“I just couldn’t believe it,” Grade 9 student Julie Steeves told Canadian website Global News. “Lots of girls were really disgusted, sad and mad about this.”

Meanwhile, school principal Lara Jollymore said in a letter home to parents that the use of an “inappropriate acronym” in the second poster is “being addressed” and students are being reminded to be respectful. However, in the letter she also repeatedly refers to the dress code regarding bra straps et al as something that will “distract” the male pupils and does not condemn the view.

The website quotes the letter as saying: “The gentlemen have responded by posting their opinions about how the school is a professional learning environment, and that ladies should respect that by wearing clothes that meet the dress code, and do not distract them, because even though it is not appropriate for gentlemen to objectify ladies, when ladies wear extremely provocative clothing, they can be distracted.”

“Extremely provocative” in this instance could be a vest top with straps two fingers wide instead of three.

Volkman said he didn’t know of a specific incident sparking the row, but added that the school had no air-conditioning and that it would probably review the dress code with the student council and parent advisory council. He told CNN it was a “teachable moment” for the students on how to have “proper discourse” without resorting to insults.

Or sexism, presumably.

Image: iStock

Teens take high school’s sexist rules on bra straps and vest tops to task