A mother has accused her child’s school of “slut-shaming” and “victim blaming” its female students in the wake of the recent online pornography scandal involving several Australian high schools.
In a passionate Facebook post that has been shared more than 10,000 times, Melbourne mother Catherine Manning said she was “mortified” to learn that Year 7 to 10 girls at state school Kambrya College were hauled into a special single-sex assembly during which they were told not to wear short skirts or to send naked selfies to boys.
“At the assembly my daughter and her friends said they were told they had to check the length of their skirts, and that anything that doesn’t touch their knees or below by Monday morning would be deemed inappropriate. They were informed that this was to ‘protect their integrity’,” Manning wrote.
“They were also told not to post photos of themselves online, and to refuse any request from a boyfriend for a ‘sexy selfie’, as their boyfriends will only be around for a couple of days; maximum a year; but definitely not in ten years’ time.
“They were told the boys are distracted by their legs, and that boys don’t respect girls who wear short skirts.”
The assembly was reportedly in response to revelations first reported by Mamamia that images of underage girls were among those being circulated via an online pornography ring.
Authorities are currently investigating the forum, which contained multiple folders that appeared to house explicit images of students from several Australian high schools.
The Kambrya College’s Assistant Principle Jo Wastle confirmed to The Age that the school had discussed being named in relation to the site.
“As far as we know none of our students were affected, but they had heard about it and we wanted to set their minds at rest,” Wastle said.
She also confirmed that single sex assemblies had been staged this week, during which students were spoken to about “dress codes, sexting, social media and respect”.
“We chose to separate boys and girls and different years to create smaller groups and encourage open dialogue,” she said.
“They feel judged and victimised by school staff, like all eyes are on them, and they don’t feel comfortable around their male peers,” she wrote.
“The problem is not with the girls and the length of their skirts, nor whether or not they choose to share photos with their boyfriends or anyone else. It’s with the boys themselves; their sense of entitlement and sexist attitudes towards women and girls, their lack of respect, and the trust they CHOOSE to break.
“This school has failed miserably by fighting sexism with sexism. When will they ever learn?”
READ: “The horrifying moment I found my name on the ‘Aussie Sluts’ forum.”
Featured image: iStock
Top Comments
Pretending that this isn't everyone's issue & just the issue of 1 gender is not going to fix it.
The fact of the matter is there are awful people out there who will exploit others kindness and trust & it is our responsibility to do everything we can to make that harder for them. It's also parents responsibility to ensure they instil morals and values into their children in an aim of increasing their self respect and respect of others.
Of course no one deserves to have their photos sent around, shared, published etc but just pointing the finger at 1 gender & putting all blame on them isn't going to fix it, what will fix it is having open & honest conversations with BOTH which is exactly what this school has done.
Also might I bring up that this does go both ways, there are countless sites where people share males pictures that have been sent & even recently a poor boy committed suicide because of this.
What were the boys told at their special single-sex assembly?
We know they had one.
Presumably they were told not to look at, post or request nude selfies of anyone especially not their academic colleagues.
Have they, or at least some of them, been shamed by the implication that they can't make safe (and legal) choices?
Both sexes had a talk. I think it was necessary. I want to know what the boys were told and which assembly was judged to be more important by the principal.
My guess is that the male sports teacher was brought in, they all practiced putting condoms on a cucumber and the rest of the hour was spent talking sexist shit and making jokes in an effort to "connect with the boys".