Petaluma middle school bans 'too tight' pants for girls because it distracts the boys

[The Straight Story]

Petaluma middle school bans 'too tight' pants for girls

PETALUMA, Calif. —

A controversy at a Petaluma junior high school over a new dress code restriction on the kinds of pants girls can wear has upset students and parents.

At Kenilworth Junior High in Petaluma, a school administrator pulled all the girls aside Thursday afternoon and told them they couldn't wear pants that were "too tight" because it distracts the boys.

Instead of heading to their last class Thursday, all the female students reported to the multi-use room and when they found out what it was about there was quite an uproar.

"It takes away like half of my clothes because I have a lot of yoga pants and leggings, so everyone's kind of like mad about it," said Makenna Mattei, a student.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/petaluma-middle-school-bans-too-tight-pants-girls/nXD6S/

[Texasgal]

1. But it's okay to let the boys

wear their pants so low their underwear shows.

[mitchtv]

2. in fairness,

that turns no one on.

[etherealtruth]

6. Your comment made me laugh out loud

[onpatrol98]

4. Surprising fad...

That, "show the world your underwear" fad has always been a surprising one for me.

[Peregrine]

7. So you know the dress code

What else can the boys wear?

The school's reasoning is just plain stupid. Girls in junior high should not be wearing tight pants. Really, should girls this age be wearing yoga pants at this age? Camel toe at this age is pretty disgusting.

[Texasgal]

13. Figures you would bring up a "camel toe"

Yeah, because Yoga pants serve no other useful purpose?

Boys should not be wearing their pants so low that their underwear is hanging out, that's what else boys can wear!

[HappyMe]

23. The fact of the matter is,

camel toe is an issue when the pants are too damn tight. This is true for a 13 year old and well as any other age female. It is very unattractive, and being a female I cringe when I see it. Buying some pants that fit properly is the way to go.

[pipi_k]

39. Does that article

say that the boys in that school are being allowed to wear their pants hanging down below their asses?

It doesn't, and I would imagine that they are NOT allowed to do that. So scratch that one off the list.

And that's not even the point.

The point is that teenaged boys are hormone factories. Even if they show respect toward girls (like someone in that article demanded they do) they are going to be distracted by girls in skintight pants.

To demand that they not be distracted is like expecting a knee not to jump when hit with a rubber hammer in just the right spot.

People are expecting a level of maturity that just does not exist in middle school boys.

[Texasgal]

41. Maturity?

How about a level of respect towards the girls? Sexism like many other things are taught behaviors.

[JVS]

20. Most dress codes forbid that as well.

Unless things have changed since I was in school

[L0oniX]

31. Prison fashion is so yesterday ...the ol "I'm available" prison look. n/t

[dawg]

3. It should be gender neutral.

Tight pants on boys can be distracting to girls too. (And other boys)

[bluedigger]

21. But it was the girls' tight pants that made my pants tight.

Boys that age are going to get boners no matter what the school does.

[Eleanors38]

24. Distracting? Hell, it made me want to go to school.

[MindPilot]

5. As someone with past experience as a middle-school-age boy...

It is not the pants that are distracting.

[notadmblnd]

8. you're absolutely right.

It's the underpants. At least for my son it was. He was in the habit of taking a brand new pencil to school every day. When I inquired once as to why he needed a brand new pencil every single day, his reply to me was because he had to sharpen it and explained to me that when he went to sharpen his pencil he was able to look at the young ladies backsides and see what color underwear/thong they were wearing.

[PCIntern]

10. Wow, I thought I'd thought of everything

at that age.

Pretty creative....

[Eleanors38]

25. Sharpening his pencil, you say?

[notadmblnd]

26. That was his story and he stuck to it.

But he's always liked girls underwear. My kid is hysterically funny in his own subtle way.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

11. I have heard

of mothers who would bind their daughters' breasts, much as the Chinese bound the feet, to keep the males from noticing. Some fool will, no doubt, look to encourage that practice.

[Ecumenist]

34. Heck, in Cameroon, mothers literally I....R....O....N, P....O....U....N....D, massage AND bind

Last edited Sun Apr 7, 2013, 11:12 PM - Edit history (2)

their pubescent daughter's breasts! DID I MENTION THAT THEY I..R..O..N, as in WITH A HOT IRON and P..O..U..N..D, like BASH THEIR DAUGHTER'S BREASTS WITH HARD ROCK-LIKE OBJECTS? Sometimes I literally wonder about human beings, cuz' DAMN. They do this to prevent male attention. Please allow me to express mself AGAIN by saying, DAMN! GOOGLE IT TO CONFIRM WHAT I'M SAYING.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

36. That is incredible abuse... almost beyond belief....

I shall join you

[treestar]

9. Uniforms

Seems the best answer.

[Cleita]

15. I agree about the uniforms

but there are those here at DU who says they also create sexual fantasies. Really a T-shirt and bermuda shorts will do that?

[treestar]

17. Oh my

Some people have sexual fantasies no matter what! Teens, too, but at least the uniforms are not specifically designed to hug the curves.

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[HappyMe]

18. But....but..knee socks are the

work of the devil!!11!

I wore a uniform all through high school. It did save wear and tear on my other clothes. There was no howling about 'what am I gonna wear..my god, I have no clothes....mom all the girls are wearing midriff shirts!'

[Cleita]

22. Yeah, me too. As a matter of fact I preferred uniforms on the job for the same

reason. I didn't have to invest a big part of my salary on clothes to wear to the office. I worked as a med Recept. a lot and that little white uniform and later scrubs were a big savings. I could spend my money on clothes I wanted to wear instead of those appropriate for the office.

[pnwmom]

28. This uniform is missing a pants option for girls.

And a kilt for the boys.

[treestar]

29. I know one local high school - Catholic - had a slacks option

In fact that should probably be the norm now, especially for little girls!

[pnwmom]

46. I agree. It's a standard option at my old high school. n/t

[winter is coming]

30. They don't have to be that rigid, either.

My daughter's school has a "dress code" rather than a uniform. Jeans are allowed, as long as they're not skin-tight or sagging. Shirts are polo shirts in the school colors, except for days when kids are allowed to wear shirts for any school clubs they belong to or college T-shirts. It saves us a lot of money and probably saves the teachers a lot of grief.

[SoCalDem]

42. AMEN..

Uniforms save parents money, remove the envy factor, and eliminate the need for constant interference with the kids choices.

Kids can be creative after school and on weekends when their parents can choose what they are allowed to wear, but schools should have uniforms..

They need not be all that limiting either..

khaki/navy slacks
white/navy/tan shirts
optional pull over/cardigan sweaters

Once a set is purchased, parents often trade sizes as their kids grow..no stigma at all since the uniforms are the same.

Teens will always be interested in each other, but uniforms at least remove the "extra"..

I always find it amusing when people get all upset at the mention of uniforms.. If their kid was suddenly accepted into an elite private school for FREE, they would be first in line getting them that fancy uniform that private schools usually require...and once we enter the "real world", lots of (most?) jobs require a uniform

[Cleita]

44. ...

Sorry posted in the wrong place.

[NV Whino]

12. Well, in my day...

We had to wear skirts, but we couldn't wear patent leather shoes.

And the obligatory: trudging uphill (both ways) two miles, through snow storms to get to school. And: get off my lawn!

But strangely enough, as I think back, it was okay for girls in skirts to play on the monkey bars, exposing everything, as they spun through their routine.

[Crepuscular]

14. I'm surprised

they don't require mandatory Burkha's, seems only fitting since it's unfair to tempt and distract males and prevent them from getting an education?

For that matter, why the hell are they even allowing these girls in school, shouldn't they be home in the kitchen, being prepared for a lifetime of serving their husbands?

The stupid, it burns!

[HappyMe]

16. Make 'em all wear uniforms.

Problem solved.

[Arkansas Granny]

19. I guess it's time to break out the burkhas.

Actually, you could dress the girls in gunny sacks and the boys would be distracted. Why make girls responsible for the behavior of the boys?

[Ecumenist]

35. AMEN, Arkansas Granny. A.M.E.N. eom.

[LWolf]

27. sigh

I had to do the annual spring lecture on dress code for girls last week.

Middle school girls. Why me? I'm their only female teacher. I'm the one that doesn't pay attention to what they are wearing unless it's REALLY over-the-top; I've got too much work, too many legitimate issues to worry about.

The male teachers, who won't talk to them about their costume, or lack there of, get all bent out of shape. They are convinced that no middle school boy can focus on learning if the girls aren't dressed for church.

Meanwhile, the warmer it gets, the less they wear, and current fashion flies directly in the face of the dress code. At least we haven't had to take a stand against "tight pants." Yoga pants and leggings are fine. It's the shorts that leave cheeks hanging out that I'm sent to deal with.

I have had to talk to them about low-riding pants. With those clingy tops that ride up, when those with bottom lockers bend down...the whole hall gets a show.

I have had to talk to them about cleavage, because if I don't, my male counterparts will present me with a list of girls to deal with. Yes, I often wonder why the grown men don't seem to have enough work to do to keep their attention occupied. Those clingy tops, when they bend over tables, leave nothing to the imagination. I have seen glazed looks on boys' faces at these times, lol; they sit very still, and stay very quiet, trying not to attract attention that will end the show sooner.

The thing that bugs me the worst is the strap issue. Dress code says straps should be 2 fingers, and that bra straps shouldn't show. It's the current fashion to show bra straps; as a matter of fact, a lot of tank tops have straps designed to look and function just like bra straps. Fashion dictates a bunch of skinny straps, instead of one wider strap. I ignore it all, but then am sent to deal with it every time somebody sees too much shoulder.

The girls are impatient with the whole thing, and, frankly, I agree with them. They ask me, every spring, why their male teachers and fellow students can't just "get over it."

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

32. What a shock! Boys like girls and vice versa. Juliet distracted Romeo from his studies.

[treestar]

33. I recall in the 70s our junior high banned

"halter tops."

In fact I am so old I recall it was sixth grade when the dress code to allow girls to wear pants rather than dresses. At first, they had to be "pantsuits." I worked up some hilarious "pantsuits." It would be a dress with pants underneath. Did not go together at all.

[riderinthestorm]

37. Echoing others, making girls responsible for the boys' behavior is so, so...

well medieval.

And wrong.

Seriously wrong.

[MrScorpio]

38. Girls' pants were pretty damn tight in the 70s

Well so were boys' pants too, for that matter.

No one complained about it.

Perhaps we should bring out the old fashions for everyone. Equal footing and all that rot, you know?

[Arcanetrance]

40. The funny thing is my high school aged niece and nephew are staying the weekend with me

My nephew is wearing tighter jeans than my niece

[alp227]

43. how is this school any different from a Saudi Arabian school? n/t

[Cleita]

45. Just a blast to the past. Back in the fifties we used to roll our gym shorts up as

high as we could get them, cheeks showing and all. (I went to public Jr. High for a semester.) No one said a word and the boys seemed to be okay. I think sometimes the adults make a big too doo over fleeting trends in the dress styles of teenagers.

[Paul E Ester]

47. The trend in the bay area is yoga pants everywhere, even in school

It takes away like half of my clothes because I have a lot of yoga pants and leggings, so everyone's kind of like mad about it," said Makenna Mattei, a student.

It's not about underwear bay-area women wearing these "pants" wear none.

[nolabear]

48. If my tush looked like that I'd wear yoga pants too. But what about football uniforms?

I mean, they're the only reason I ever watched a game.

[Paul E Ester]

49. Don't think they wear football pants to class. Thats close, but not as skin tight as yoga pants.

Literally nothing left to the imagination, I'm not complaining.

Modern fabrics are fabulous.