US mayor slams ‘victim-blaming’ school after daughter suspended for ripped jeans

By Harriet Armstrong|

Posts angry note on Facebook

The mother of a teenage girl who was suspended for wearing ripped jeans to school is accusing the school of sexism.

Melissa McKinlay, the mayor of West Palm Beach County in Florida, took to Facebook to vent her frustration that her daughter received a dress-code violation for wearing jeans that featured a rip on one knee to school.

In the post, which has over 1000 likes and 305 shares so far, the disgruntled parent expressed her anger that her daughter had been removed from class and told to consider “the guys in her class and their hormones” when it came to her wardrobe choices.

"In the middle of a quiz in her IB History class, a male administrator came to classroom, told her she needed to consider the guys in her class and their hormones when choosing her wardrobe, yanked her out of class and threw her into In School Suspension for the remainder of the day. So she missed an entire day of core classes and couldn’t finish her quiz," wrote McKinlay.

"I’m sorry but EXCUSE ME? Perhaps she should have worn a different pair of jeans. But why should she have to worry about dressing a certain way to curtail a boy’s potential behaviour? So, like, it’s her fault if the boy touches her because of what she was wearing? "

The mayor went on to accuse the school of "sexism, victim-blaming, and girl-shaming."


"A boy’s potential inability to control his hormones warrants my daughter’s inability to attend her classes today and miss valuable curriculum?" she fumed.

"A male administrator yanked her out of a classroom because of a damn KNEE? Did he pull the boys out who were wearing shorts? They have TWO knees showing?" she continued.

The upset mother stated she would understand if her daughter was given a dress-code violation for the ripped jeans, but that she felt the reason the administrator gave her daughter was inappropriate.

"This administrator should be suspended,"

"If she needs a lunch detention for being slightly out of dress code, so be it. But this? No. Not an appropriate response. EVER," McKinlay concluded.

LISTEN: On this week's Honey Mums podcast, Rob Sturrock talks to Deb Knight about his experience as a stay at home dad, and 9Honey Style Editor Brooke Campbell Bayes shares her experience with an extreme type of morning sickness.

Earlier this year, more than 100 Brisbane-based school students were punished for supposedly wearing the wrong shoes to school, an incident that led parents to question if uniform regulations have gone too far.

"I think it’s so ridiculous. I find it so perplexing how we take these little humans and we dress them the same and teach them to act the same like they are cattle," 9Honey’s Jo Abi told the TODAY Show.

"They are not. We need to let them expresses themselves from an earlier age and school uniforms don’t let them do that."

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