Last week, news broke that more than 70 schools around Australia were unknowingly involved in an online pornography forum.
The forum had images of underage girls (either taken without consent or selfies sent in confidence) that were being uploaded, shared and “rated” by school boys and men.
On Friday, Catherine Manning, a mother of a 14-year-old school girl at co-ed Kambrya College in Victoria, posted a public Facebook message calling for an end to slut-shaming.
The subject of the shaming was Manning’s daughter, her daughter’s classmates, and all girls from Year 7 to Year 10. The pupils had been called into an assembly on Thursday to be told about the online abuse, but also to be reminded what the school’s uniform policy was.
They were told students’ skirts must reach the knee or below. That this was to “protect their integrity”. That “short skirts distract boys”. And that they should refuse any request from boys for sexy selfies, because who knows where these images might end up?
The boys are said to have been called into a separate assembly to discuss the online abuse; however their appropriation of the school uniform was not brought up.
“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,” Catherine’s Facebook post read. “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.”
Catherine’s post, which can be seen in full here, went viral.
It was seen alongside a video where Kambrya College student, Faith Sobotker, 15, addressed the camera directly, saying she did respect herself, and that "the length of my skirt or dress does not matter".
Now, everyone is looking for a way forward.
"The initial response from the school was that the girls were overreacting, making a mountain out of a molehill," Catherine, who runs relationship and self-esteem programs for boys and girls, told Mamamia.
"Since then, I’ve had a phone call from the school to say they’re happy to discuss the situation and find a solution to move forward. I had a very positive conversation with the school principal, and we have a meeting on Wednesday to discuss it further."
Before posting to Facebook on Friday, Catherine tried to contact the school with phone calls and emails. When she didn't receive a response, she took the issue public.
She did this because she was distressed; angered by the way her daughter, and her daughter's classmates, were made to feel - as if they had been sexualised by the school. As if the length of their skirts somehow excused, or made understandable, the sharing of non-consensual images online.
"They aren’t wearing their skirts to sexualise themselves – they’re 14 and 15 years old, it’s other people who’ve sexualised them," Catherine said.
She was also concerned that boys in the school had adopted the victim-blaming sentiment.
"Some boys passed comments about length of girls' skirts," Catherine said.
Top Comments
easy fix - everyone wears the same uniforms - shorts in summer and slacks/trackies in winter. Forcing girls to wear skirts/dresses is past it's use by date