I just came across this story about a 17 year old girl being kicked out of her prom because the chaperones thought she was causing boys to have "impure thoughts." These people claim to hate Muslims because of the way that they treat women and yet there isn't any daylight between them and the Muslim fundamentalists when it comes to blaming men's inability to control themselves.
She explained that she adhered to the “finger tip length” dress code but was met with a condescending attitude from some of the chaperones as she entered the dance. Clare also explained that because she is a leggy 5’9”, dresses often look shorter on her than they might on someone who isn’t as tall.
Clare and her friends were hanging out on the dance floor and says she and her date weren’t even dancing – that they were just “swaying with the music and talking and enjoying ourselves.” One of the chaperones pulled her off the dance floor and told her that some of the fathers were complaining that her dancing was too “provocative,” and that it caused some of the boys to have “impure thoughts.”
She argued that she wasn’t even doing anything and was promptly told her dress was too short and she needed to leave. She demanded to speak with the person in charge but the chaperones refused to let her. “I was told that the way I dressed and moved my body was causing men to think inappropriately about me, implying that it is my responsibility to control other people’s thoughts and drives,” Clare wrote. “I’m not responsible for some perverted 45 year old dad lusting after me because I have a sparkly dress on and a big ass for a teenager. And if you think I am, then maybe you’re part of the problem.”
For a girl who was Christian homeschooled I give her a lot of credit for having her head on straight.
4:51 PM PT: This last paragraph in her blog post should be required reading for every kid going into high school.
This is what I want to say. You are beautiful, no matter how you are built, no matter how you chose to dress or dance or what words you chose to say in the heat of the moment. And even more important then knowing that the fact that your looks, and your body and how you dress doesn’t get to define whether or not you’re beautiful, you have to know, that people are responsible for their own thoughts, desires and actions, and it doesn’t fucking matter if you’re just swaying along with music, or if you’re grinding up on your date, or not even dancing. You are a person, with a soul, and with potential and with purpose, and the way that other people treat you, should never be based on how you dance, or dress or talk. You are a person, I am a person, is it really too much to ask that we be treated like people? Talked to as equals? As responsible adults who get to have opinions and likes and dislikes too? How is it that what I look like and how I dress constitutes the level of respect you give me? How is it that you refused to refund me when I asked for it, but when my male date asked for it, you agreed to refund my ticket to him? I’m only 17, but I can see there’s something wrong about this, please, please tell me I’m not the only one who think it doesn’t matter how people are dressed or how they move their bodies, we should still treat them with respect and decency. And enough with the slut shaming. Please. Goddamn I’m not responsible for some perverted 45 year old dad lusting after me because I have a sparkly dress on and a big ass for a teenager. And if you think I am, then maybe you’re part of the problem.
