeveless shirts (that was the policy at my high school). Dress code policy typically doesn’t change for dances. "Rules are rules" and I’m sure she knew she wasn’t supposed to wear that anyway. I don’t see any problem with it, but I also understand why sleeved shirts are required for school children.
It’s Utah. Go figure. The same state where one school photoshopped more modest clothing on yearbook photos.
Having gone to high school in Utah in the '60s, the rules are the rules and have been in place for 60+ years. At a school function your shoulders must be covered. When I was in school your hem should touch the floor if you're on your knees & bare shoulders are a no-no. We have fewer teens with babies, and fewer kids seek out abortions. Our state is trying to reflect our values & it wasn�'t such a big deal until families from California started moving here for jobs in the '70s. Don�t like it? Don'�t move here.
Your shoulders aren’t shameful, public schools are.
I am sure I saw Laura Petri wearing this dress on TV back in 1965. It didn’t seem to drive Dick mad, and I can’t remember the papers being full of "Laura is a slut" articles. Someone needs to remind these school officials that Queen Victoria is dead.
I agree. This is outrageous! This dress is very modest and amazingly classy, but still youthful. Take a walk through a juniors department and try to find a more modest dress than this. I would take bare shoulders any day over the short, tight, prostitute-looking dresses, but that is all there is to choose from anymore.
It says clearly right in their own rules �Girls� dresses and tops must have a 2″ minimum strap on each shoulder�. Looking at the picture, I am positive that�s a 2″ strap, in fact I don�t think that it can even be considered a �strap� at that point.
I know this: I am very strict with my daughter's dress attire, and I would be OK with this dress.
While I agree with the sentiment, if she was made aware of the dress code before the dance, she is in clear violation. Shame on her for now arguing about it. The time to make it an issue was when the dress code was given.
Now, if it’s true that other kids were wearing things outside the dress code, then shame on the school for not enforcing the policy evenly. Still, it’s a policy.
�Girls� dresses and tops must have a 2″ minimum strap on each shoulder�
The dress doesn'�t violate the rule. Look at the width of the shoulder strap. It is perfectly within regulation. This kind of rule is meant to keep dresses out where there is nothing really holding up the dress. The straps are more or less for looks. This dress does not meet that criteria. She should have insisted on the teacher getting a ruler and measuring. But with Common Core, I guess measurements are subjective, too.
I agree, she looks fine.
But it is nice to know that at least one controversy like this is taking place in a school.
Nowadays many schools have no dress codes, and a lot of kids dress like hookers or sloppily. Good grooming is an important thing that's no longer taught. I am not talking about short hair and buzz cuts. I am talking about bathing and wearing clean clothes and not wearing your pants around your ankles.
When you are asking someone like me to hire you, bad dress and grooming prevents you from even interviewing. I cannot hire people, entrusting them to take care of something that is mine if they can't take care of themselves.
Maybe I don’t understand what two inches on the shoulders means, because I see at least that much. Her comment about it not being her responsibility to control teenage boys' minds is spot on. We cannot, in good conscience, tell young men that they alone are responsible for their actions and in the same breath tell young ladies that it’s on them to prevent the lads from becoming aroused.
Her dress is totally appropriate for a school dance. A girl could be dressed in a burlap sack and teenage boys would still have “unclean” thoughts (they’re teenage boys!!). Whatever happened to common sense? I miss it!
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