A school principal from Wallonia decided to "hunt down inappropriate outfits" for young girls in her establishment. Once again, girls are held responsible for the wrongdoing of boys.
To avoid "assaults" in her school, a Walloon director decided to send an email to all the parents of pupils in her establishment to warn them of "the hunt for inappropriate outfits" young girls, report the DH this March 8, 2021. "Some have low necklines or very short blouses that catch the eye of young male students in the midst of a hormonal maelstrom", explains the email consulted by the Belgian media. For fear of potential assault, the school wants "take the lead" and claims to want to act for the good of young girls. A whole process should be set in motion: first step, warn these young girls that their outfit "problematic". Second step, the student will be "conduct" in the principal's office, and the parents will be summoned to "Make sure that the student no longer wears this kind of outfit, otherwise it may not be accepted at school."
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"Putting the blame on young girls is not acceptable"
This controversial initiative very quickly found opponents. Questioned by Bel RTL, Caroline Désir, Minister of Education in the Wallonia-Brussels federation, wanted to set the record straight. "I was very surprised when I read this email. It was unwelcome of her, especially on International Women's Day, she declared. Putting the blame on young girls is not acceptable! There are sartorial constraints, of course, but here the message sent to the girls is that if they wear an outfit that is too low-cut and described as provocative, they should not be surprised if they are attacked. I find that it does not go at all! (…)"
Indeed, the rule of the principal of the school sexualizes the young girls and puts on their shoulders the weight of the guilt in the event of aggression on behalf of the boys. The latter acts are here excused, because the victim would have "tickled his hormones" with a short skirt or a neckline. Intolerable, and the minister also indicated that national education was going "contact the school".